Carlsbad Caverns

We had absolutely awesome weather today!!!!  It did not go much above 80 and there was a constant breeze.  It  was perfect to visit Carlsbad National Park.  It was about a half an hour away from the Wal-Mart we camped at, so after breakfast we packed up and headed out.  We made it to the park by 11am.  We drove to all of the points of interest and took lots of pictures.

At one of the places we parked and walked Maddie had a blast climbing on the rocks.  Another group of people were there as well and their children actually climbed to the top of a rock formation and it was very high up and scary, we waited with the adults until the kids made it down safely just in case. 

 

Once we got to the visitors center we went to see a brief Discovery Movie about the caverns and then we took the elevator 750 feet down to the "Big Room" to explore the self guided tour.  It was beautiful!!!! The girls were in awe of the stalactites and stalagmites,  we walked the cavern for about two hours with Doug taking almost 200 pictures.  After the first hour Hailey got very silly and started making  up songs about rocks,  Maddie and I joined in here and there with her.  It was quite funny!  Then about 20 minutes from the end Hailey needed to use the restroom very badly and the ONLY restroom was at the end so I high tailed it to the end  with her leaving Doug and Maddie behind. Even the bathrooms were built into the caverns, Hailey remarked that even the bathroom walls were beautiful.  We ate (a very expensive) lunch at the gift center, since the weather was awesome we sat outside.  It was great having lunch with a beautiful view.

 



After lunch the girls added to their collections in the gift shop.  Both of them painted wooden boxes to place their treasures (Hailey collects pins and Maddie key chains) from our trip. Then we headed back down the mountain.  Not without one last stop for some more pictures!!!!

 Then it was time to drive 3 hours to our next destination Roswell New Mexico.  We  are staying at the Town and Country RV Park.  They even have special parking here for UFO's.  The weather continues to be uncharacteristically cool and we actually plan to sleep without the AC tonight. 

This is our neighbor "Kevin"