As you can see, Adam was quite upset that we left the meat cooler..whereas I did nothing but laugh about it. I think his heart sunk a little when he realized the cooler was gone.
We left Carlsbad and headed North to Roswell. We went to the UFO museum and man it was interesting. They had so many facts and newspaper clippings, photos etc.
It makes it very hard to believe that the whole situation didn’t take place. I am a strong believer that we are not the only ones in the universe and find it all very fascinating. I also think it is pretty awesome that more than 40 years ago this took place, how much more developed their technology is than ours!
After Roswell we headed west to Santa Fe. What an absolutely beautiful city. The architecture is just what I had hoped for. It was hacienda style and so quaint.
We also found a store that sold doors from India. I fell in love and wanted to buy everything up, making a house full of those doors.
I called my cousin Jeff, whom I haven’t seen since I was 10 I think. He lives in Taos which was about 90 minutes north of Santa Fe. So, we drove up through the mountains of New Mexico (It is not all desert which was news to me) and met up with him to spend the night.
Keep exploring
Start with shorter trips to test how your family handles travel. Keep kids involved in the planning so they feel ownership over the trip. Pack light and accept that some days will not go as planned. The messy days often become the best stories.
Priorities and planning. Most traveling families have made conscious trade-offs, spending less on things that stay home and more on experiences that go with them. Points and miles help. Slow travel in one place costs less than moving constantly. And treating travel as a line item in the budget rather than a luxury makes it real.
Western Europe is logistically easy with excellent infrastructure, English widely spoken, and enormous variety. Mexico and Costa Rica are close for American families and have strong tourist infrastructure. Japan is extraordinary and safer than almost anywhere. The best first trip is the one that actually happens.
Know your destination. Register with your embassy for longer trips. Have travel health insurance. Keep digital and physical copies of all documents. Teach kids your phone number and hotel name. Use location sharing on phones for older kids. Most international destinations popular with families are genuinely safe for prepared travelers.
Track everything for the first few trips until you understand your family’s actual spending patterns. Accommodation is usually the biggest lever. Cooking some meals saves significantly over eating every meal out. Shoulder season travel cuts costs across the board. And knowing which splurges are worth it for your family versus which ones you will not remember helps enormously.
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