Monday 19 April 2010

We decided since there was a 30% chance of rain today and 50% tonight that we would go ahead and see Carlsbad Caverns. Tomorrow should be a better day for outdoor pictures.

I forgot to mention that on Saturday it rained while we were at Ft. Stockton RV Park. There was a 30% chance of rain then too and it rained for several hours.

Our trip started out with very overcast skies. As we got closer to the caverns it became difficult to see through the mist... I think we were in a cloud on the mountains.

We were brave and took the Natural Entrance tour first. It is a self-guided tour and we paid to use the recordings ($3 each) that add a bit more to the tour. Admission is free this week in celebration of National Park Week.

The Natural Entrance tour is 99% downhill and very steep. It was enjoyable with only a few people passing us. We really took our time. Frank told me that tour was only a mile. It seemed like a lot more. We took a break at the lunchroom area and then headed on to the Big Room tour. Frank also says that tour was a mile... a very long mile it was. It was up and down with only a few really steep places. We spent over four hours touring the caverns. It was very beautiful. I love to look back to where we just walked from... it was "oh... that is so pretty" from me :-))

We tried to look for a souvenir in the gift shop, but we were just too tired. We went back to the truck and ate our peanut butter sandwiches. Then on the drive back we took a 500 yard hike up a hill and took a few pictures.

Then home we came and sat down and watched tv and ate some soup. I edited a few pictures. I haven't done the ones I took today. I just don't have the energy. I'll eventually get them up... if any of them are not blurred or too bright. Sometimes the flash seemed to be a bit too much so I tried some shots without the flash. Hopefully I got a couple of acceptable pictures. They are offering a photograph class on photographing the caverns and I would pay the money to take it if we were going to be here then.

Time to upload this and rest for another adventure.

We probably shouldn't haven't hiked such steep trails... our bodies hurt. We hope to be able to move our bodies tomorrow :-))