OCT. 29, Thursday, Carlsbad Caves
After lunch we drove to the Carlsbad Cave, a National Park. We first stop at a road side Apache Trading Post and looked around but didn’t buy anything then went on to White City, a small outpost at the turn off to the park. It was really neat place and as Val said, we just LOVE the adobe houses and the color of them; very picturesque! We continued on up the Park and were immediately surrounded by mountains. The road curved around and up to 4400 feet where we found the Reception Hall and info centre for the caves. We paid our $6. each then walked down to the entrance of the caves. It is a HUGE hole descending over 1000 feet in the bowels of the Earth. There was a path that we followed and zigzagged down 800 feet. At one point we reached what is called the twilight zone where the sunlight stopped reaching in and lighting our way and entered a total darkness; thank goodness for artificial lighting!
All I can is that it was AWSOME, FANTASTIC, BEAUTIFUL and BREATHTAKING! I loved the fact that we were able to walk down. We walked around and under huge rocks. It also became very humid and warm....90% humidity and 53*F was a steady fact in these depth. I found myself overdressed and had to peel off jacket and sweater.
We finally reached the rest area, a wide, flat area where the park built a little coffee shop with seating area and bathrooms.
From here, one can either go up via the elevator or walked down further into the “Grand Chamber”. We chose to go up and come back another day for the Chamber.
I have been very impressed with this tour and recommend it to anyone driving this way. Well worth it!
We came back home, had dinner and relaxed. I UPLOADED PICTURES in Folder # 49!
OCT 30, Friday, Carlsbad Caverns
I paid for another two days and made reservation for our next site in Silver City on Monday. We went back to Carlsbad Caverns, took the elevator down 800 feet and visited the “Grand Chamber”, a HUGE area full of fallen rocks, stalactite and stalagmites and all other forms of salt, frozen ice and gypsum formations (our tickets are good for 3 days). It was IMPRESSIVE!! It took us almost two hours to walk around the chamber. It was HUGE! The artificial lighting was better here too so my pictures turned out a bit better although with the flash, it doesn’t do it justice.
We came back to our site and after dinner, we went to the club house for ice cream and a social evening. We met the owners and a couple from Surrey, B.C.
OCT 31, Saturday, Carlsbad Nature Walk
We drove to the State Living Desert Park near here. We paid $5 each and followed a path with explanations as we went along. It was very well done and there also were big fenced in area where animals were kept such as Mexican wolves, cougars, wild cats, elks, buffalos, snakes and birds of prey. There was also an area where we entered a caged area and birds were flying free within trees and shrubs. We even saw a couple of different kind of Road Runners.
It took us an hour to see it all then we drove back to town and found a beautiful park near the Pecos River.
It was a good day and tonight we have a party to attend at the lodge. I uploaded pictures of the place in the latest Folder named New Mexico.
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