Texas & New Mexico September 2026

Last weekend, we took advantage of me having a three-day weekend and took a quick trip to Texas and New Mexico to visit a few National Parks! The purpose of the trip was to go to Carlsbad Caverns NP and see the nightly spectacle of the bats emerging from the cave, but since White Sands NP and Guadalupe Mountains NP were within driving distance, we decided to make those part of the trip, too!

We flew to El Paso through Dallas on Saturday morning, picked up our rental car, and drove to White Sands NP. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was blown away by how unique and tranquil it was. Certainly one of the coolest places we've been!

White Sands NP:

We drove back to El Paso for the night and then got up early on Sunday so we could get to Guadalupe Mountains NP in the morning and as you can see, we lucked out with the most perfect weather! The drive itself was absolutely lovely, and the park was wonderful, with an impressive visitor center and stunning scenery everywhere we looked!

Guadalupe NP:

The highlight of the trip was definitely Carlsbad Caverns NP. We spent several hours hiking down into the cave and exploring its incredible interior structures, and then as dusk approached, we attended the Bat Flight program where a park ranger gave a talk about the bats and the park in general and answered questions while we waited for the bats to emerge. When they did, it was amazing! Tens of thousands of bats! I was already a fan of bats before this experience, but now I absolutely love them! I don't have any photos or videos of this, as there were no electronics allowed, and it was so great to sit with a hundred other park visitors in complete silence for about 45 minutes while we were transfixed by the bats and the acrobatics.

Carlsbad Caverns NP:

This is not the sun - it's the moon!
I don't know how the pic turned out like this,
but I love it!

We made the 2.5-hour drive back to El Paso on Sunday night and then flew home on Monday. We had a great time and we love any chance we get to visit our National Parks! This trip brings our total to 40 out of the 63 National Parks and we have a couple of trips planned to visit others in the near future!

Happy Tails to you!

Disney Destiny 2026

We had a four-day weekend thanks to Labor Day, and we took full advantage of it on a three-night Disney Cruise on the Destiny! This was our eighth DCL ship and while the layout/design is similar to the Wish and the Treasure, some of the the theming is unique! As usual, we're always happy to complete a travel checklist, and we can now say we've been on all eight Disney ships!

We flew down to Fort Lauderdale on Southwest and stayed near the port the night before the cruise. We had a relatively early boarding time and were on the ship before noon on Friday morning! Our favorite room on this class of ship was not available where we booked, but we did find a different room one deck down that did not share any walls with other staterooms! We absolutely loved both the location and the layout of our room! Its theme was Big Hero 6, which was fantastic and was continued throughout the entire deck!

even our room number
had Baymax on it!

we have a magnet for each of the eight ships,
with our name and the year we first sailed
on that particular ship
(not a magnet for each cruise,
since this was my 13th and C's 12th
Disney Cruise, so we've been on
some of the ships more than once!)

another completed travel checklist!

my shirt that generated a lot of conversation
with both guests and cast members!

8 for 8!

We enjoy visiting the Kids' Clubs on embarkation day during the open house hours! Everything is super adorable!

they had a fun interactive map with all six castles
on it, so of course I had to take a pic since
we visited all six this year!

One of the best spots on the ship is the Haunted Mansion Parlor because its such a fun, immersive experience! They have the same thing on the Treasure, too, so if you're a fan of the Haunted Mansion, either ship is a great choice for you!

There's another lounge, the Cask and Cannon, and it has a decidedly "Pirates of the Caribbean" feel to it!

I usually take tons and tons of photos around the ship of the different areas, the cute details, and the plethora of artwork, but surprisingly, I have a relatively low number of pics from this cruise! I chalk that up to it being a short cruise and to knowing that we'll be back on this ship in November, so I'll be able to take more photos then!

the elevator walls were covered in cute art

the statue in the Grand Hall is Black Panther

this was one of the three main restaurants
in the dining rotation, but we only came here
to check it out and take pictures

There are two coffee spots themed after strong female characters - Megara and Merida!

We didn't bother with any of the restaurants on this cruise, opting instead for quick service and room service! Not only did this save us time to do other things each evening, but we were able to enjoy what felt like an almost empty ship each evening when most of the other guests were at dinner or the shows (we didn't bother with the shows, either, choosing instead to watch on the TV in our stateroom)!

the unlimited Mickey bars from
room service are one of the best perks...
these weren't available during our
cruise on the Adventure
in Singapore over the summer,
so we were excited to take advantage
of ordering them often

the churro waffles are my favorite

Cove Cafe remains on of the best
places on the ship...quiet and relaxing!

We stopped at Castaway Cay on Saturday and the weather was pretty perfect! We did encounter something in the water there for the first time ever: moon jellyfish! I'm already not a fan of some of the questionable creatures in the ocean, so I can't say I was too pleased to see them floating around. Needless to say, I didn't spend much time in the water!

spotted a rainbow from the ship
while we were still docked at Castaway Cay

We had a great time on this cruise and we're looking forward to returning to the Destiny for another sailing in a couple of months!

we always go to the silent dj parties because
they've got fantastic music and a super fun atmosphere!

The only negative I have to report is that the three-night cruises are way too short for our liking, but a three-night cruise is better than a zero-night cruise! It was so fortunate that I had a four-day weekend and we could make the timing work beautifully! We've been on a few of these short cruises now, and if three nights are the only option because that's what will work best for our schedule, we'll continue to make the most of them!

We were off the ship by 7:45 am  on Monday and took an uber straight to the airport for our flight home at 11:30 am. We could have taken a later flight, but there was literally nothing we wanted to do or see in Fort Lauderdale and getting home in the afternoon meant we could pick up Avalanche from his dog hotel as opposed to us getting home late at night and not being able to pick him up until the next morning!

It's always a moving target with Disney Cruise Line because they keep announcing the addition of new ships to their fleet, but for now, we can say that we've sailed on all of their ships! The ninth ship is scheduled to launch in December 2027, so we'll be keeping an eye out for when the schedule for the Believe opens!

Happy Tails to you!