Carlsbad Caverns - 3/18

Today, we had to get up really early, in order to leave our campsite site by 7:15am. Thankfully, we changed time zones last night, so it was kind of like having to leave by 8:15 AM to get to Carlsbad Caverns when they opened at 8 AM. Bonus: getting to see the sunrise!

We ended up getting there a little late but it was not too crowded. Last night at camp, a lady told me they had come yesterday (Friday) and it was an hour wait to go down the elevator and another hour wait to come back up out of the cavern. I had figured that Saturday would be worse.

Scott is the only one who has been here before and he took the elevator down so today we decided to take the natural entrance.

It is 800 feet to the bottom...

so, quite a few switchbacks!

Here are some of the formations we saw and learned to identify.

So interesting. The kids were asking Scott how far apart this stalactite and stalagmite (below) were last time he came! When we clarified it was only a few years ago they were disappointed.

 

 

So funny to be walking through and have the kids go... "Look at that flowstone!" (below) or "Check out that drapery!" (above)

I was amazed at the underground infrastructure... bathrooms, snackbar, etc!

We did take the elevator back up. I was surprised they were regular size elevators - small even. I expected freight elevators, but I suppose drilling through all that rock presents challenges I am unaware of!

The kids all became junior cave scientists in addition to junior rangers. They were able to pull from their memories of Wind Cave and will be more prepared when we get to Mammoth Cave later on the trip.

We really enjoyed the caverns and by the time we left at 1:30, the entire parking lot was full and there was a line at least one mile long to get in! Then we were really thankful that we got an early start!

On our way back to camp, right outside the caverns, we passed the only convenience store where you could get any groceries within 60 miles. So I bought a half gallon of milk for $3.50 to get us through the next two days. The lady jokingly said, "This better be the best milk you ever tasted." And I honestly replied, "I'm just thankful that I didn't have to drive another 25 miles to get milk."