Overlooking a scenic bluff driving down Hwy 82 enroute to Alamogordo, N.M.

An Odd Land of Outlaws and UFOs

Ready for a crazy, off-world, underworld adventure? Explore Southeast New Mexico — an incredible ride that dips you down through throaty caverns and then rockets you up to interstellar heights. You won’t believe all that’s out here. Take a peak:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Okay, you may think you’ve seen caves, but nothing will prepare you for the ultimate cave experience. The underground world at Carlsbad Caverns National Park is trip through an gi-normous underground cathedral that Nature has painstakingly carved out over millions of years.

And talk about big, the caverns are volumous enough to swallow 14 Astrodomes. The “Big Room” Cavern alone covers 600,000 square feet, making it the largest underground rock formation in the Western Hemisphere. The circular trail through all of the Big Room’s richly decorated features is 1.5 miles and takes about 2 hours by foot. The enormity of it all will make your jaw drop.

Main Street, Roswell
Greetings, earthlings. Take Hwy 285 north from Carlsbad and you’ll come upon Main Street, Roswell where plenty of bug-eyed folks with green skin are ready to greet you. Cruise up Main Street walkway and drop into any one of the several UFO souvenir shops where store owners will talk your ear off about aliens and government conspiracies. While in town, be sure to check out:

UFO Museum and Research Center: Skip the touristy alien exhibit, but check out the library, the only private collection of its kind in the U.S. devoted solely to UFOs, extra-terrestrials and other unexplained phenomena. It’s a rich source of material for skeptics and UFOlogists alike.

Roswell SpaceWalk. Can you hear me Major Tom? This spaceship corridor feels like the real thing, with some black lights, control panels and eerie music thrown in for effect. Bring you’re video camera and shoot your own quick sci-fi short. Price: $2 or donation. Location: 2nd Street a few blocks east of Main Street.

Robert H. Goddard Workshop Museum. Enter the workshop of the                                                             original rocketman. Part of the Roswell Museum and Arts Center, this exhibit features primative rockets designed and flown by the father of modern rocketry and Roswell resident, Robert H. Goddard. Admission free. Main and 11th Street.

Lincoln County
Further into New Mexico, you’ll enter Lincoln National Forest, where terrain gets steeper and the tales get taller. You’ve crossed into historic outlaw West, where William H. Bonney (a.k.a. "Billy the Kid") escaped the law and shot his way into history. The city of Capitan, up the street on Hwy 380, is home to Smokey the Bear, who rose to fame when a local forest rangers rescued a cute bear cub who’d scrambled up a tree to escape a firey blaze. A small incident, but in it, a legend was born.

Lincoln Town. Lincoln County Courthouse has Bonney’s guns, knives, shackles, handwritten letters, even his unused tombstone on display. Historians have even preserved a wall bullet hole, left by a six-shooter that Bonney snatched and used to make his famous escape. History of the old west comes alive here. On Hwy 380 between Roswell and Carrizozo.

Capitan. This tiny town is home to Smokey the Bear. Here, it’s all about the bear. Grab a chicken fried steak at Smokey the Bear Restaurant and Motel. Browse legions of carved wooden bears at local woodshops. Drop by Smokey’s grave at the Smokey the Bear National Museum and Gift Shop. Also on Hwy 380 between Roswell and Carrizozo.

Scenic Drive, Capitan to Alamogordo: This series of scenic byways slingshots you from outlaw west and into New Mexico’s space frontier. Starting in Capitan, take the hilly, no-pass Highways 48, 70 and 244 south through Lincoln National Forest. Be sure to save room on your camera for the final 30 miles (where Hwy 244 connects with Hwy 82), a hair-raising bobsled ride downhill that sluices through canyons and dales and finishes with a panoramic overlook. Directions: From Capitan, take Hwy 48 S to Ruidoso; then Hwy 70 W and connect with Hwy 244 S to Cloudcroft; then take Hwy 82 W to Alamogordo.

Alamogordo
If Lincoln is outlaw country, then this the land of the space cowboy. The Space Shuttle makes occasional stops at Holloman Air Force Base (White Sands), which is also where Burt Rutan and his SpaceShipOne crew claimed the Ansari X-prize in 2004 for becoming the world’s first privately funded space flight. See a mock-up of SpaceShipOne along with other famous spacecraft at the New Mexico Space History Museum (pictured right). Cruise up Scenic Drive for some desert sights by day; by night, look for a UFO-like encounter will a full moon cresting over the mountains.

Trinity Site. Science tourists will geek out over this place: the site where the first atomic bomb was detonated, ushering in the Atomic Age. Open to the public only twice a year: on the first Saturdays of April and October. Spoiler alert: The tour consists of a 50 mile drive out to see the ground zero marker and look through the bunkers where scientists sat.

White Sands National Monument. Skip the demonstration on how sand dunes are formed. Instead grab your significant other and add blanket to picnic and watch the sun dip down over the sand dunes. The weather cools down considerably in the evening, so don’t let the afternoon heat deter you. Hours: Vistor’s Center, 8-5 p.m.; park grounds, open from dawn to dusk.