3 NATIONAL PARKS IN 3 DAYS...

 In the middle of Covid last fall, some friends of ours asked us on a whim if we'd be interested in driving to New Mexico and doing some hiking with them.  They are on a quest to check all the National Parks off their bucket list and there are 3 in close proximity to each other along New Mexico and the Texas line:  Carlsbad Caverns NP, White Sands NP, and Guadalupe Mountains NP.  We rented an Air BnB and after we all got negative tests for Covid, we were off!  Carlsbad was our base.

White Sands NP, New Mexico

We drove several hours from Carlsbad to get here, but stopped along the way at a couple of interesting places:  the Cider factory and the Pistachio farm on the way back.  I enjoyed seeing White Sands because my whole life I knew my parents had honeymooned here! We hiked, ate lunch and tried to sled down the dunes!  

Carlsbad Caverns was pretty amazing.  I don't think I've every been in a cave room that HUGE!  There were no formal tours, but we could walk through on our own.  It was an amazing walk!

The last day we went to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, just over the border in Texas.  This was my favorite day!  We did an easy hike, McKittrick Canyon, in the morning, and saw lots of beautiful fall color.  We were done about 2:00 p.m. and I pushed for our group to try the Devil's Hall hike.  Little did we know what we were getting into... it proved to be longer than we thought and lots of boulder hopping in a shallow creek bed.  A lot less people on this trail, which I enjoyed. It was definitely worth it!

                We loved our quick trip and had a good time getting to know these friends better!