Ok, so time for Round 2 of 2 on my New Mexico Posts (since we were only there a few days). The day after we ventured through the Living Desert State Park and after a fabulous night out and stay in Carlsbad we drove to
Carlsbad Caverns National Park. What a hyperventilating good time!
The drive just getting up to the top to go down to the bottom is amazing. You're driving through these gorgeous canyons and you sit and think "Wow, this is amazing." Let me tell you though, the wind up there, man, hold onto your hats! I had actually thought of bringing an umbrella and trying the whole Mary Poppins routine, but I really did not want to add a trip to the ER to my memories of New Mexico.
Once you get inside the visitor's center and pay the admission, you will walk through the building and read the displays and all the educational facts. Oh, and my suggestion to you, rent the audio equipment. It's $5.00 per person and worth the rental. Along the whole route to get to the caverns an through the caverns, there are numbers posted that you enter into the device and then listen as it talks about the area you are at. Some of them earned a giggle, or should I say laugh?
Then finally....
I promise once you get down into the whole, it won't smell so bad. I mean what can you expect when 300,000 bats fly out of there every night for months. Be sure you have a good jacket on when you get ready to descend down into the cavern since it runs consistently in the 50-something degree range. You can also have water, but nothing flavored.
This was my favorite of the rock formations. Appropriately named "Whale Mouth," it really does look like the inside of one. At times it was hard to take pictures because it gets pretty dark down there and flash can, well let's just say it, be a bother. At least to me.
Water plays a key part in the formation of all the stalactites inside the caverns. Educational Fact: it takes about 2 months for one drop, yes just one drop, of rain water to make it all the way down to the caverns. But what can you expect when you are 750 feet below the ground.
There was so much variation in the different formations and it was absolutely amazing to just be inside of there and look at this wonder. I can also get how claustrophobic people would have a difficult time inside of here. It's not necessarily that you are in close quarters (there was maybe one small space you walked through). I think it is more of a "I'm 750 feet below the dirt and rocks" kind of issues.
It takes about an hour and a half (depending on how fast you walk) to get all the way to the bottom if you choose to enter through the natural entrance (def suggest doing this). You can, though, take the elevator down and just tour what they call the "Big Room." The big room will take you another hour and a half to walk through.
Once you are finished you can make your way towards the elevators, if you don't want to stop and eat at the cafe down at the bottom. The elevator will take you up the 750 feet in about a minute. Yes people, 1 minute. The whole time we were inside, J kept saying "Babe, look out the window." Fat chance! I do not like elevators, let alone one that is moving that fast.
Last but not least, be sure to get your Carlsbad Caverns National Park stamp in the bookstore before you leave. That way you can show off the fancy stamp when you get home.
I wish that my Grandma was still alive so we could talk about Carlsbad. She went there herself when she was a kid with my Great Grandparents and Great Aunt. It would have been interesting to see how much it had changed from her visit to mine.
New Mexico, you were amazing and fabulous. Cannot wait to come enjoy your great state again.
