Roswell and White Sands, NM: Day 3

We loaded up and left Carlsbad bright and early on day three...we had a full day of travel and fun planned. Our first stop was the {quirky} town of Roswell.

It was early on Sunday morning so most of the town was still sleeping I think:) We only had a little bit of time to spend here, so we took a quick walk around the little downtown area....

...took pictures with aliens and ufos....

...and bought a couple of {alien} souvenirs. 

Then we started our first {scary} trip up and over mountains to get to White Sands National Monument. It was a pretty eventful trip! Someone pulled out in front of us and we almost ended our big roadtrip on day three! Luckily Jason was fast on the brakes and managed to not hit {the jerk} who pulled out in front of us. After a stop to calm our nerves {and eat some local tacos} we were back on the road heading to some White Sands FUN!

This place is AMAZING! Out in the middle of nowhere there is this beautiful area of white, sparkling sand that seems to go on for miles! The boys had such a fun time running, sliding, jumping, and smiling for pictures. Jason and I had a good time too, but I'll spare you those funny {& sort of embarrassing pictures}. We only had about two hours to spend at White Sands National Monument, but if we ever come back this way I will be sure to include more time for us to play!

We we left White Sands, Jason noticed that the camper breaks didn't seem to working just right. We managed to make it down {a HUGE} mountain, and we found the closest Walmart. He assumed that he just needed to add a little bit of brake fluid to the system, but when we stopped in the parking lot he realized it was a lot worse than that. When Jason had hit the brakes so hard to avoid hitting {the jerk} that pulled out in front of us, part of the brake line broken in half....meaning we drove down those massive mountains with no brakes on the camper! We survived though....

 ...and after a trip to Auto Zone and two hours of working on the brakes, we were able to get back on the road to Albuquerque. 

We watched the sunset down into the New Mexico horizon as we drove and drove for what seemed like hours on the interstate. That night was our first ever experience driving the camper at night. It was kind of scary, but I was glad that there were at least other cars around. We ended up not getting to our campground until almost 9 pm, which meant we parked, used the restroom, and then went to bed...hoping that the next day would be a little smoother!

From Mississippi to New Mexico: Day 1 and Day 2

We loaded up and headed out early on day one!

Can you see the picture of the Airstream clipped to Mississippi right behind my head?!? Moving the camper on our Roadtrip Countdown was SUPER exciting for the boys!

 We drove through Louisiana, and it seemed to take forever! I think that is probably because we were driving up the state on a diagonal which means we spent way more time than we usually do when we just drive through it on I-10. 

 We finally made it to Texas! And they are serious when they say everything is bigger in Texas...it took us two days to get out of the great state of Texas!

 We stopped overnight at a state park just off the interstate south of Dallas. We had some local bbq for dinner, we slept with the windows open, and then we headed out the next morning before the sun was up!

We ate breakfast in the parking lot of a truck stop:)

 We drove past miles and miles of wind farms...seriously I've never seen anything like them!

 We made it into New Mexico by lunchtime...and we only had to make one emergency stop {aka Eli had to poop and there was nowhere to stop for miles, so he had to poop in the camper on the side of the road!}.

 We enjoyed the beautiful views and the gorgeous blue sky all the way to Carlsbad, New Mexico!

We made it to Carlsbad Caverns around 3:00 pm.

  We went straight to the natural entrance to the cave and started the hike down. You have the option to ride the elevator down and then back up...but what is the fun in that! 

 The hike down took us a little over an hour, and the hike up took a little less time than that....mostly because Eli got a piggyback ride on the way up:) On the way down we kept passing people coming up who were sweaty and out of breath, and I kind of thought they were being wimps...that was until we started the hike back up! I don't know if its because there is less oxygen down there or what, but that was a tough hike up and I was sweaty and out of breath by the time we made it to the top!

May Recap Via Instagram

I realize that we are more than halfway through June, but I have been doing these recaps since January and I really want to continue them. Like I said before, the WiFi gods were not very nice to me on our trip, and we were high in the Sierra Nevada's {aka no cell service for MILES} at the end of May so I couldn't share my May recap with you then...so you are getting to see it now:) Plus there is a little sneak peak of the first few days of our trip! We are having VBS at church this week which means it may take me even longer to get our trip photos edited...but I will share them soon I promise!

Henry has a fun chocolate day at school.

 The boys got much needed haircuts.

 I worked on our menu for our first test run with the Airstream.

 We headed to Dauphin Island for the weekend.

 Our first time camping in the Airstream!

 We had yummy {and expensive} snow cones.

 I worked on teacher gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week.

... more teacher gifts...

 Phoebe got the okay from the vet after her surgery.

 Grant had a constellation project for school.

 Henry got the Math Award at Awards Day:)

 I had to take a picture of this beautiful sunset.

 All my boys made me breakfast for Mother's Day!

 We spent most of our time working on the Airstream! I added this fun chalkboard to the wall in the kitchen area:)

 We had a backyard campfire with some friends.

 I tried the Doritos taco for the first time...not too bad!

 I made cute Airstream shirts of the boys....

 ...and I made a padded camera bag for me.

 Eli forgot to put on shoes, so we had to buy him a pair of flip flops at Walmart:)

 I baked cookies for our trip and put them in my map covered cookie tubes.

 I packed lots of snacks for the boys.

Day one of our roadtrip!

 We drove through Texas....

 ...and into New Mexico for the first time ever!

 We walked to the bottom of Carlsbad Caverns...

 ...and strolled the streets of Roswell:)

 Then we had a blast playing at White Sands National Monument!

 We had a small mishap with the brakes which meant an hour or two in the parking lot of Auto Zone.

 I ate yummy green chiles on my breakfast burrito.

 We crossed into Arizona!

 Setting up camp at the Grand Canyon.

 First Grand Canyon photo op...say cheese!

 I did laundry for the first time on our trip.

 We had a few close encounters with the wildlife! 

 We visited the Hoover Dam.

 And took a few pictures!

 We spent a SUPER long day in the car heading to California....

 ...and we climbed a ton of mountains to get there!