Roswell, Apache, and Sedona: or Myk's Close Encounter

Departing Austin, our plan was to drive to Carlsbad Caverns and camp there for the night, but the drive through west Texas was super long and boring and southern New Mexico honestly wasn't impressing us much either, so by the time we were in the cavern's vicinity it was getting a little late and we were less in the mood for camping and more in the mood for cheeseburgers, whiskey, air conditioning, and (I'm embarrassed to admit) catching up on game of thrones episodes. Shitty motels around Carlsbad were fairly expensive so we pressed on the extra hour or two to mystical Roswell, NM. Though we really only spent a few short hours there, Roswell lived up to its reputation nicely with strange alien and UFO shops around town and plenty of weirdos wandering about. I accidentally made friends with one such man outside our motel room as we were getting back from dinner (read: getting fast food and stocking up on whiskey). He seemed like a nice enough old dude at first and I was just chatting about the weather and how strange the town was and whatnot, and then all of a sudden he was muttering about how I better not tell anyone where he was and how the world is going to shit and he knows it because of the 'kids these days' and the 'politician's lyin'.' "(mumble mumble mumble) I seen 'em. I know you know what I'm talkin' bout. (mumble mumble mumble) hell in a hand basket (mumble) always lookin' at me like that. You know?" etc. etc. You guys have all seen this homeless guy. But THIS guy was like the only other dude staying at this tiny-ass motel in creepy-ass Roswell, NM and I found myself wanting to get away from him, but definitely not wanting him to know which room I was going into so I was kind of stuck nodding in agreement that yes, definitely, we all better hide off the grid unless we want Obammy's army to put us in Guantanamo or something, when Lo! Brave Justin came wandering out of the room wondering what was taking me so long and he is so used to dealing with the crazies that he just gave a firm "Hi sir, I'll be taking my wife now. You have a good night." and then he gave the weirdo a look that said you better not mess with us or else JByrd's gonna kick your ass or perhaps report you to Obammy's army. Or maybe the look said "my wife has been making me sleep with a hatchet under my pillow this whole trip." Which is true. Is it possible that I am the crazy one?? Yes it is. And I'll tell you why. I immediately texted Esther and told her exactly where we were in case we turned up missing at the hands of crazy Pete down the hall. I should take the time to say now to all the moms and grandmas out there (and to Esther who I probably scared half to death) fear not. I had had some whiskey and Justin insists on the following: 1) that I was being paranoid due to inebriation, 2) though Pete (I have no idea what this man's name was) was decidedly weird, he was almost certainly not dangerous, and 3) we were NOT the only people at the motel. Oh and 4) if I'm going to insist on being such a ninny, I should quit talking to every stranger I meet. Plus after all, we always have the hatchet.

Aaaaanyway, all was well in Roswell and the next morning we drove to Apache National Forest and ended up camping in a super sweet (and free!) campsite near Quemado Lake in NM. Nothing too special happened there but it's worth mentioning because it was so beautiful and starting to get mountainy with tall evergreens, and it was nice to get out of the crazy flat boring kind of desert. (sorry desert lovers. I'm more of a woodsy kinda girl.) A ranger told us there had been several sightings of a mountain lion recently and there are allegedly many black bears around there, but unfortuantely? luckily? we saw neither beast. 

The next morning we drove to Petrified Forest National Park. It is mostly a drive through style park but we got out and about some as well. Let me 'splain.. no there is too much, let me sum up, there were trees and after a long time they are still trees but also rocks. But seriously, they are themselves pretty beautiful and the landscape is the beginning of southwestern canyon country. It was a nice preview of some of the amazing things that we would be seeing in the coming weeks. Although only a minor warm-up for some of the rigorous hiking awaiting us.

Rock? Tree? Who can know?!

The next day - that would be Wednesday, June 5th for those who are keeping track - we drove to Sedona, AZ. Whoa. I had no idea what to expect and we actually almost skipped it because it wasn't really on the way north, but man I'm glad we didn't. Sedona is gorgeous! Tall, Arizona mountains, thick woods, snow-fed streams running everywhere, and these huge, crazy, red rock formations towering over everything casting eerie shadows at dusk and giving everything just barely this tint of a glowing ember. And then the town is adorable and tucked into the mountains and full of art and all the buildings look like rustic lodges. Justin and I are way too broke and scrumpy to live in such a cool, fancy, artsy town, but wow it was great to visit. We got dinner and beers at a local brewery (while watching the D-Backs trounce the Cardinals [go Cubs!]) and then camped up in the mountains ten miles out of town. 

Next up are our national parks adventures! We love you and miss you all and we're sorry we aren't better at keeping the blog current, but the mountain time zone barely has phone service, let alone wifi. (Also, many of these posts are written on the iPad, so please excuse spelling/grammar mistakes and strange autocorrects. We try to edit, but we're lazy.) We should have updated more in the scary Roswell hotel, which was the last time we slept inside, but I was too busy peeking out the curtains and making Justin sharpen the hatchet. More soon I promise. Love, Myk and JByrd.

 

 

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