Across New Mexico

Monument Valley

From Mesa Verde National Park we set out on a long driving day across Arizona and New Mexico. Before we really got on our way, we made a stop at Monument Valley in northern Arizona to get some iconic photos.

Monument Valley is part of Navajo Nation, a big Native American reservation in the desert. While Monument Valley isn't a National Park, it's owned and operated by the Navajo Nation.

Cacti at our campsite

Our long driving day took us across the desert to New Mexico near the Mexican boarder. Here we camped out for the night in a desert state park.

Baby birds at the Visitors Center at White Sands National Monument

Desert camping comes with a non negotiable early wake up call as the tent quickly heats up before 9am. We packed up and hit the road for White Sands National Monument.

Sand boarding at White Sands National Monument 

These beautiful white sand dunes can be seen for miles around and are one of only three dune fields of this type in the world. The other two are just over the boarder in Mexico.

The gift shop sells sleds so we picked out a few and took the scenic drive the the heart of the dunes.

Camouflage Lizard

Crash landing

Trying our best to get all the sand off, we hit the road again. Roswell, New Mexico was just down the road so we figured we'd check it out. 

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After a short walk around town we went to the International UFO Museum and Research center to see if they could make believers out of us.

After our tour around town we headed on to Carlsbad Caverns and set up camp at an RV Park just outside of the National Park.