6-2-09 Tuesday (Gnat Food)

Carlsbad Caverns rock.  What an amazing experience!  I can’t describe the beauty, the awe, the size of the formations.  This, all within our planet. 

Of course, on the website, the link to what I think might be this map doesn’t work so I had to take a picture of one today.  We’ve done a lot of the caverns.  Today was a guided tour of Kings Palace.  I asked the tour guide today if they regret not being strict like Kartchner Cavern.  He said that they learned a lot over the years and that things would be stricter if they could do it all over.  There’s still a lot of Carlsbad that’s undiscovered or just off limits to the public.

After the tour we sat outside and ate our lunch.  There were no shaded picnic tables so we sat out under a tree on a bench.  I was a nice afternoon.  Remember, we’re only 6 miles away from the campground.  After swatting off gnats while I ate, I wished we had came come for lunch.  I hate that! 

The next and last tour was another self guided tour.  This started at the mouth of the cave called the Natural Entrance.  This is where the bats poured out of last night.  On our tour yesterday, we took an elevator 750 feet down instead of all the ramps from the Natural Entrance.  Anyway on this self guided tour, we rented audio guides.  They look like elongated TV remotes.  You punch in the display number, and hold the speaker end up to your ear.  We didn’t have one of these yesterday because they didn’t tell us about it.  This time we were prepared and even brought flashlights with us!  So remember, if you go there, bottled water is the only beverage permitted, bring flashlights so you can see the MANY unlit areas, get an audio tour, wear comfy shoes, and consider a light jacket.  It gets cold down there!  56 degrees worth! 

Above: Video of the cave entrance, complete with flying Cave Swallows (not bats).

 

Above: Video of us walking down into the Natural Entrance.

 

Above: Jim wishes we had brought jackets.

Above: The ranger from our guided tour.

 

Above: The Natural Entrance, with many Cave Swallows flying in and out.

Above: It was a long way down.

 

Above: Jim says it’s a brain scanner and it came up empty.

Above: I see your Schwartz is as big as mine*.

Above: Garret listens.  He hears the ocean… or an audio tour.

Above: Jim says there’s no letter C on his device! 

Above: An Ocotillo plant.  Lots of thorns but very pretty.

 After a day of touring, we came home to our now-ready crock pot meal.  It’s a creating I threw together and I must say, it came out yummy.  Pork ribs, pineapple and Yoshida’s.  We ate it on a bed of brown rice. 

Tomorrow, we’re off to Roswell.  I’m looking forward to all of the zany UFO stuff.  Reading some of the Trip Advisor stuff, there isn’t much to do there.  We’re hoping the town presents itself as some sort of alien destination by smothering us in gobs of alien trinkets and other useless shit we don’t need.  We’d like to come away from Roswell, feeling “aliened-out”.   We were fans of the Roswell TV show, and saw how they portrayed the town.  Very touristy.  We'll see how much they camp it up.

* A quote from Spaceballs.  Never saw it?  It’s my all time favorite.  Make it a point to see it; Mel Brooks is hilarious.