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| We made it out of Texas...finally! |
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| One of the hundreds of oil wells along the way |
We both expected Carlsbad to be a larger town than it actually is. It appears to be populated almost totally by oil workers, as is the RV park we stayed in last night. We were a little disappointed when we rolled in here yesterday afternoon, so we're going to head on up the road this morning.
The world famous Carlsbad Caverns is as exciting for Stacy as Disneyland. For Jack, not so much. So Stacy took the 2-hour trip underground...and had a blast. Jack did a little reading.
The rangers carefully screen every visitor to make sure they have not been in other caverns recently because of the white-nose fungus that is decimating bat populations all over the Eastern USA. MILLIONS of bats have died so far, and the fungus keeps spreading. Since the only caverns we visited were Jewell Caves in South Dakota, we were cleared to go. Also, since the bats at Carlsbad migrate to Mexico during the winter (not so dumb, huh?) and don't hibernate in the caves, they are much less susceptible to the disease. Still, the rangers are cautious.
The rangers carefully screen every visitor to make sure they have not been in other caverns recently because of the white-nose fungus that is decimating bat populations all over the Eastern USA. MILLIONS of bats have died so far, and the fungus keeps spreading. Since the only caverns we visited were Jewell Caves in South Dakota, we were cleared to go. Also, since the bats at Carlsbad migrate to Mexico during the winter (not so dumb, huh?) and don't hibernate in the caves, they are much less susceptible to the disease. Still, the rangers are cautious.
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| Cave entrance, discovered by a farm boy in the early 1900's when he saw what looked like a large plume of smoke in the distance. Upon investigation, it turned out to be a swarm of BATS leaving a large cave. |
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A hint from Evan's preschool days about how to remember which way stalagmites and stalactites go:
"When the mites go UP, the tites come DOWN".
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The self-guided tour was remarkable! You can enter through the natural entrance and walk down into the cavern, or take an elevator down 750 feet. Stacy walked in. The paved walkway winds down, down, down through dark, minimally-lit grottoes, around boulders, past "decorations", and finally into the "Big Room" which is the size of 14 football fields, and hundreds of feet high, lined with incredible formations.
On to Roswell...and hopefully alien encounters!
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