Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We spent Monday driving south to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  It was a short drive of about 65 miles to our campground for two nights, the Carlsbad KOA. 

After setting up camp, we drove the 13 miles into the town of Carlsbad for some much needed groceries and etc. We also scouted out the cheapest -- but most accessible -- gas station that sold diesel.  We knew we needed to gas up the motor home on the way out of town, but when you're towing a vehicle and are about 54 feet long (in total), you must also have accessibility! After accomplishing these tasks, we returned to the campsite and made dinner. John barbecued us a couple of steaks and they were suburb! 

  

 I sauteed some potatoes, onions, and mushrooms together, AND steamed some asparagus.  It was a fantastic dinner! :)  Some nights we eat well, and others we just have what John calls "pickies" - cheese, crackers, etc.  One night I made him his favorite - Shepherds Pie... that was the day he worked so hard on the shower!  He deserved a special treat!  How did I get on the subject of food?  Well, time to move off that topic and on to our next day in Carlsbad. 

Tuesday morning it was off to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Here is a photo of Suz and the White Knight. The WK is above the National Park Service "shield". :-)  The name of the park is sort of cut off, but blame that on John-- the not-always-awesome photographer. Yeah, the wind was blowing like crazy!

I knew there would be some hiking involved, but I desperately wanted to see the cave, so I was determined to be able to hike it! Luckily, there is an elevator that takes you down 75 stories deep into the cave.  The "Big Room" has a mostly flat 1.2 mile hike through and around it. Here is a series of photos from inside the cavern.... the first one shows our "White Knight". :) Yep, he went down into the cave as well! 

Here's one of John inside the cave:

We learned all about stalagmites and stalactites, "curtains", and "popcorn". It was all unbelievably fascinating!

Here a stalactite (from above) and a stalagmite (from below) about to meet. When they finally meet, the formation is then called "a Column".

The next photo shows "popcorn". 

It was coolish (54 degrees or so) and somewhat humid down in the cave. The humidity was actually wonderful as we have been exposed to the coldest, DRIEST air I can ever remember. We are both drying up like a couple of prunes, but that's a subject for a different blog post! 

Once we resurfaced, we had lunch and then stepped outside to this view:

That's Texas in the distance.  Our next "port of call" so to speak....  Frankly, we are amazed at the vastness of this huge country. John says that you have to drive it to actually get a true feel for how large it really is.  

Next time we blog, we'll be talking to y'all from the great state of Texas! Believe it or not, we've only ever been to Texas airports (Dallas and Houston). Time for us to explore this massive state!!