Thursday July 23, 2009

Up at the crack of dawn! (Being married to a farmer does at times have it's drawbacks!!) Breakfast at Denny's and then off to the Cavarns. Dreary socked in misty day. Remember we are in the desert. Humidity is NOT supposed to be 87%!!!!!

By the time we got to the information center at the Cave you could not see two feet in front of you.

We decided to take the whole self guided tour. Three hours and about 4 miles later we were back in the parking lot.

It was beautiful and if you ever get here, I would suggest that you make the trip. I had my pedometer with me so I know exactly how far we walked and thankfully, it was all down hill. Took us an hour and a half to get to the natural cave entrance. The only problem was dodging bird poop from the cave dwelling swallows that were not thrilled that we were there and interupting their morning routine. The further down you got the damper it got and the cooler it got. Denny took lots of pictures and we saw lots of really neat formations. When we finally got to the "BIG ROOM" we realized we still had another mile and a half to go. Remember down hill, but even that gets old after awhile. My calves feel like I ran a marathon. At the orientation that the ranger gives you before you start your trek he reminds you that there is at least 3 miles of walking between the restrooms. The rangers do have "convenience" bags but they are neither convenient or private. Again they may work for a male but I would have trouble and so would any other female. I saw shades of the movie where Mel Brooks hands the Flight Attendant his barf bag after his plane trip and I'm sure most people try not to ask for them.

I also surpressed the urge to be a Becky Thatcher and scream my head off like she did, after getting lost in the cave with Tom Sawyer. But again at the orientation the ranger tells you to use a low whisper because voices travel through the whole cave. So I had to give up on that idea too. It was weird you really could hear conversations like they were right next to you.

We got to the last restrooms and thankfully took the elevator up the 750 feet to the information center. There I got Ricky his picture of the bats leaving the cave and postcards for the other 3 grandkids.

We set off for Socorro, NM. By way of Roswell and a very scenic route through the mountains. We passed the White Sands missile range and passed the Trinity site where the "bomb" was tested. Trinity is only opened 2 days a year, so we didn't see that, bummer!!!!

Lots of sunflowers, sagebrush, cacti and pecan trees. Even saw a few corn fields.

Tomorrow we are off to Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

If anyone can tell me why my pictures aren't showing up on this blog I would appreciate any and all instructions!!!!!!