This trip turned into an odd combination. Originally intending to fly into Albuquerque, drive down to the 3 national parks there and then drive from El Paso to Vegas stopping at Saguaro and in Phoenix, we decided that was just too many miles to do in 2 week while still enjoying our time and not using too many vacation days. The major places we wanted to visit were the national parks since we have an annual pass until March and Vegas to use our 4 free nights from our Atlantic City trip. So with the extra time we’d save with flying we needed a home base to work from for a week. I looked into St. George UT since it was close to a lot of hiking but realized there were a lot of epic hikes right in Vegas! We would spend 5 days in New Mexico/Texas and then fly to Vegas for 9 days.
Albuquerque
I can’t say the cities in New Mexico will make any favorites list of mine. We drove through Albuquerque around noon on a Saturday and it was pretty empty except for some homeless men who all looked a little strung out. Nothing peaked our interest so we decided to drive to Santa Fe. Everyone in Santa Fe was very friendly, the buildings were really cool in downtown, but I did not expect there to be so many fancy shops (or people) there. I accidentally bought a $20 3 oz jar of honey because I was too caught off guard to say “sorry I thought this would be at least half”.
We were able to then head to the Hyatt Regency Tamaya. What a cool and authentic place. It is located on 550 acres of the Native American Santa Ana Pueblo. The most stunning part of this resort was the view from the front entry. They also had lot of activities like cultural presentations, fresh native bread with jams, pools and hot tubs, bikes to ride, paths that led to the Rio Grand and a couple really good restaurants. We used 18,000 Hyatt points to stay for 2 nights which would normally cost $600. Over all it was a really peaceful place to relax. Our time there was two-fold: part relaxing and soaking it in, part stressing out about signing paperwork to build our new house. Overall I think that will make it a memorable place for us.
White Sands NP
After two restful days we hit the road for some adventure. We drove 4 hours south to White Sands National Park. Established in 2019 as a National Park it isn’t even listed on the scratch map of parks I own. It was so cool and unique. I haven’t been to Great Sand Dunes NP, but I’m not sure how it could beat the white sand. It seemed like I was somewhere else entirely. It was a busy day since National Parks are free on MLK day and as we entered I wasn’t sure what to think. We drove all the way to the back to hike the Alkali Flat Trail. We saw many people with sleds going down the sand near the parking lots but when we started on the “trail” everyone disappeared and it was just us and some specs in the distance on the giant dunes in the middle of the mountains. While the sand could be hard to walk in, it was so much fun! But definitely hike this trail clockwise. I made it the entire first half in my hiking boots without any sand inside. On the way back you encounter MUCH bigger drops (hence why would not want to go counter clockwise and climb UP) which led to sliding, running and overall falling down the sand. It would have been a lot of fun to bring sleds and use them on the way back. We went for a hike this past Saturday at home and there was still sand from Adam’s boots on the backseat of his car.
We then drove 1.5 hours into Texas to stay in El Paso. I was surprised by this city. First of all: mountains, in Texas. So I’m a fan of mountain views. The buildings downtown were cool and while some were older, a lot reminded me of Detroit. This was a place on this trip I wish we could have spent a little longer. Although it was a little stressful making sure you didn’t accidentally go to Mexico or onto a military base while driving around. I feel like this fear mostly exists from accidentally getting off at the Ambassador bridge exit growing up. Our short stint ended with a 2 hour drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Not to be confused with the French island of Guadeloupe we just visited on our cruise.
Guadalupe Mountains & Carlsbad Caverns NP
Guadalupe Mountains National Park has the views! Even driving to the visitor center is beautiful. The main hike there is to go to the peak, but it can be very windy and when we arrived it was a whole 20 degrees out. With a wind advisory we decided to do the more sheltered, shorter wash hike in the Devil’s Hall. This was a fun one! Once you reach the wash and start walking literally in the bed of the (dried up) river it’s tons of scrambling over rocks. There are lots of cool rock features at the end even before the Devil’s Hall. I would highly recommend.
Nearby is Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The problem being you could easily spend all day in either park and places to stay the night are few and far between. We decided to drive into Carlsbad, New Mexico for the night and stayed in a great Airbnb. This way we were able to get an early timed entry to Carlsbad Caverns only 45 minutes away, which seemed pretty late with a 2 hour time change. That was one thing that was odd being in this area. You are split between not only two states (Texes & New Mexico) but also timezones. Texas is all Central time, while New Mexico is on Mountain.
We have been in a handful of different caves. The most recent was in February 2020 when we brought the people of Kentucky our covid and a snow storm. We were only able to tour the main Mammoth Caves, and I’m sure that did it a disservice. But Carlsbad was just WOW. While they do have some guided tours, most visitors are self guided. You can go down/up an elevator to enter/leave the 1.25 mile loop in the caves or you can walk outside and descend into the caves on foot. If you can walk 2.5-3 miles and are ok with downhill/a few stairs using the natural entrance is a must. Hands down one of the coolest things we’ve done at a national park. And just because you walk down you can (and we did) take the elevator back up. It also might be worth looking into when they are holding bat flight events in the amphitheater because that seemed like something really unique to see.
Las Vegas
Originally we were scheduled to fly to Vegas Thursday morning, but Southwest eliminated the direct morning flight from ELP. So instead we drove right from the caves back to El Paso and arrived late into Las Vegas. This was actually really cool because we got our first glimpse of the Sphere all lit up! We had tickets to attend their flagship film? movie? presentation? the next week. I used my Caesar’s Rewards Diamond status to get us a $10 hotel at Harrahs and I was actually impressed. With status you are exempt from resort fees so that $10 was all in and we were given a room with fantastic views of the Sphere. My body thought it was 1am but I sat there for almost an hour watching that domed screen change images. We also got to park for free at any Caesars casino on the strip which we used a few times during our week.
Our first Vegas adventure was to the Hoover Dam. This was my 4th visit and I had not ever ventured off the strip. After paying for parking and walking around we decided not to pay to enter the visitor center. I would love to know if anyone else thought that was worth while. Adam has watched a lot of videos on the dam so we were most interested in just being there and seeing it. Also if you wander back towards the original museum you can walk by the spillways which were really cool. We also took the turn for the Lake Mead overlook. Adam said I was like our unimpressed national park book when i said “well it’s not very pretty”.
Our next home away from home was at the Tahiti Village Resort and timeshare. They offered us 4 free nights in exchange for attending a presentation. We had only ever done one before with my grandparents Marriott program and we thought it was fun to learn about the different destinations. We also know our numbers and how to say no. It’s hard for them to even compete with travel hacking prices and the way we travel from remote place to place. I upgraded to a room with a full kitchen for $100 and then added on a 5th night for $178. The room we got was ok. Especially the carpet and furniture had seen better days but it was clean and I was impressed with the pristine fresh paint. During our presentation they took us to one of the new rooms and it was 100x nicer (which I’m sure is on purpose). Overall the sales guy we got was nice, had lived in Michigan before and we talked a lot about good food. He got straight to the numbers and benefits with us since we understood the concept of a timeshare but some of it did seem a bit convoluted. We were out in about an hour with plenty of time to bite our nails and watch the Lions win again.
Las Vegas Parks
We made the foray to 2 parks in the area over a couple days. Valley of Fire State Park and Mt Charleston.
Valley of Fire State Park is about an hour from the strip. You have to drive off the beaten path a little but it was incredible. To me it seemed like a mix of Zion and Arches national parks. Lots of colorful rocks, pretty viewpoints and unique features like petroglyphs and slot canyons. We did a couple shorter hikes that were both worth it. This would be easy to do in the same day as the Hoover Dam too since they aren’t far apart and are in the same direction.
Mt Charleston was supposed to be my big hike day. After planning this trip, but many months before we travelled, there was a lot of flooding and mud/rock slides in the area. This left the majority of the trails I was interested in impassable and closed to hikers. We were also out west during unusually cold weather which left the mountains snowcapped and beautiful, but also slick and not necessarily something we had brought the gear to hike. So having made the drive up to the top and experiencing some snow, we decided to head back down and find something a little safer and warmer to do. We tried to visit the brand new state park with fossils but it was opening day and the park had reached capacity. So instead we went to a small historical park, hung out with some peacocks and went to Costco. Because why not. I think we hit Sam’s or Costco like 5 times on this whole trip.
The Sphere
I tried to avoid going to the strip when we weren’t staying there because it gets old quick, but also we are like 70 years old and don’t stay up past 11 so when a Sphere show opened up for our last night at the timeshare at 4pm (7pm) I jumped. The experience lasts 2 hours and I really didn’t want that 7p time slot. There was a lot of anticipation for the lobby where you could interact with AI humanoid robots, learn about the sound technology in the venue and create your own digital avatar. It fell a little flat for me. The robots attracted huge crowds which often made it hard to hear and felt impersonal. BUT the robots were so fun to watch and listen to. Each one had its own personality and they facial expression and eye contact was cool yet freaky. My favorite one told someone from Nepal who asked her to hike Mt Everst that her knees don’t bend but she only weighed so much and could be carried and wouldn’t get cold.
We sat as high as you possibly could and dead center. What I didn’t realize was our tickets were for the accessible section. So you are on a platform above the last row and in folding chairs instead of the haptic seats. I appreciated looking straight out vs tilting your head back to look up. And it was very worth it to me to be in the center. The movie they played, while visually beautiful, was not my favorite. It felt like one giant piece of propaganda. The audio itself was amazing and we were able to feel some of the haptics through the railing in front of us. I would love to see a real movie or performance there. I think it would really serve them to make it cost at least half so people would come often to different movies. $75pp is just too much for more than a one time experience.
I really wanted to experience and showcase all the hiking and sights in Las Vegas that weren’t on the strip or super touristy, but between the weather (we got 3 rainy days) and schedules it felt like I didn’t get in as much as I wanted and spent more time on the strip than I needed to.
Resorts World
It was finally time for the big Vegas shebang. Between Adam and I we had 4 free nights at Resorts World, $100 each for food and $100 each in freeplay. A few weeks before we left I decided to see what kind of conferences would be going on while we were there and I was in for a bit of a shock and a chuckle. The Resorts World ballrooms would be hosting the adult entertainment expo and award show that weekend. Combine this with World of Concrete happening across the street at the convention center and an outdoors and gun show going on at the Venetian and it was a wild crowd. On Wednesday night at dinner time the guests from world of concrete would wander in with a case of beer and by Friday afternoon there were a handful of girls not even wearing pants. Viva Las Vegas!
We would spend the days working up in the room on the 20th floor, eat leftovers for lunch because it was still breakfast and then go grab dinner and lunch for the next day in the food court with our credit. We were able to eat 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 3 dinners and 2 deserts on our $200 in credit. Then we would wander the strip. Each time we’ve visited we’ve done a different section. 2012 we were at the Bellagio, 2019 Mandalay Bay and this time Harrah’s and Resorts World. So we took this opportunity to walk as far as the Strat also checking out Circus Circus, Sahara and a “new” hotel called Fontainebleau that was built way back in 2009 but sat vacant until it opened this past November. The history of just that section of the strip is fascinating. Resorts World sits where the Stardust was. I remember seeing the original structure for Resorts World back when I first visited in 2011. The original project had been abandoned during the financial collapse and they had just started working on it again with new owners when we were there in 2019. I spent a good portion of my day watching them unpave a parking lot across the street that used to be where the Riviera sat before they imploded it to expand the convention center.
Final Thoughts
I wrote up this post almost immediately after we returned home, but it really marked the beginning of a new era for us and I never got around to adding the photos and posting. We signed on our house and were launched into a 6 month journey of prepping our current house, listing it for sale, taking our pre-scheduled trips and making the move. What a whirlwind! I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to on this trip, but I think slowing down was what we didn’t know we needed yet.
We have told numerous people now that White Sands, Guadeloupe and especially Carlsbad Caverns are must see National Parks. I have felt no need to go back to Vegas yet and lucky us, the offer for Ocean Casino Prime went back to the Wynn, so we were the only year that got to take advantage of the Resorts World offer. I am glad that we made this one happen, even if it ended up a bit disjointed.
Cost Breakdown
We had a promotional Companion Pass again this winter and used it for all three of our flights cutting that cost in half. We also traded an hour of our time to go through the timeshare presentation process, which was definitely worth it for us to pay $278 for 5 nights in a one bedroom unit with a full kitchen. Having kitchens (even at a hotel like a Towneplace Suites) and getting better at our shelf stable game cut our food cost by a lot. Plus we had $200 to spend over 4 days at Resorts World and my $100 Celebration Dinner from Caesars.
