Carlsbad Caverns

Saturday, February 16 - Sunday, February 17

We made it to New Mexico after our mouth-watering BBQ and scenic drive through West Texas.  By the time we crossed the border it was dark, and we were on what appeared to be the ONLY road around--a one-lane highway that stretched for miles and miles.  It was almost eerie driving through the flat expanse of southern New Mexico at night, because it just looked like blackness surrounding us.

As we drove, we noticed many cars in the opposite direction flashing their high-beams at us.  It became so frequent that we stopped to make sure we didn't have a headlight out.  We affirmed that nothing appeared wrong with the car, but we still had flashers as we drove.  Has this ever happened to anyone? It still baffles us why they could've been flashing us.  I don't have those insanely bright or bluish headlights or anything.

Anyway, after driving through the vast black nothingness that is southern New Mexico at night, we finally reached our destination of Carlsbad, NM, and ate dinner at a Chili's literally right in front of our hotel.  The next morning we woke up, checked out, and drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park--the thing that brought us to Carlsbad in the first place.  The Carlsbad Caverns are these HUGE caves in the Guadalupe mountains or the Chihuahuan Desert in NM.  The Caverns are filled with cave formations (ie stalactites, stalagmites) that create a beautiful scene.  I can hardly work out a description for these natural works of art--the best description I can muster is to compare it to an underground, natural cathedral (if that makes any sense).  Perhaps a sampling of the pictures I got would do a better job at describing the caverns:

The first to enter into the mountain and discover the beauty of the caverns indoors was a man named Jim White, at age 16, sometime in the late 1800s.  I can't imagine wandering into this underground world without a path to walk on or lights illuminating the way!  The spectacular view of the caverns today is thanks in part to a theatrical lighting technician who worked on Broadway that came in to light the caverns.  Turns out that cave studies are freaking awesome!!  I learned in the caverns that studying (bacteria in) caves helps scientists get a better understanding for what life may be on Mars, and also that certain bacteria (or maybe enzymes? can't quite remember) in caves may help scientists discover a cure for cancer, because it decomposes certain cells while preserving others.  But besides the obvious advances possible through studying caves, I learned that cave explorers are basically a group of total bad-asses.  We heard one story of how and explorer sent rope up to a dome hundreds of feet above them with a helium balloon, draped it over a stalactite, and proceeded to climb up and explore the unknown area of the dome after only a few tugs on the rope to "be sure of" it's security.  Also, a group of explorers planned a six-month journey to map out the cave, during which they descended a simple rope-ladder designed by Jim White (below)

Can you imagine planning to spend six months in a cave?!  I wonder what it's like to see sunlight for the first time after six months underground...