Thursday 6Feb20 Carlsbad Caverns

Day 21

I got up at 8:30 and fixed the usual breakfast. Drove the rest of the way to the entrance to the caverns then drove the seven miles to the Visitor's Center. All the guided tours were booked and the self guided tour through the natural entrance was closed due to ice but the lady at the ticket booth told me it may open later I got a ticket which was completely free with my senior park pass but the audio-tour device cost $5 to rent. I got in the elevator and road down the 800 feet to the cave floor. There were not many people there. I walked the mile Big Room Trail. Carlsbad Cavern isn't the #1 cavern in any category, such as size but it is one of the prettiest ones I have been in. Mammoth Cave is much bigger but it doesn't have near as many formations. This was the third time I was in the cave. Once in 1966 with my Mom, Dad and three sisters, and several years later somewhere around 1996 with Alison and Zack. Both times we also went to White Sands.

What I remember most about the first time was eating chicken at the bottom of the cave. I remember the cafeteria being huge and there were hundreds of people eating. I also remember that our guide said we wouldn't see any bats, but right at the entrance sure enough there was a bat. We were on a guided tour and at one point the guide shut all the lights off. He made the point that you couldn't see your hanb held out right in front of your face.

The only thing I recall about the second trip is that when we got back to the truck and camper we had a flat on one of the back tires.. I tried to jack the truck up with the jack that was in the truck but it couldn't lift the weight of the camper. Luckily there was someone there with a bigger hydraulic jack. I as saddened that I don't remember anything about that time especially since Zack was a young child.

After the Big Room Tour I went back to the RT to let the dogs out and fix some lunch, burritos again. After lunch I went back to go on the Natural Entrance Tour. I arrived at 2:33 and was informed that the last self guided tour ticket had to be purchased by 2:30. I pleeded my case that it was not available earlier and they finally let me go. It was kinda nice being late because I had the whole cave to myself.

Going through the Natural Entrance brought back fond memories of being there as a child. I had a great childhood and often which I could experience it all again.

When I got back to the Big Room Trail I headed straight for the elevator up. Once up I walked back to the RT and drove back to Carlsbad. I found the McDonald's there and had coffee while updating my budget. After coffee I went back to Walmart and bought some groceries. I also fueled up.

I drove towards Midland Texas but stopped and parked at a pull out about an hour away from Midland. I had a piece of apple pie and fed the dogs. I wrote this days entry and got in bed.