Carlsbad Cavern

Pit stop on the way to the Caverns

Today I went with some friends/co-workers to Carslbad Caverns in New Mexico.  It is a few hour drive from here.  We got a little late start because we were waiting for some people who ultimately didn't come, but we still made some good time.  We arrived around 11:30 with plans to leave around 2:30.

Three hours, however, is not enough time to see everything we wanted to see.  Part of our time was taken up by eating lunch when we got there (at least with the couple people I was with).

After eating, we headed down into the caverns.  It was really interesting.  As we were walking down, one of my friends asked me if that was smoke in the cavern.  It looked like breaths.  You know, when its really cold outside and you exhale?  That's what it looked like to me, except a lot of them all together.  So, I presumed that it was something to do with the warm rising air from within the caverns hitting the colder air.  I ended up being right.

Me at Carsbad Caverns National Park

There were some interesting formations down in the caverns.  We only made it to the Big Room, which is basically the rest stop.  There you can also return to the top by using an elevator.  When we finished walking the Big Room, we were already late, so we got on the elevator and rode to the top.  Apparently the elevator is 80 stories tall.  We want to go back to the Caverns another day to see what we missed, and possibly to make the trek to the top.

After meeting up with the rest of our group, we stopped at a little restaurant in town for dinner.  They didn't seem like they were going to be able to handle us, and considering it took 2 hours from the time we arrived to the time we left, perhaps its safe to say that we overloaded their kitchen.  The food was good though, and decently priced.

Then we made the drive back.  I was pretty tired, so I slept a lot of the way.  But it was a good day.

Headed down into the caverns

Me

In the Caverns, close to the top

Whale's Mouth

The lighting was interesting in the cavern

But it was amazing to see what nature creates

Inside the cavern

Reminded me of a hand with the pinky
sticking out

Lion's Tail

As the sign says, Fairyland

I thought this looked cool