Day 3 - Roswell - Carlsbad Caverns - Albuquerque, NM - July 18, 2009

Hi everyone..... from New Mexico where the cactus are abundant!



We had a leisurely morning today. We also had a little change in plans as we decided at breakfast to go to the Carlsbad Caverns. It was a fabulous idea... just a little bit of a backtrack as it was south of Roswell! (Ten points for you if you already knew that!) Back through Artesia and Carlsbad and then West. Would have been better timed to do it yesterday on our way up but we just didn’t think about it because well... we had gotten up at 4:45 am and the brains weren’t working all that well.



Before we left Roswell, we did make it to the UFO International Museum and Research Center. Up close and personal with aliens. Sometimes, I think I live with a few aliens (and definitely work with a few too! :-). Anyway, back to the museum. It was somewhat interesting. I suppose if you are a UFO nut, you’d probably really enjoy it. We found it interesting but didn’t stay around all day and watch all the videos you can watch. Just enough to explain to the kids what it was all about, buy Stephen a magnet for his collection and a postcard for the scrapbook!



Question: Do you think there really are UFO’s and aliens and that the government covered it up?

Once finished with the UFO museum, we made our way back south along the same tracks we had already come the day before yet this time we went West at Carlsbad about 20 miles to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Not sure I had everyone’s buy-in for this stop, but we ended up having a really good time here so I believe we were all happy we made the detour.

Main reason - it was so much cooler inside the cave than outside the cave - 57 degrees. I think that’s it main draw when it’s 100 degrees (like it was today) outside. Yes, the coolness is a benefit, but it was really neat and interesting inside the cave as well. You start down a continuous looping pathway that sometime slopes steeply downwards as you descend into the cavern. We walked down about 750 feet into the cavern which is equivalent to about 75 floors in a building. Just not doing it by stairs, just pathway in the dark mostly with a rail along the way. The climate in the cavern is a consistent 57 degrees but 90% humidity! So, even though it’s cool, the humidity keeps everything (and you) just a little on the moist side!! Of course, that level of humidity doesn’t really bother us Houstonians much, but you should have heard the other people complaining about it!! LOL... Tons of stalagmites, stalactites and tons of other formations. A couple of pictures here ... TONS more in the gallery (just in case you didn’t get enough of limestone formations).

My photography class sure did come in handy as in the dark with little light, I knew exactly what to do with my camera to get a desirable picture - or at least several that we could live with! YAY Karen Russell!! There is only one picture I used a flash for. All the others were captured without flash and it's not as bright as it might look on the pictures. I had my ISO cranked way up to 3200 to get these pictures and using a 50mm lens at f1.4 (wide open). My pics will likely be grainy, but they aren't bad!



Our old friend, Blackie, is back with us for our Road Trip. For those of you who didn’t follow us on our Road Trip 2007, Blackie is our bear friend who came along with us through Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier. He enjoyed seeing his siblings in real life. We didn’t. :-) He decided to join us on this trip as well. Hopefully, he doesn’t seek out his brothers and sisters in the Colorado clan to come visit.

For those of you wondering just how we did for many, many hours in the jeep with all 4 of us! Well, only a few times did I have to threaten to leave a kid on the side of the road.... or put them on a plane in Albuquerque heading home. Luckily, they think I’m serious. They are pretty smart that way.

Here’s a quiz for you!! Be the first to guess all the types of electronic gadgets we brought along and in some case, the number of each.... there might be a prize for the winner. Then again... there might not. :-) Just for fun. I’ll reveal in a day or two.

Arrived into Albuquerque for the evening around 10:45 pm. John the Great is doing laundry at 11:52 pm. Yes, he’s a dream and he’s mine. :-)

PS - forgot to mention that we went through some incredible storms on the way from Roswell to Albuqueque. The kind where lightning streaks across the sky horizontally and everything! I tried to capture a few pictures of the storm and sun. It was kind of cool watching it. John would probably say not as cool driving in it. :-)

Temperature Check for Today
Low - ?? not sure, we were still sleeping
High - 100 degrees (we weren’t sleeping for this one)

Interesting Comments Captured Today
MA - “Stephen, come stand by your relatives for a picture!” As I strategically placed him by the Aliens picture.


MA - “Duck!” to John as we were walking through Caves and had to duck to go through a tunnel
John - “Do they teach you anything at school?” - upon receiving blank stares from the kids when asking some science questions about stalagmites and stalactites and basic chemical reactions. Yes, they have already forgotten what they learned last year.

Pictures for your Enjoyment




For my friends following from work, I'm even looking out for Mr. Wells here in Roswell!! WFB played a role in the 2002 Dig by storing all the "stuff" in a lockbox in Roswell. Interesting, huh!


Pictures from the Cave - many, many, many more in the Gallery on the right!

Next Stop - Durango, CO!! (and let's hope some cooler temps!)