Day 6 – July 2nd, 2013
Carlsbad, NM – Las Cruces, NM
255 miles/4 ½ hours
Temperature – high of 85 (it has really cooled off! – I’m
chilly, most of the time)
Springhill Suites Las Cruces, Rooms 310/312
Poor Rich got up at 3a.m., so he could get some work
done. I guess this won’t be a true
vacation for him, after all. I took the
kids to breakfast when we woke up, so he could work in peace. Then I loaded the car and we were headed to
Carlsbad Caverns.
The caverns are in the middle of nowhere! But it sure is pretty. The vistas from the top of the mountain are
awesome. We barely made our tour, as we
took so long taking pictures of the view.
The tour group consisted of 55 people and the guide urged us to not be
too loud, as voices echo. Yes, thank you
for putting me on the edge, lady. I was
bracing myself for Barrett’s rendition of Rubber Dubbers the whole time. Little did I know that would be the least of
my anxiety.
The caves are amazing.
They were only discovered just over a hundred years ago, which is pretty
unreal, considering there’s archeological proof that they are thousands of
years old. The pictures I took don’t do
it justice. The stalagmites in the cave
are almost like crystal chandeliers. It
was very cold down there, I was freezing.
We were a mile underground, which I tried not to think about.
At one point on the tour, they turned the lights out – and it
was true darkness. I have no idea how a
16 year old (the age of the man who discovered the Caverns in 1897) would have
had the gumption to enter the cave, with just a lantern. It was during the dark period, that we had “the
incident”. After the lights went out, someone in my
family – wasn’t me, I know it wasn’t Cammy, because he was sitting on my lap,
wasn’t Bear, because he would have recited his standard comment when this
happens, so it was one of the other three, who mortified me. Based on the snickers, my money is on Hunter
or Rich. Well, we are in complete
darkness, and it is very, very quiet – until we hear _______. Can you guess what the sound was? Yep.
And they just laughed. If it hadn’t
been totally black with darkness, I would have been able to tell who it was, based
on the face. I literally can’t take them
anywhere.
After the caverns, we started our journey to Las Cruces, but
then saw a sign that indicated there would be no gas stations for 150 miles –
so back to the city of Carlsbad we went….a 50 mile round trip. Sucked.
The drive southwest, back to Texas, around El Paso, and
north to Las Cruces was beautiful. Well
to be honest, parts of El Paso are most definitely not beautiful. I know you must be sick of my musings about
this, but it is truly part of God’s country.
We are so lucky to do this and I am so sad that some people will never
see it. The topography of the country is
so varied and so amazing.
In Las Cruces, we just checked in, swam, and then walked to
Applebee’s for dinner. We were tired!
Quote of the Day:
Audrey: “There is something wrong with this family.” This after Barrett passed gas at the dinner
table, giving his standard tag line, “Did you fart? Say excuse me.” Then Camden smelled his butt to verify?! Then he dramatically fell back on the booth,
breathlessly declaring, “Yep.” Why I’m
telling you this, I do not know.
"Get your motor runnin'...."
Wide open spaces!
Rich's ___ in the cave still has me crying :) Thanks for causing my coffee to come out of my nose.
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