Carlsbad Caverns

Wow, Carlsbad Cavern are huge.  We arrived in time for lunch and to book a 1:00 tour to the King’s Palace and then one of the walking tours.  Two tours back to back is not a wise thing to do.  But we enjoyed both of them.  Not very many people there this time of the year which made it easy to book the King’s Palace tour on short notice. Gary was hoping for more color in the cave, but most of the columns, stalactites, and stalagmites were white.  The lighting in the cave was set up by a Hollywood person and I don’t think he did a very good job. 

Roswell- Did Aliens really crash here

Well, the aliens really crashed 65 miles west of Roswell.  The incident only became known as the Roswell Incident because the rancher who found the crash gathered the debris and took it into to the sheriff at Roswell who then notified the Military.  The army personnel who drove out to the ranch took some of the gathered debris home with him and showed it to his family.  Headlines came out that the military had found a spaceship.  That only lasted until someone higher up changed the finding to a weather balloon.  Then the military officer who had shown the debris to his family, had to tell them to forget what they saw.  We arranged a tour with Dennis G. Balthaser, ufo researcher, investigator, lecturer and Journalist.  He gave us lots of information and drove us around Roswell.  Great tour.  After the tour, we toured the UFO Museum.  Of course, no spaceship on display, but lots of articles about the incident.

Display at the museum.  the aliens move and the spaceship disperses smoke.

diorama of the crash

Military tried to say that the aliens were really these crash dummies.  Only problem, crash was in 1947 and these dummies were used in 1952

Hangar 84 where the bodies and crash debris were transported before being flown out to Ohio.

Ruidoso River Museum

Ruidoso River Museum is a very small museum, but it is loaded with lots of information about the Lincoln County Wars, Billy the Kid, and Pat Garrett.  Cost for the museum is only $5, but it is worth the money.  Take time to read all the information.  We will be watching Young Guns tonight.  The museum has all kinds of things.  We enjoyed the jewelry exhibits, the Titanic relics, items that belonged to Elvis, LIberace,  Princess Di, Jacqueline Kennedy, and many more actors.

gun Pat Garrett used when he shot Billy the Kid

Princess Di

Hubbard Museum of the American West

The Hubbard Museum of the American West is located in Ruidoso, NM.  Cost for the museum is $5 per person.  It is a small museum but has plenty of things to see. 

knife that used to belong to Billy the Kid

gun owned by Billy the Kid

Three Rivers Petroglyphs

While traveling from Saint David, Az to Alamogordo, NM, I received a call from my mom telling me that we should go see the Petroglyphs located near Alamogordo.  She stated that they were the best she had ever experienced.  Today, we took her advice and went to Three Rivers.  All I can say is WOW.  Lots of petroglyphs to see, over 21,000 they say.  Sure worth the visit.  If you plan to go, make sure you wear great walking shoes for the rugged 1/2 mile trail.  Make sure to go around both sides.

White Sands Missile Museum

The museum is located at mile marker 170 off of 70 between Las Cruces and Alamogordo, NM.  It is located on the missile testing ground so we had to go through security to enter the museum.  The best part of the museum were the missiles located outside.  There is a V2 video which is very interesting.  We toured the items inside the museum also.

the hound dog   named after Elvis of course

White Sands National Monument

White Sands National Monument is located 13 miles from Alamogordo, Nm.  We arrived around 9:00 and were able to catch the first showing of the movie discussing the park.  Great movie.  We drove the 8 mile loop twice, had to see it from both sides.  Due to the time of the year, there were only about 4 other cars in the park when we were there.

Some of the dunes move about 35 feet per year, so the park is in a state of constant change.

Skunk sumac spreads it roots deep so that it is not affected by the drifting sand.

the dunes are made up of tiny grains of gypsum that glimmer in the sunlight

New Mexico Museum of Space History

 

The New Mexico Museum of Space History is located in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  The museum offers a history of space pioneers and the many developments that made space travel possible.  We were able to view “space food” that was on different space missions.  There is also an IMAX located next to the museum that has various shows having to do with airplanes and even the Hubble.  Very enjoyable visit.

This was the type of capsule the first space monkey, Ham, used.

model of first Russian into space

moon rock

US space food