Anniversary Part 3: Cloudcroft

We were cold and damp leaving Carlsbad Caverns, and hitting the outdoor air felt great for about ten minutes while we warmed up and the dampness evaporated.  We drove back into Carlsbad to visit the auto museum, and saw that it was either 100 or 102 degrees, depending on which bank thermometer you wanted to believe.  Yeah, it's a dry heat, but that's a little warm even for me, particularly since I was dressed for the cave in long pants, thick socks, trail runners, and a black shirt.  But it was cool in the auto museum, plus it was COOL.  Lots of neat old cars to look at.

I thought the New Balance sneakers with velcro on the dummy mechanic were a bit of an anachronism, but what the heck.












We left Carlsbad and headed for Cloudcroft, NM (pop. 750) which is in the Lincoln National Forest.  The village is at 8600 feet above sea level.  Stephen had made reservations for us at The Lodge in Cloudcroft.  When we arrived, the GPS on Stephen's phone said we were at 8800 ft.  The temperature had dropped from 102 in Carlsbad to a lovely 80 with a nice breeze.  There were aspens and ponderosa pine, and front yard gardens with poppies in bloom. 

 The rooms are charming, each with some antiques.  The nightstand is a Martha Washington like the one my Grandmother gave me.

 We don't play golf, but we thought this course might be somewhat challenging, being on the side of a mountain.
We had a delicious dinner overlooking the mountain view, listening to live cocktail piano.  I had chile relleno stuffed with potato, avocado, black beans, and green chile with a mild red chile sauce.  Stephen had red chile shrimp.  We had good food everywhere we went on this trip, including some little roadside places with a LOT of local color, but the Lodge was the best.

 

I had finished my book, so I borrowed one from the hotel lending library.   We walked around the grounds after dinner.

On Sunday morning we had another excellent meal in the hotel dining room.  I had green chile grits and a side of fruit.  Stephen had eggs Benedict with a red chile hollandaise sauce.  This is New Mexico, after all, red and green chile go with everything!  

After breakfast we went for a walk on some of the gravel roads near The Lodge.  It reminded us of the Adirondacks, with camps of various sizes and architecture, except that we would expect there to be a body of water near a group of camps.  Stephen said that instead of boat trailers, there were ATV trailers.  There is a ski area nearby, and lots of trails.  Cloudcroft has a rollerskating rink and a playground.  And we had missed a music festival and car show by a day.  Neat place, and well worth another visit.

The drive down the mountains through the Lincoln National Forest was beautiful.

 Past Ruidoso, we stopped to look at forest fire damage.  The fire was in 2012, and consumed over 44,000 acres and 250 homes.

 The town of Ruidoso was interesting.  It reminded us of Lake George, except there was no lake.  In fact, the whole mountain drive was a little strange because we kept expecting to see some body of water, but there wasn't a lake, river or stream on the entire trip that we could see from the road.

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, it was like the road just spit us out into the desert with no transition at all.  

We came to a wide spot in the road called Carrizozo, and decided to stop for lunch because the GPS said it was 80 miles to the next turn.
We ate at this little cafe.  The owner said, in a heavy drawl, "I know about vegan."  And he proceeded to make me a lovely salad with lots of fresh veggies and a side of pinto beans!  What a pleasant surprise.  Right in the middle of cow country.

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 When we got to I-25, about 90 miles from home, I took over the driving.  The posted speed limit is 75 mph.  I set the cruise at 80, pointed the steering wheel straight ahead, and stayed in the right hand lane so the other drivers could pass me, which they did every few minutes.  The most challenging thing is to remember that you're supposed to be piloting the vehicle, since you don't have to turn the wheel or touch the accelerator for many miles!

Anniversary Part 2: Carlsbad Caverns

We were trying to get going early on Saturday morning, and we arrived at the hotel restaurant for breakfast when they opened at 7.  They were a little disorganized.  First, I got coffee but no sweetener, so I spent some time staring longingly at my coffee while trying to flag down the waitress.  Then I got my oatmeal but no fruit until my oatmeal was no longer hot.  Fortunately, Stephen drinks his coffee black and ordered a "normal" breakfast, so he had a better experience.

It was a 40 minute drive to the cavern.  We had several choices of tours.  We could have ridden down in an elevator and taken a guided tour of some of the rooms (the wimpy choice).  We could have signed up for the Spider Cave tour which is four hours long and involves belly-crawling (the crazy choice).  We chose the self-guided tour through the Natural Entrance, which is for those who are fit but not particularly adventurous (no belly-crawling!).  You start at the surface and hike down 750 feet over one and a quarter mile, arriving at the Big Room which takes an additional hour to walk around.  The path is paved and there is a hand rail, but it is very steep with switchbacks, you can't see your feet, and in some places the path is wet. 

The little model at the top is the building we're standing in.  You can see the path we took to get down.

The Natural Entrance in 1926.

Here is the Natural Entrance as it looks today.

Here we go!  Stephen took all the photos in the cavern because he was playing with our new camera.  That's why he's not in any of them.
The temperature was in the 90's when we started out, but very soon after entering the cave it gets markedly cooler.  The cavern is about 56 degrees year-round, with 90% humidity.  The entrance is bombarded with swallows who nest in the rock openings, and at the beginning of our descent there was a strong smell which we later decided was bird poop, because once we were past the swallows' habitat, there was just a neutral, slightly damp odor.  We quickly lost the natural light and had to wait for our eyes to adjust to the dim cavern lighting supplied by electric lights. There are no springs or rivers in the cavern, but there are some pools created by dripping water.  Here's a reflection in one of those pools:

 The formations below are called draperies.

     Stalactites.

 The bubbles of rock on the walls are called popcorn.

 The variations in the colors are caused by minerals in the rock.

 The descent was steep, and our legs got tired of standing on hills when we stopped to admire and take photos.  It was cold, but because of the exertion and the humidity, we were both soon sweaty.   I actually didn't feel cold until we were in The Big Room for a while, walking slowly on mostly level paths.

 The Big Room was spectacular beyond description.

There is a snack bar next to The Big Room, but all food has to be eaten there and nothing but plain water can be taken into any other part of the cavern.  This is to protect the bats from disease.  We carried our water, and didn't eat at the snack bar.  It seems a silly thing to be amazed by after all the spectacular natural beauty in the cavern, but I couldn't believe there was a restroom with flush toilets and running water 750 feet down.  I expected composting toilets and hand sanitizer.  Now how do they pump sewage that far?  Superior engineering. 
We took the elevator back to the surface after exploring The Big Room.  There are other tours given different days of the week, and we would definitely go back and explore more or even do the part we did over again.  It was truly a wondrous experience.

Anniversary Part 1: Roswell

I chose Carlsbad Cavern in Southeast New Mexico as the destination for our 23rd wedding anniversary.  Stephen did most of the research, determining the route and the other places to see along the way, and booking the hotels.  This is how Team Marino goes on vacation.  Stephen likes to stay in hotels that have "character" and to eat in restaurants with "local color."  So no chains or safe choices for us!  So far that has worked out pretty well.

Our first stop was Roswell, NM.  I have never been that interested in UFOs or conspiracy theories, so I didn't know the story behind Roswell's fame.  The very short version is that in the summer of 1947, a rancher found some debris and reported it to the local sheriff.  The Air Force took control of the area, and the official report was that a weather balloon had crashed.  Decades later, conspiracy theories were launched by various publications and documentaries claiming that an alien spaceship had crashed and the Air Force had covered it up.

Roswell has made the most of its fame, as you can see:

This place was full of alien-themed kitsch, and you could pay to go through a spacewalk (we didn't).

We really did have to check this out.

 The UFO Museum and Research Center was a hoot.  There were newspaper accounts of the 1947 events, and lots of interviews with various people involved.  There were many documents to "debunk" the official explanations given by the government at the time.  The presentation was clever -- the museum included a few exhibits about hoaxes to give the as yet unexplained stories more credence.  And then there was the simply ridiculous:

The museum also featured alien abduction stories and UFO photographs.  And they have a records library for "research."  We skipped that part.

Roswell has many businesses like this one.

Even the local Mexican restaurant is on board!

 Roswell was a fun place to visit, and we could have spent more time walking around, but we wanted to get to Carlsbad in time for dinner.  Stephen had booked us a room at the Trinity Hotel, which was recently renovated from the ruins of its previous incarnation as a bank.  On the way to Carlsbad we drove through rain, which is very unusual for this area, and during the night there was a tremendous thunderstorm.  The Trinity did have lots of character, and our room was spectacular.

We had a lovely dinner in the hotel and took a walk around the area.  During our walk we found an auto museum that Stephen was interested in seeing if we had time after going to the cavern the next day. 
Day 1 of the weekend was complete.