It's going to be a long haul today. We're leaving New Mexico, finally turning east and heading across Texas to San Antonio. Once there, we're going to spend a day there. No not to see the Riverwalk or the Alamo, booooring. No, we are going to go to Six Flags tomorrow. That's 'merica, not all of this outdoor stuff.
As for yesterday and Carlsbad, we had a good time. I (Boyd) have been to Carlsbad, but that was twenty years ago and while we did a lot, we didn't actually go in the main cavern then but another less developed one. The national park actually has 110 distinct caves within their boundary. All of the outer cave tours though are held on the weekends though, so main cave it was. I've always heard the main cavern po-pooed a bit because it's so developed. It's built out with sidewalks, lights, elevators and even a lunchroom. While I can't speak to the need for a lunchroom, we used those elevators to get out because at its lowest, the main cave is almost 1000' below the entrance.
The cavern was amazing. I know, everything has been amazing but I guess it's a big country full of amazing sites. Anyway, the main event in the cave is the 'Big Room' called such because it has a floor area of 8.2 acres. Or as Will Rogers put it, "the Grand Canyon with a roof on it."
Unfortunately we planned a whole day at the caves and even after the two of us nerding it up, taking hundreds of photos and reading ever board in there, we still only took half a day. Liz really wanted to watch the thousands of bats fly out of the cave at sunset, so we could either sit in the car for hours or do something else. Else we did. We drove another 40 miles south into Texas to see the Guadalupe Mountains NP. It contains Texas' highest point, their own El Capitan and preserves a west Texas historical ranch. With that little side trip that brought our total of National Parks and Monuments visited to 17. Not bad for one trip.
For some reason, Blogger won't let me add any media today. So instead, enjoy this ode to Texas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QltlctqfY4E
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