#5 explore carlsbad caverns

before entering the cave     

#5 became another new mexico exploration. i went to el paso, tx to spend valentine's weekend with my best friend while my boyfriend is out of the country. the trick is to stay distracted, right?

we climbed the franklin mountains once more before i searched for fun adventures nearby. at the top of the list was carlsbad caverns. so my best friend, who will always be up for any adventure i throw her way- love you kimmy- and i took a little road trip to new mexico. once again, i lucked out. not only was it valentine's day weekend, but it was also president's day weekend. per usual, we were cutting it close with time. the caverns stop allowing guests to go down to the caverns on the natural trail at 2pm sharp. you can take the elevator down up until 3:30pm, but who wants to do that? with only 10 minutes to spare, we arrived around 1:50pm. making the cut-off was our first stroke of luck. we walked over to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets, and the smiling lady behind the glass informed us that there was no entry fee during president's day weekend. this was our second stroke of luck. with ten extra bucks in each of our pockets, we cheerily walked to the entrance of the cave.

<3

the whole time i couldn't help but think i was entering the cave of wonders. i kept hearing "touch nothing but the lamp." to my dismay i found no traces of a flying carpet or magical lamp and trust me, i looked. what i did find was one beautiful sight after another. once i got over the fact i was not in the movie aladdin, the more rocks and formations i saw, the more i just wanted to climb on top of everything. the inner kid in me was out in full force. of course, doing that would be "interfering with nature" and was prohibited. fighting the urge was a true challenge, but i did it. for the most part, i only climbed once. okay, twice.

such a cool place!

once inside, the caverns were extremely dark and humid. i would recommend bringing some water along with you. there's a lot of walking and once you're down there, you'll be down there for a while. the darkness made it difficult to take pictures, but we did our best. the pathway has very minimal lighting. normally, i'm a big ole chicken in dark places but with so many people around, i survived. i quickly learned you have to pay attention to your step because you can't see very far ahead of you and a set of stairs would make a surprise visit every now and then. the entire place echoed and again, my inner kid wanted to shout at the top of my lungs so i could test it out. but i didn't. loud voices weren't allowed.

i'm a little tea pot?

there are multiple routes you can take once in the caverns. each room is labeled and the path is lined with plaques that contain fun facts and history about the formations surrounding you. these really were pretty neat to read.

unfortunately we did not encounter any bats, which the cavern is well-known for. the bats were mid-migration. if this is something that would make or break your trip, plan accordingly. for us, we had a great time, bats or no bats. who would have thought walking around and looking at a bunch of old rocks would have made for such an incredible time? i can't wait to go back and when i do it will be on strings, spelunking through that place!

to learn more about the carlsbad caverns click here: http://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm

o sweet spontaneous earth.

e. e. cummings