As we made our way West, there were a couple of places that intrigued us and we had to explore them on the way home. Carlsbad Caverns and the White Sands Monument - both in New Mexico.
Carlsbad Caverns is a National Park in Southern New Mexico. 700-800 feet below the Earth's surface are giant caverns that go on for what seems like forever. We took an elevator down to the floor of the caverns and walked the 1.5 mile trail inside the cavern. We all agreed that it was a bit creepy to be this far below the surface, but awesome at the same time! The formations and designs were so amazing and different! There were so many tunnels and paths, but the one that we all agreed was the most impressive was the Big Room. This "room" was 3,800 feet long and 600 feet wide, and filled with stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes! After exploring this side of the cavern, we decided to hike down the Natural Entrance, which leads to another area of this underworld creation. Now we must tell you that there was a tremendous wind storm as we drove up to the park, but we never thought that the wind would have an impact on our visit to the caverns - well... we were wrong! As we neared the bottom of this entrance - we were about 600 feet below the surface - the lights suddenly went out and it was pitch black! Yikes!!! A few moments later, the emergency lights clicked on, but they were very dim. We had a quick family meeting and decided to hike out of the cavern instead of taking the elevator out. And I am glad that we did! When we finally got back to the Visitor's Center, they had no power - the wind had knocked out the power and they had some trouble with the generator system. We asked about those who took the elevator, and how this effects them. "Oh, the elevator stops when the power goes out" was their answer. The elevator shaft is cut out of rock and there is no way out. That's just not right! I am so glad that we decided to "hoof it" out of there. The wind was terrible all day, but we braved it so we could get closer to our destination for the following day - White Sands National Monument.
White Sands is a most interesting place - it looks like snow in the middle of the desert! It is actually a fine gypsum sand that is formed in the area, and is not found in any other area. The "dunes" area encompasses 275 square miles! That's huge! And the stillness of the air was amazing. It was so quiet out there. So we took our sleds out to the desert - doesn't that sound strange - and cruised down the dunes. We had a blast! We laughed and hollered as we tumbled down these giant sand hills.
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