CANMT Trip: Carlbad Caverns

 We left Roswell, stopped in Carlsbad for lunch, then arrived at the Carlsbad Caverns.

 We stamped our passports, got a Jr. Ranger packet for Mel, and used our annual pass )for the second time) to get our tickets. We had to go through a Visitor's Center area to get to the elevator and Melodie can not pass up photo op. She loves things where she can put her face in a picture.

 We took the elevator because we weren't going to have as much time as originally planned since we stayed in Roswell for part of the morning. I would have liked to because I think it would have given Melodie more of an understanding that we were in a cave. The elevator was a lot quicker. It takes less than a minute to go down 740 feet. Then we were in the Underground Rest Area, where there was a snack bar, gift shop and restrooms. In a cave. It was a little strange to see all of that in a cave.

We started our walk of The Big Room.

The three of us instantly loved the cave. Melodie walked the whole way. She did great! She loved hearing the water drip. I thought it was interesting that there weren't any colored lights, but there were so many colors! I didn't expect that. Rocky just loved being in a cave.

                                                                                                         Hall of Giants

                                                                                                          Rock of Ages

Then we went back up to the Visitor's Center Area where we watched a video and Mel completed her Jr. Ranger booklet.

The ranger signs Melodie's certificate

Melodie repeats the pledge.

I think that as a family, this was one of our favorite places. We all enjoyed it. We had a five hour drive to our motel in Abilene, TX. Once we entered Texas we lost another hour to the time zones.

We were finally in Texas!