Fourth Annual Mom/Daughter Trip: New Mexico & West Texas, USA

October 2025

Our trips have settled into a familiar pattern—a blend of city exploration, outdoor adventure, and a slow march through the U.S. National Parks. In 2022, we visited Toronto, Canada, and Niagara Falls (covered in a separate post). In 2023, we explored Cleveland, Ohio, and Cuyahoga National Park. In 2024, we headed to Little Rock, Arkansas, and Hot Springs National Park. And in 2025, we had a particularly special trip that included three national parks, a stop in Albuquerque, and a weekend joining my brother's Americana/Oddities Tour—a group dedicated to attending the most unique or unusual event in each U.S. state—which that year centered on the world-renowned Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

Our plans came together easily: Mom stayed with me in Charlotte on Wednesday night, and we flew out early Thursday morning, arriving in Albuquerque, New Mexico by mid-morning. After picking up our rental car, we immediately hit the road, heading south toward White Sands National Park near Las Cruces. Naturally, the week we planned to visit three national parks ended up being the first week of the federal government shutdown, so we had to adapt as we went.

At White Sands, this meant parking just outside the welcome center and main access road, then walking more than 6.5 shadeless miles round-trip along a desert road under an unrelenting, cloudless sky to reach a point where we could enter the dunes. Once there, the hot, sun-baked trek felt completely worth it: the rolling white dunes looked like a soft, rippling cloud set against endless horizons of desert brush.

We passed only a handful of other hikers and had the dunes almost entirely to ourselves. But running low on water, nursing blisters, and wary of sunburns, we eventually made our way back to the car and continued on to Las Cruces for the night. After grabbing Mexican food, we checked into our Airstream for a glamping stay—complete with a hot tub, charming retro décor, and matching cruiser bikes. We took a quick ride around the neighborhood to catch the sunset before settling in.

On Friday morning, we drove south to El Paso, Texas, just across the New Mexico border, and enjoyed a hearty breakfast at a local diner. Fueled and ready for the day, we headed east toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park, a small and remote park tucked just below the Texas–New Mexico border. The drive surprised us: miles and miles of nothing—no oil rigs, no farms or livestock, no houses or buildings, and almost no other cars. Just asphalt, powerlines, and wide-open emptiness. It felt like driving through the set of a classic western road-trip movie.

When we finally reached Guadalupe Mountains, it was also closed due to the shutdown. Still, like other visitors, we were able to park at the main visitor center lot and follow a couple of trails for a short 1.5-mile hike. We took in the stunning vistas, dodged massive grasshoppers, and read about the area’s role in early western expansion.

After about an hour, we got back in the car and drove 30 minutes northeast to our final national park: Carlsbad Caverns. Unfortunately, it too was closed—and completely inaccessible to typical visitors, as the road closure added a 14-mile round-trip hike just to reach the cave entrance, with no guarantee the caverns would even be open once we arrived.

In the small western town of Carlsbad, we regrouped and decided to continue another 30 minutes to Sitting Bull Falls, a state park. Because we had to drive around Carlsbad Caverns along a private road where cattle roamed freely, we wound through the mountains until a mirage-like scene appeared: a waterfall tucked into a dry, dusty canyon.

Sitting Bull Falls amazed us with its emerald pools, flowing water, and shaded rock scrambles that created a lush pocket of greenery in the middle of the desert. We waded through the ponds, sat beneath the sound of rushing water, and snacked under sprawling tree branches while other visitors wandered through the pools and pathways.

Although we were disappointed we couldn't experience Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the detour to Sitting Bull Falls turned out to be a wonderful surprise. From there, we headed back to Carlsbad for another glamping stay—this time in a beautifully decorated converted storage container with a fire pit and outdoor area. We freshened up, and, hungrier and more tired than expected, enjoyed dinner and a show (hibachi) before heading back to unwind for the night.

On Saturday, we drove the roughly 3.5 hours from Carlsbad to Albuquerque to finally meet up with the group, passing through Roswell—a town famous for its enthusiastic embrace of alien and UFO lore. Along the main drag, we passed a UFO museum, countless alien-themed buildings, dozens of cleverly named cafés and bars, and quirky sculptures of extraterrestrial scenes.

Once in Albuquerque, we met the group at their Airbnb and headed together into Old Town, with its lively square filled with music, tourists, vendors, and architecture influenced by both Western and Indigenous cultures. We shopped a bit, visited the oldest church in America, grabbed coffees, and then made our way to Fiesta Park, where the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is held each October. We entered around 3 p.m., wandering the half-mile stretch of state fair–style food vendors, local craft booths, promotional tents, and interactive displays.

We browsed jewelry stands showcasing stunning turquoise pieces, explored the merchandise tents, and posed at various photo spots before settling at a bar with live music while we waited for the evening’s skydiver entrance and balloon ascension.

Balloon Fiesta Park wasn’t quite what I expected, but it featured an enormous open field, a paved vendor track, and a backdrop of the Sandia Mountains on the edge of downtown Albuquerque. Because of less-than-ideal weather conditions—and the inherently unpredictable nature of hot-air ballooning—only a few dozen balloons inflated and lifted briefly before settling back down that night.

Even so, it was magical to watch. We enjoyed a spectacular drone show highlighting this year’s theme, “Painted Horizons,” with formations inspired by iconic artists like Van Gogh, Kahlo, and Picasso. The drones were followed by an impressive fireworks show, with booming bursts overhead and smaller firecrackers popping nearby. Slightly disappointed that few balloons took to the sky—but encouraged by the festival’s very reasonable admission price—we decided to return for the next morning’s session.

Bright and early on Sunday morning, we met just outside the park and headed in together, grabbing coffees to warm our hands and donuts to fill our bellies. As we wandered through the open field, waves of balloons—hundreds of them in every imaginable shape, size, and color—began setting up, igniting their flames, inflating, and gently ascending. Pilots and passengers waved down at us in true Wizard of Oz fashion.

I know I’ve become a broken record about “life-changing experiences,” but this truly was one of the most unique and mesmerizing things I’ve witnessed. We stood in awe, pointing out our favorite balloons, snapping endless photos, and cheering for each liftoff as the sun crested over the nearby mountains. Eventually, once satisfied with our experience at Balloon Fiesta Park, we made our way to the Sandia Peak Tramway, where we had tickets for a late-morning ride.

Once aboard the tiny enclosed car—suspended thousands of feet above rocky ravines—I soothed my claustrophobia by soaking in the 360-degree views of Albuquerque, nearby reservations, distant volcanoes, the sprawling desert, drifting balloon specks, and the rugged cliffs below. About 15 minutes later, we reached the mountaintop and enjoyed lunch beside windows overlooking the entire valley.

Afterward, we set out on a 3-mile round-trip hike along the cliff’s edge to an old cabin perched at the point. Along the way, we admired sweeping views of the mountains, tramway, and cityscape, navigated easy rock scrambles, and encountered a tiny anxious chipmunk we gently encouraged to hide from a nearby hawk.

Once we reached the cabin, we climbed onto the roof—some more nervously than others—and took in the views stretching in every direction. We lingered there for a bit before making our way back down to the lodge to wait for the return tram. By mid-afternoon, after a very full day, we headed to Old Town, where some of us shopped, others rested, and we eventually regrouped.

Since several people in the group were leaving later Sunday night or early Monday morning, we opted for a final dinner in Nob Hill, a neighborhood known for its stretch along historic Route 66 and its quirky UFO house. We drove by the house, snapped a quick photo, and made a speedy getaway before heading to a microbrewery for dinner.

On Monday morning, my mom, brother, his girlfriend, and I visited Petroglyph National Monument, an Indigenous cultural landscape filled with sacred symbols, several volcanic cones, and sweeping valley views. We chose a couple of shorter hikes: on the first, we passed hundreds of rocks etched with ancient carvings made by scraping away the top layer of stone to reveal the darker material beneath; on the second, we looped around a few of the volcanoes.

After that, the four of us headed to the airport, returned our rental car, and grabbed lunch before parting ways—Timmy and Jess back to Nashville, Mom and I back to Charlotte. All in all, it was an incredible trip and an especially meaningful Mom/Daughter adventure, made even better by our special merger with the American Oddities Tour. I’m so grateful for the chance to travel with my family and look forward to many more Mom/Daughter trips, American Oddity escapades, and hopefully more combined weekends ahead.

Gallery

To Do or Not To Do?

I absolutely loved this part of my home country. The weather, the sights, the activities, the food—and of course the company—all exceeded my expectations, making the trip fun, outdoorsy, spellbinding, and truly one of a kind!

If you’re thinking about attending the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, plan early and plan well. Things book up fast—rental cars, hotels, restaurants, everything. And while entry to Balloon Fiesta Park is under $20, you’ll likely want to budget for souvenirs, food and drinks, and all the tempting merch. Expect surge pricing across town during the festival’s two-week run, too.

All that said, I can’t recommend this area enough. Exploring Albuquerque and the rural stretches of New Mexico and Texas gives you a whole new appreciation for just how expansive, diverse, and awe-inspiring the U.S. really is. Go for it—you’ll be glad you did!

#LoAroundTheGlobo #TravelBlog #TravelBlogging #Traveler #MomDaughterTrip #MomDaughterWeekend #Albuquerque #AlbuquerqueBalloonFestival #ABQ #BalloonFiestaPark #WhiteSandsNationalPark #LasCruces #ElPaso #Texas #GuadalupeMountainsNationalPark #CarlsbadCavernsNationalPark #Carlsbad #Roswell #SittingBullStatePark #ABQBalloonFest #SandiaMountains #Tramway #PetroglyphNationalMonument