Day 6: Carlsbad Caverns

 

We visited Carlsbad Caverns today, one of the biggest attractions we had planned for the trip. The visit consisted of taking an elevator down 800 feet below ground level, then walking on a path from one end of the "Big Room" to the other and back. And it really is a big room; I stopped and took several pictures, but the walk around the room took more than an hour and racked up 6,000 steps. It is definitely worth a visit, but be prepared to walk. Jackie walked halfway and took the shortcut back, but even that is a good hike.

Total cost, by the way, was $2 to reserve two spots - they only let so many people in every day. My senior National Parks pass covered the rest.

The other highlight was Roswell, New Mexico. I knew that Roswell was known for alien visits, but I was not expecting to see alien portrayals all over town. Half the businesses in Roswell have pictures of aliens on their storefronts. One thing I noticed: all the aliens depicted are bright green, with black eyes and no hair. Since aliens could look like anything, but everyone has the same idea of them, you have to think that the residents of Roswell have either met these guys or had similar visions of them; it can't be coincidence that everyone's picture of them looks the same.

For the first time on the trip, we ate at a real restaurant for dinner - Mexican food, and it was a treat.

Tomorrow, into Texas (our seventh state) and on to San Antonio.