Saguaro National Park
This is the tenth Thelma and Louise national park trip that I have taken with my long-ago college roommate Karen. She lives in Tucson, Arizona and I live in New Hampshire, and we get together once a year for these trips. This time our destinations were Saguaro, White Sands, and Petrified Forest National Parks from April 23-29, 2026.

I flew to Tucson arriving late morning on April 23 and we picked up our rental car and drove out to Saguaro West National Park. Karen walks often in Saguaro East, so we had decided one section of the park would be enough for us this time. We always head first to the visitor center and watch the park film, and get the lay of the land. This film was quite different from many of the others and ended with the curtain going up to reveal the full-length expansive window with a view of the Saguaro cacti - very impressive. We drove the five-mile Bajada Scenic Loop drive marvelling at the different types of cacti and stayed that night at the Cat Mountain Lodge which is a lovely spot although we think we were the only ones there.

We got up early on Friday, April 24 and had breakfast at the nearby Hustle Bustle and then headed back to Saguaro West to walk (remember that we are strollers, not hikers!) the Desert Discovery Nature Trail and then part of the Sydney Hill Trail to see the petroglyphs but turned back when we saw the sign about being wary of rattlesnakes abd feeling the heat of the day, and we could see the petroglyphs from where we stopped. We drove the 4 1/2 hours to Las Cruces for the night where we stayed at the Drury Inn and Suites. Neither of us had ever stayed in one before and were surprised by the every night offering of Kickback Night from 5:30-7 PM that featured nachos, hot dogs, fajitas, soup, salad, and three drinks, all included with the very reasonable price of the hotel.

Saturday, April 25 we headed off to White Sands National Park. We had wanted to go on the boardwalk trail but it was closed and gated. It is an amazing place - the sand is formed from white gypsum and between its incredible whiteness and the brightness of the sun, it was difficult for my eyes to adjust. We drove on the Dunes Loop which started out paved and then became packed hard white sand. We got out at the far end of the loop and walked along the Alkali Flat Trail. We did climb up some of the dunes and kept thinking we would get a view from the top, but we just found more and higher dunes to climb. We kept commenting that it was like being on another planet or in a nuge snow bank. We had sledded at Great SandDunes National Park a few years back so did not do that this time. We did see a mom bring out sand toys and her two young children played like it was a giant sandbox. We had our lunch at the tented picnic area and then drove the rest of the loop and walked the Dune Life Nature Trail. By this time the temperature was in the high 80's.

We drove about 20 minutes to the Classic Desert Inn in Alamogordo and had a little trouble getting connected to the internet - only available on the second floor and then only if you are not in a corner room. As we drove along, we saw multiple billboards advertising Pistachio Land, and since one of our nightly traditions is a glass of wine with pistachio nuts, we had to go see it. It is of course a huge tourist place, but we thoroughly enjoyed the tram tour through the grape and pistachio trees, guided by a very huge personality Skip who made all the information very fun, and we learned a lot. Inside the store, we got samples of fudge and all different kinds of pistachio nuts, and I even bought some pistachio chapstick. We ate supper that night at DH Lascombes - at the bar because they were totally filled (high school prom night) - it was an unexpectedly very nice place for dinner in that little town.

Sunday, April 26 we had breakfast right there at the Classic Cafe connected to the hotel. I don't know who thought of the plan for the menu, but there was one list of things to order from that were included with our stay, and then one list of more special things that had $4 off if you were staying there, and then a list of a la carte items, all of which you pay for. So even though I only wanted potatoes and bacon, the woman told me to order the early bird breakfast which was free, and just say to hold the scrambled eggs. It would have cost me $5 to get the potatoes and bacon a la carte. We planned our time so that we hit Pistachio Land again on our way out at 9 AM when they opened, thinking we would get pistachio milkshakes for the road. But alas they didn't make the milkshakes until 10 AM and we couldn't waste an hour there, so we each had two scoops of pistachio ice cream at 9 AM and were on our way towards Petrified Forest National Park.

It was an EXTREMELY windy drive - gusts of 40 miles an hour the weather channel said, and visibiity was sometimes very bad with sand and dust blowing across the road. After our big breakfast and pistachio ice cream, we ended up waiting for lunch until we got to the Ancient Way Cafe at around 3 PM. Some of you on the forum had recommended taking the alternate route from Grants to Gallup and not to miss the pie at that cafe. What a find! We enjoyed that alternate drive seeing the El Moro monument and the Bandera Volcano, and we split a turkey sandwich with creamy avocado, sweet potato fires, and a dill pickle - with Hibiscus lemonade - and then followed it up with a piece of Watergate Pie. We didn't get an answer to why it was called that, other than the chef said it was what his mother had always called it. Googling it later, we found out it was satirically named that in 1974 because if was "filled with nuts", and the frosting on the top was labelled either Impeachment Frosting, or more commonly Cover-up Frosting. We got a good chuckle out of that. We drove the rest of the way to our Best Western in Gallup, New Mexico.

Monday, April 27 we headed out around 8 and quickly crossed back into Arizone and got to Petrified Forest National Park right at 9 AM when the visitor center opened. They were open during construction so the visitor center part was limited, but we drove along the road seeing the beautiful colors of the Painted Desert, and getting out at Hozho Point and Nizchoni Point for short strolls, and then went to Puerco Pueblo which was the site of an old town with a population of 200 people, and we could see the remains of some of the old buildings. We stopped at Newspaper Rock where we looked through viewers to see the many petroglyphs on the rocks, and then drove the little Blue Mesa loop getting out to walk partway down the trail. At this point the temperature was much colder - we started the morning in the high 30's. By the time it was midday it was mid-50's but again with a very strong wind it felt much colder, and we had all our warmest layers on. We stopped again at Agate Bridge which was a giant petrified log, and then walked at Jasper Forest and Crystal Forest looking at all the petrified rocks. From there, we drove the half-hour south to Holbrook where we stopped for tea and a cookie at Thanks a Latte, and then checked in to our room at Brad's Desert Inn. It was definitely a quirky little bare-bones place on Route 66 right next to the railroad tracks, which we knew ahead of time. We wanted to have supper at Romo's Mexican Restaurant but it closed early for a private party, so we ended up having the salad bar at Butterfield's Steakhouse. We did not get a good night's sleep with the noise of the trains running right by us during the night - Karen counted eleven trains and I think there were more than that. However, we chose to remember it though as experienceing what it was like to stay at a Route 66 hotel back in the day.

Tuesday, April 28 we drove from Holbrook to our Country Inn and Suites airport hotel, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the way down. We saw Saltwater Canyon and lots of gorgeious scenery, and stopped in Globe stumbling on a little Mexican restaurant where we had chcken tacos to make up for our missed Mexican meal the night before. Karen's husband joined us when we got back to Tucson and we returned the rental car, and had a wonderful last night dinner at Taste of India very close to the hotel.

I flew home to New Hampshire on Wednesday, April 29. We always say that there is something interesting at every single national park and that was sure true this time. All three parks were very different, and all very interesting in their own right. We are so thankful that we can still do these yearly Thelma and Louise trips together after all these years.

Note - some of you always ask me to post more pictures and the last time I tried, I ended up losing everything I had typed, so if you want to see more pictures let me know and I can email them separately. We always have a lot of pictures of beautiful flowers because Karen is a flower-lover and we stop often to see a new one. And again - thank you all for your help planning these trips - we always follow at least some of your advice and see some things we might have otherwise miss. Next April our three parks are Carlsbad Cavern, Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains.

Thanks so much foe reporting back on your trip. I love reading about other folks experiences in some of the places we have been lucky enough to visit back in the day. It brings back lots of happy memories.

Keep up strolling and having fun experiences as long as you are able.

Glad you enjoyed it. I have been to the first 2, White Sands just last September. You probably drove near the Trinity A bomb test site (not visible from the road). I recommended the detour near Grants but missed the pie on my visit.

I visited Carlsbad Caverns recently— that’s an awesome one. Just did a 2 hour hike while visiting Guadalupe, that’s a primitive park bring food and water.

Thank you for the report. I haven't been to the desert southwest in quite some time; on my first visit my soon-to-be-inlaws took me to Saguaro NP and, as a gal from the Midwest, I loved it!

Thanks for reporting back, much appreciated and enjoyed reading about your trip. Glad the Ancient Way Cafe was a good stop for you!

Such a fun trip! Thanks for the report.