The Land of Enchantment - New Mexico

In May of 2018, I had to take one more flight to keep my airline status.   I chose to keep it knowing that I wanted to travel a lot more in 2018.  I need a very specific number of miles, so I had to go out west.  I saw an interesting flight to Roswell, New Mexico.   I did not know Roswell had its own airport, much less that American flew to this airport.   We bought the tickets on a Tuesday to leave on a Friday.   We had a long layover in the DFW club that helped the long trip to Roswell.  It was late and dark by the time we arrived in Roswell but the airport was two small gates and had a walkup car rental place with just numbered parks.   We drove straight to our hotel.

We woke up early and with our awesome luck were beside the park that had its annual hot air balloon festival.  For over an hour I watched beautiful hot air balloons launch and float around town.  After this and breakfast, we went on a wild road trip.

We drove to see the Lincoln State Monument where Billy the Kid had his last big stand / shoot-out and other wild west legends stayed.   The buildings were essentially the same and you could walk the entire town.    From here, we drove to the Smokey the Bear Historical Park.   Jordan really loved the baby Smokey the Bear pictures and the story.    We ended the road trip at Fort Stanton.  This Fort functioned before Civil War and was open until after WWII.    This was one of the main forts for American soldiers for skirmishes out west.    This Fort paved the way for many WWII generals including Eisenhower, as it provided fighting and not a base.

We drove back to Roswell to explore the town.  We saw the coolest McDonald’s, ate at Farley’s which is the weird American bar chain in New Mexico and laughed at the alien streetlights. 

 I got to go through the International Alien Museum and decided I am still undecided.   As our flight left at night, we were able to also go to the local winery.  Who knew the desert could produce a decent wine?

From Roswell we took a late night flight to Phoenix and stayed in an airport hotel.   We ate great food delivery and remarked how could a 48-hour trip be one of our favorites!   Here's to Arizona and New Mexico which always deliver...