Carlsbad Caverns

We took a "vacation" to Carlsbad Caverns. Its almost a 6 hour drive from our RV park to the Caverns. We decided to stay at a motel in Carlsbad for two nights so we could get there and see the sights without being rushed. It was easier to spend the money on a motel and not worry about maybe hitting snow in the higher elevations pulling our camper. We got there by going south to El Paso, Texas and then headed northeast up to Carlsbad. We went past Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. We didn't stop but there are lots of stories about lost gold mines and buried treasure in those mountains. Carlsbad Caverns is actually on the eastern side of these mountains. The town of Carlsbad is twenty miles north of the Caverns and is along the Pecos River. They have put in a really pretty riverwalk along the Pecos -- we went there and watched as they were stocking some fish in the river. Fishermen were right next to them -- trying to catch something. We weren't close enough to see what kind of fish they were stocking.

We went to the Caverns and went on two tours. The first one was ranger guided in the "Kings Palace". Every room was beautiful and some of the original Journey to the Center of the Earth with Pat Boone in it were filmed in this part of the cave. The ranger did the "shut off the lights and see what dark really is" thing along the way. The second tour we did was selfguided through the Big Room. The pictures here are from that part of the tour. It took Jim a while to figure out the new digital SLR camera we just got. I'm hoping with the new camera the pictures for the blog will be even better.

We came back to camp heading north and west through Roswell -- went by the Alien Museum and through the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in the Lincoln National Forest. There was snow up in the high country through here but the roads were clear. We came around by Alamogorda and the White Sands National Monument and Missile Range then north home.

We really enjoyed the trip but were glad to get back "home". The Carlsbad area is a little warmer than Elephant Butte but except for the one mountain range with the caverns its pretty flat and desertlike there. At least where we are its much prettier and there is a lot more to do.