Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Aaron Anderson [5]
Get a good night’s rest in Tucson, because your next destination is 475 miles (eight hours) away in southeastern New Mexico. It’s a long haul across from Tucson to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, but this stretch of pavement is made for road tripping. Pump up the stereo and sing at the top of your lungs as you whiz past fields of giant cacti, huge skies and pancake-flat desert on your way to this enchanted underground wonderland. Musty-smelling limestone and fluttering free tail bats (the population is 250,000 strong) add to the creepiness as you descend 800ft into the strange underground world of one of the planet’s greatest cave systems. Ranger-led tours take you into the dripping heart of the 75-sq-mile network of some 100 caves. Emerge before sunset. You don’t want to miss the cartoon-like spectacle of thousands of bats flying from the mouths of the caves, cutting black lines through the crimson sky as they circle overhead, looking for a buggy dinner.
Move from bats to extraterrestrials by following Hwy 285 north to Roswell, the alien capital of the world. Sure this town is about as cheesy as it gets for most of us, but conspiracy theorists and X-Files fanatics journey here in the utmost seriousness. Whether or not you believe a flying saucer crashed here in July 1947, Roswell merits a visit if only to experience America’s alien obsession. While in town, make sure to pay a visit to the International UFO Museum & Research Center. It just might make a believer out of you...
Spunky Santa Fe is the next tick on your list. The USA’s oldest capital is also the country’s top art destination. Home to retired cityfolk and with world-class galleries and adobe everywhere, it’s the heart and soul of New Mexico. Food is just another form of art in Santa Fe, and it’s always a toss-up whether the city boasts more quality restaurants or galleries. Either way, you can’t go wrong at Shed, a low-key restaurant right on the historic plaza. Sink your teeth into a fresh squeezed lime margarita, creamy guacamole and a spicy green chile–drenched enchilada and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to Southwest foodie heaven. Cut northwest from Santa Fe, through the nuclear town of Los Alamos, and into Indian country. The wild northern corner of the state has long been the domain of the Navajo, Pueblo, Zuni, Apache and Laguna people.
New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet at the Four Corners Navajo Tribal Park. Plant a foot in each state – this is the only spot in America where four states touch in one corner – and take a silly picture. Then cross into southwestern Colorado. With striking scenery, wild history and cool mountain towns, this part of the state looks like it belongs in a John Denver music video. There is a mystery without a conclusion in the ruins of Mesa Verde National Park, your first stop in Colorado. In AD 1300 an entire civilization of Ancestral Puebloans vanished without a trace. Their disappearance has proven so intriguing that eight centuries later, historians and tourists flock to the cliffside empires in search of puzzle-solving clues. The largest, and most impressive, cliff dwellings are around Wetherhill and Chapin Mesas. Wear sturdy shoes – hiking here involves scrambling up ancient wooden ladders and down narrow holes.
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DETOUR
Climb aboard the steam-driven Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway (www.durangtotrain.com) for the train ride of the summer. The train, running between Durango and Silverton, has been in continuous operation for 123 years, and the scenic 45-mile journey north to Silverton – the entire town is a National Historic Landmark – takes 3½ hours each way. The voyage costs $75 for adults and $45 for children. It is most glorious in late September or early October when the trees put on a magnificent color show.