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Texas and New Mexico

White Sands, Caves, Big Bend and a couple of fun cities

I hated planning this trip. I wanted to find a way to hit two states but don't feel I did it any justice because of the size of Texas. I tried to make a reasonable itinerary to hit as much as possible in New Mexico and Western Texas. We will fly into Albequerque and fly out of Austin. I managed to keep this vacation to 10 days, 1 day over my target of 9 days, knowing we will likely plan another trip or two to Texas in the future to see the rest of the state.


With all of that said, I fully expect this trip to be amazing. I researched as much as I could to try to make sure we hit all of the highlights of the destinations we will visit.

Day 1: Land in Albequerque, drive to El Morro National Monument

  • Inscription Rock Trail

  • Headlands Trail Loop

Day 2: Drive to White Sands National Park

  • Interdune Boardwalk Trail

  • Dune Sledding

Day 3: Visit White Sands, drive to Carlsbad

  • Roswell

    • UFO Museum


Day 4: Visit Carlsbad, drive to Fort Stockton

  • The Big Room Cave

  • Giant Roadrunner

  • Historic Old Pecos County Jail

  • Annie Riggs Memorial Museum

Day 5: Drive to Big Bend National Park

  • Ten Bits Ranch

Day 6: Visit Big Bend

  • Rio Grande Villiage

  • Chisos Mountains

  • Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

  • Sam Nail Ranch

  • Castolon Historic District

  • Old Maverick Road

  • Main Park Road

  • Patch Junction Road

  • Terlingua Ghost Town

Day 7: Drive to Caverns of Sonora

  • Cave tour

Day 8: Drive to San Antonio

  • The Riverwalk

  • The Alamo

  • Mission Trail

  • Historic Pearl District

Day 9: Visit Austin

  • Hamilton Pool

  • Museum of Ice Cream

  • Greetings from Austin Postcard Mural

Day 10: Fly home

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