Wednesday July 28, 2010-Carlsbad RV Park & Campground

Here are the boys just before we went into the caverns. It was very hot outside, in the 90's but the temperature in the cave was posted at 37. It is also very humid in the cave, so its a refreshing change from the outside temps.

Here is everyone but MeMaw taking photos. I am actually using her camera, so perhaps one of my children will find it in their heart to give poor old dad a new camers for Christmas. (Shamelessly hinting for a gift)

Here is one of the many beautiful rock formations found in the cave. Some are shaped like animals, some like ice cream cones, all shapes and sizes. They are all caused by the water that erodes the rocks into shapes and colors.

There are just so many formations, it would be impossible for me to put them all in this blog. One of the things I noticed was that there are many different colors in the cave, but I read that they use only white lights and the colors seen are because of the coloring of the rocks.

We had thought about hanging around for the bat flight that starts at dusk, but as soon as we got back outside, we were greeted by very loud thunder and lightning and a very ominous storm cloud, pictured above from the truck as we were leaving. We got a lot of rain when we got home, and the power went out for a few minutes.

This was our first full day here in Carlsbad NM. I woke and had my coffee and woke the boys for our trip to the caverns. Tyler was a big sleepyhead this morning, and I found out that he had stayed up way late last night and couldn't wake this morning. We ate breakfast here in the trailer but the boys didn't want to go early. We left here about 2 o'clock for the 20 mile drive to the caves.

After exploring the "Big Room" of the cave, we came back to Carlsbad and ate supper at a place called Happy's. It's a large-portion restaurant that is in a building that looks like it began as a Stuckey's due to the shape of the building and parking lot. The food was really good, even though everything is served on throw-away plates with plastic dinnerware and styrofoam cups. They also serve breakfast all day, so we'll probably try that one morning. It began storming on us while we ate, so we hurried on home when we finished eating. Cassie doesn't like being alone in the trailer during a rain storm, especially one with thunder and lightning. Sure enough, she was very glad to see us, and of course, wouldn't go outside in the rain. As soon as it stopped, she was ready to go though. As I said before, the power went out for about ten or fifteen minutes, so it wasn't long enough to cause a problem.

Tyler and Cameron went swimming again and wanted me to go with them, but I was tired from the 1.3 mile walk around the big room, so I went to bed early. Cam must have been tired too because he came back and went to bed too. It was a good day and the boys enjoyed themselves.

So long.