Carls-worst

Get excited to hear all about our trip through New Mexico, and most importantly, about Carlsbad, which I renamed CarlsWORST!

The trip from Sierra Vista, AZ to Carlsbad, New Mexico was not a very exciting one.  If you were not aware already, driving through Arizona and New Mexico is mostly desert.  Luckily, Em and I had a book on tape called Room, which is a very engaging story (good for boring stretches of desert).  We stopped in the very charming town of Mesilla, NM, which once held the infamous Billy the Kid.  Its adobe houses and beautiful church in the town square were so beautiful that we didn't so much mind the heat.

There was more driving and listening to the book and we didn't make another stop until Hueco Tanks Park in New Mexico.  Hueco Tanks is a giant rock formation that serves as a desert oasis with its pools of rainwater in the rocks.  It also has very old paintings dating back thousands of years from the Native American tribes that used to live among the rocks.  We watched a video about the history of the park and set out to look at the paintings, but Em and I were not cut out for the hike.  We were wearing sandals and were not prepared to scale the mountain in our shoes.  We were also the perfect meal for a bajillion mosquitoes that ate us up  *scratches the bites.*  I know, we're pansies, but we gave it an honest try.

Fast forward through more driving to Carlsbad, NM.  Carlsbad is kind of a shithole.  I'm sorry if you have some kind of affection for Carlsbad, but the only places to eat there are Chilis and McDonalds and everything else that is bad.  Our hotel room was kind of sketchy mostly because there was a thinly veiled threatening note to guests that if we decided to leave with any of the bedding or towels that we would be charged for them.  Noted.  Also, there was a troupe of shirtless construction dudes drinking beers in the parking lot that were yucky.  It was all bad.  So we had dinner at Chilis (duh).  When we woke up the next morning, we tried to eat the cold eggs and sausage for breakfast and promptly got up to check out.  This is why I now refer to Carlsbad as CarlsWORST.

However, Carlsbad is also home to the famous caverns, which are seriously cool.  You go down 750 feet into the earth and walk through these giant rooms full of stalactites and stalagmites and all sorts of cool formations.  Its super cold down there and also humid, which is weird but so not a problem because you're too busy looking at cave junk.  If you have a chance, go there.  It's so worth it.

After Carlsbad, we drove straight on through to Fort Worth, Texas.  It was another long drive so by the time we got to Fort Worth we were STARVING.  The Stockyards in FW are notorious for their amazing steaks.  This is like cow town of Texas so you can imagine that the steaks would be up to par.  We went to Risckey's Steak House just before they closed and ordered bone-in rib eye and bone-in t-bone steaks.  They were unreal.  I kid you not, these steaks were like 18 ounces each and we ate ALL OF IT.  I will dream about these steaks.  After dinner, we just drove to our hotel in Dallas and passed out with happy tummies.  I never thought I'd say it, but Texas is not bad.  :)

 There was nothing left of any of this.  Nothing.

-KR