Mar 4 - Carlsbad Caverns, Carlsbad, NM

  WOW!  I can't tell you how many times I said that today, over and over again.  The Carlsbad Caverns National Park is AMAZING !  Just the 7 mile drive into the park from the highway, was a delight.  Driving up a mountain pass into the Guadalupe Mountain range, there were several pull outs, to see the vista, little cave overhangs, and a nature trail.  The view from the top is incredible.  You can see the flat plains of New Mexico, stretching to the horizon.
   We entered the Caverns from the "Natural Entrance".  This is from where the thousands of bats fly out at night, during the summer.  It is a 1.25 mile walk down the paved walkways, descending 800 feet to the "Big Room".  The walk is ALL down  a steep walkway, with handrails, through huge caverns.  It is dim, but the formations and many entrance ways into side caves are nicely lit.  The entire caverns span 30 miles, with over a hundred caves.  I couldn't believe how huge the cavern rooms were, how deep they were.  We kept walking down, and down, ooh and ah at the formations, turn the corner of the switchbacks, and ogle some more.
  The Big Room was just phenomenal.  It kept going on and on.  Each area was different and spectacular.  We saw stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, draperies, flowstone, columns, lily pads in a cave pool, cave pearls, and popcorn formations.  Words just can't describe the beauty, nor does my many photos.  And the silence, the power of the caves, the feel of the air.  We just sat and "breathed" it all in on some of the many stone benches along the way.  The loop around the Big Room was 1.25 miles.  All told, we spent around 3 hours walking the caves.
  I am SO impressed with the National Park System.  They did an impressive job of creating so many of the national parks, and this was no exception.  We ate lunch at their very healthy cafeteria.  We felt very safe, walking the cave pathways, with handrails--even when it was very steep and high, and in the dim light.  There are a huge number of people that go to this park each year, and yet they have maintained the very natural state of the caverns.  I am SO glad we included this stop on our trip. 
  This one has LOTS of photos.  Enjoy!

Carlsbad Caverns Natural Entrance photos:

Carlsbad Caverns - Natural Entrance trail and Big Room trail photos:

Mar 3 - Rainy day, all day. Carlsbad, NM

  Since it is forecast to be rainy today, all day, we decided to make it another "home" day.  Catch up on my blog, my reading, and work on tax returns. 
  Indeed, it did rain all day, and all night.  I made dinner, and we ended up watching some old NYPD DVD's Peter had, since the internet here is not even good enough to stream Netflix.  Relaxing day.

No photos's today.

Mar 2 - The drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico

  We weren't sorry to be leaving El Paso, TX, and the road to Carlsbad, NM was all on one highway.  It went up into the Guadalupe Mountains, through some passes, and then for around 100 miles, we went through prairie/desert/high country.  There was no one around, no one living there, no services.  You could see to the horizon as the road went up and down the small hills.  Not a place to live, but it was surprisingly pleasant.  I kept singing the words to "Don't Fence Me In" by Roy Rogers:

O give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in
Just turn me loose, let me straddle my on saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise, etc

I can see why folks from here have a hard time in New England, feeling claustrophobic.  It felt so wide and spacious.

We stopped for a bit at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  It was right along the road to Carlsbad, and we wanted to get there timely, so we didn't explore the park.  However, we did stop at the Visitor Center and walk the 3/4 mile nature trail out to "The Pinery", to see the ruins of a mid-1800s Butterfield stagecoach station.  This stagecoach line took 12 folks plus mail and freight from St Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA in 25 days, driving day and night.  Ugh.
  Our Carlsbad RV Park in Carlsbad, NM is another typical RV park.  Not a destination park.  More like a parking lot, with many RV's close together.  Instead of dirt surrounding the sites, though, there is gravel, and even different colored gravel, to create "landscaping".  It's OK as a staging location.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park photos:

Mar 1 - "Home" day in El Paso, TX

  We decided the lure of the big city wasn't very strong, so we spent the day at "home".  I was able to start working on the family's individual tax returns.  I needed to remember how to use the Drake Tax software from last year, as well as the DropBox to get documents to and from the various family members.
  We went out to dinner at BJ's Brewery and Restaurant, just a few miles from the RV park.  It was very good, as I was able to actually choose from two vegetarian, healthy choices.  And, we got the other choice (and another item for Peter) for $6 as a take-out dinner, if you bought a dinner to eat in.  Good deal.

No photos today.

Feb 29 - El Paso, TX

  I must say, El Paso has all of the appeal that most big cities have for me, which is minimal.  We spent the morning being busy.  After lunch, we did something a little different, taking advantage of the offerings in a big city.  We went to the El Paso Art Museum, which is located, it turns out, in downtown El Paso, which is RIGHT AT the Mexican border.  There is a bridge that crosses the Rio Grande River into Mexico (a misnomer if  I ever saw one, as that river is anything now but grand).  The city of Juarez is right across the bridge.  It is even larger than El Paso.  From the mountain tops, looking down into the valley, you can't tell where El Paso stops, and Juarez begins.  Both are huge. 
  As we were driving around, looking for a parking place to go to the museum, we happened upon the local shopping area for the Mexicans.  I would call it "Mexi-town".  Several long streets with many local retail shops, with lots of shoppers, all with inexpensive goods, small dark shops, and shop keepers outside inviting folks in.  We saw NO white Caucasians, only Latin-looking folks.  There were more tourists in Chinatown in San Francisco, than we saw here.  Peter wanted to walk the bridge over into Mexico, but I had no interest in going into the city of Juarez.  I believed it looks a lot like the city of El Paso, and I've heard it is not safe for tourists.  However, Peter wanted to talk to the border police person who was stationed on the dead end main road right at the bridge.  So, I let him off, and circled the neighborhood.  Too many reminiscences of Peace Corps in 3rd world countries. 
  This bridge used to be easy to go between cities.  Sort of like the bridge in Detroit over to Windsor.  Now, the Border Patrol person said it would take around 2 hours waiting on the other side to walk back over the bridge to El Paso. 
  We toured the Art Museum.  It was located in a beautiful, large,  new building.  It had some really interesting pieces, but I was surprised at how few pieces were being displayed in such a large space.  Their walk plaques state they have some huge collections, but are only displaying a few--not sure why.
  We then drove along the Scenic Rim drive, along the foothills of the Franklin Mountain range located on the west side of the city.  Very nice views of El Paso and Juarez on the valley floor.  The drive had a few overlook parks, and you could tell this is one of the places where the 1% lives.  I guess, like any big city, there are areas that are really depressing and areas developed for the more well-off. 
  Finally, we drove over to Camping World to pick up a few RV items.  I guess there are some good things associated with big cities, after all.
  Dinner "home" and we watched the movie "Harriet".  A really well done movie about Harriet Tubman.  We were going to go back out and experience a Texas bar with live music, but they don't usually start until too late.

El Paso Art Museum photos:

Streets of "Mexi-town" photos;

El Paso Scenic Rim drive photos: