Carlsbad Caverns is a must-see!

[jrgwdenner]

We went through the Caverns today. What an unbelievable place! The self-guided tour was free with our Golden Age Pass. The King's Palace tour is guided by a ranger and the price was $4.00, half of the regular price. Sometimes it pays to be old. The caverns are in a very desolate area so be sure you fill your tanks before the drive.

There is an RV park at the entrance to the drive to the Caverns. The next closest parks are in Carlsbad.

[ragdoll]

Judy, so glad you enjoyed the Caverns. I haven't been there in years but it is lovely and as you said a "must see". You are right it is very desolate out there and you wonder if you will ever get there.

Safe travels.
Lorraine

[bsmeaton]

Judy,

Did you stick around at dusk near the entrance to watch the bats come out? I went there about 35 years ago - all I remember was the dark when they turned out the lights, the bats coming out of cave like a tornado, and bats flying around at the RV park.

[jrgwdenner]

I think the bats have migrated south so we weren't able to see any. We didn't see many people either! There were more park rangers than there were visitors.....a nice situation as I'm sure it is terribly busy during the tourist season. We almost had the caverns to ourselves.

[rak]

Judy, glad you enjoyed the caverns. The bats are one of the neatest things to watch. To bad you did not get to see them. It has been several years sense we have been there.
Have a great day.
Dick

[bob n pam]

Didn't you just feel small when you got to the bottom of the caverns? If you get a chance, try to see Kartchner Caverns near Benson, Arizona. They are living caverns where Carlsbad is dead. Very interesting.

[Mac]

Judy,

We've been there a half dozen times over the years, never ceases to amaze us. You're right though as you're driving there you can't believe there could be ANYTHING out in that lonely stretch of no where! We usually try and hit the White Sands on the way back, that's pretty darned cool too, you can take pictures and it looks like they were taken in the snow.

mac

[jrgwdenner]

Thanks for the encouragement to see Kartchner Caverns, Bob and Pam. We thought maybe the Carlsbad Caverns would have been enough but I think we'll have to see the living caverns, too.

White Sands will have to be on our to do list.

[judyuk]

Judy,
I was born and raised in Carlsbad (50's and 60's, but who's counting. Most of the high school kids worked summers there and were bussed out in the Potash Mines buses between taking miners to and from work. I was lucky and had a job at Zales in downtown Carlsbad. My family did all the terrazo and tile work in the buildings at the Caverns in additon to the Carlsbad High School, hospitals, court house and just about everything else from the 40's through the 70's. The main economy then was the potash mines and some are still in business. My father was a mine foreman and his office was 850 feet underground. If you're driving from Hobbs to Carlsbad, about 15 miles out of Carlsbad, across that ugly flat desert....underneath are miles of potash works with hundreds of miners. It doesn't seem possible.
Also, Dan Blocker, (Hoss on Bonanza) taught 6th grade in Carlsbad. The year I was in 1st grade was his last teaching and he was a good friend of my Aunt and Uncle. He also was a really nice guy and I remember climbing on him at recess, literally. He was like a huge jungle jim and got a kick out of all the kids. When he left to make his mark on Hollywood, he had let his hair grow long (for him anyway, especially then, and yes he did have some hair as he hoped to be a Shakespearean actor.....and you know the rest!
Just a little inside trivia Like most kids, I couldn't wait to leave what I considered a small town in the middle of nowhere and have only been back a couple of times since then. Seems like I always miss the class reunions and my immediate family is no longer there. It's on my list though when we tour that part of the country.
Judy

[jrgwdenner]

What an interesting post, Judy. In fact, as Glen and I were driving across the desert to El Paso (desolate but pretty in it's own way) we wondered what had been Created under that desert as all the earth seems to have some value. Now we know....potash! Around the desolate area of Fort Worth they are finding huge pockets of natural gas. Everything has value. Thanks for that bit of history.

[judyuk]

You're right....everything has some redeeming quality....some are just harder to see than others!
Another bit of trivia, Glen Campbell's first wife was from Carlsbad. Vivian Vance's sister lived in Carlsbad and Vivian visited her often. I think this was when she introduced this part of the country to other Hollywood celebrities, especially the four corners in Northern NM. Remember Bruce Cabot (that's going back aways. His mother lived here and it wasn't unusual to see her driving in reverse through the neigborbood.....why, I don't know.....but everyone always said "watch out, here comes Mrs. Bujac."
Don't think she could have gotten away with that these days!

On the highway between Carlsbad and El Paso, did you notice the tarantulas on the road? Generally when the weather's cold, the sun heats the roads and the tarantulas head for the heat. That part of the country is known for having more tarantulas in North America than anywhere else. YUCK! We used to stop at a coffee shop called Cornudas(sp) which was only one of two places in the hundred and sixty miles between Carlsbad and El Paso. I remember getting out of the car and having to watch where I walked as there were quite a few of them around. Don't know if it's still like that or not.

[jrgwdenner]

Fortunately, we missed the tarantulas but we have seen them migrate across the road in Texas and it's quite a sight.

We didn't even notice a coffee shop on the drive, but maybe I blinked. LOL! For sure people better fill up their tanks before they make that drive.