Cruisin With The Cuddies: Carlsbad

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We have a goal of visiting as many national parks as possible. Since Carlsbad was on our way to our visit to Dave's cousins home in Colorado, we had to stop. The Caverns are very impressive. I can't imagine being the first explorer to venture in. This is definitely a place that should be preserved for future generations. We spent 3 hours walking through the caverns. Since it isn't quite summer, and it was a week day, we were free to wander around until our heart was content. It was a great way to spend the day. As the turns out, this area had a few more surprises for us.

The first we made upon arriving at our destination in
New Mexico was to Carlsbad Caverns. Upon arriving
our adventure started with a elevator ride 750 feet down
into the cave.

And at bottom of the elevator ride 750 feet under the mountain.
A bathroom in a cave !!!!!!!! I have been in a number of caves
but none had a bathroom in them. Wait, when you flush where
the heck does it go ????????

Novelty or need hmmmmmm ? I did travel a ways to get here
with a cup of coffee. "Sue, I'll be right back "

First to get to the entrance we traveled a long narrow winding
road to the top of mountain or 5800 feet in elevation

Cave was beautiful

Got to try the selfie stick again, Sue loves it when I get it out
and try to take a pic. LOL

One of the beautiful things in the cave

Stalactites and stalagmites
they hang tight and stand with might - LOL
I'll forget that reminder of which are which
before the next cave we go to.

Can't find it in this photo but a bat flew across while taking it.

Mirror Lake in the cave

Sue's looking to try and find me, I back at that bathroom in
the cave, still think its neat !

All lighting in the cave was done by a Film set lighting director

Carlsbad Cavern's "Bat Flight"

We returned to Carlsbad Caverns the next evening for the "Bat Flight" where we sat in an amphitheater overlooking the entrance to the cave. A Park ranger gave us an orientation on the history of the bats in this cave, along with some Indian tales on the cave and the bats. For the safety of the bats no photography was allowed. Around dark we began seeing large swarms of bats coming out of the cave in their nightly search for a meal. Interesting as it was, it was sure a long wait for them to decide to be hungry enough to come out.

Roswell New Mexico

Next stop had to be Roswell of course,

Well, I will leave this pic's comment alone

Hey cool a tanning booth

These were our neighbors from the RV Park we stayed at,
surprisingly they were great tour guides to take to Roswell.
I tried to buy their RV that they are standing in front of but
Sue wouldn't let me get it.

The ice cream was great but the little guy in the
back kept trying to steal it from me.

Bottomless Lake State Park

Bottomless Lakes in the Mountains of New Mexico
In Florida we called them "Sink Holes"

Beautiful Lakes set off by the rocky cliffs that surrounded them.

Sue made me stop throwing stones in them to find the bottom of the lake.

Sitting Bull Falls National Park

The trip to Sitting Bull Falls was a test/training trip for driving on mountain roads. 6 - 12 percent grades and switchback curves galore. But to add to the trip was all the roads were on open range

cattle ranches. It became normal to beware that a small herd of cattle may be around the next sharp

curve. We traveled for hundreds of miles and saw two other cars, oh and one Fed Ex truck. The cattle occasionally left slippery substances all over the road making curves a little more fun. LOL

Sitting Bull Falls is fed by a spring on top of the Mountain.

Maiden of the Falls

Happy couple at Sitting Bull Falls

Most roads were paved but occasionally they thru in a
gravel stretch to liven up the driving.

Wildlife was frequently seen too, these deer stayed to pose
for me, but we also saw a road runner, fox, and other fast
enough to be unidentifiable creatures.

OK, I know I said that the cows were on sharp curves in the
hills. I was a little busy then dealing with curves, grades,
cows and their slippery leavings when I saw them up there.
But this gives you an idea of what I had for opposing
traffic not Fords and Toyotas, Ferdenado and Bossy.

Guadalupe Mountain National Park

After viewing the falls we decided to drive through Guadalupe National Park. It was a long drive, but very beautiful. The road ended in Dog Canyon, which happened to be in Texas.