Osterhouts visit Carlsbad

On our way to Carlsbad we had to stop in Roswell and visit the UFO Museum!

 I don't think Dad was convinced...

 After an overnight stay in Carlsbad, we arrived at the Visitor Center on a cold, rainy Saturday morning where a very nice ranger explained the rules and etiquette of the cave.

When you get off the elevator after a 750 ft descent, this is what you see.  From here you can join a ranger-guided group tour or take the self-guided 1.5 mile Big Room tour, which is what we chose.

  The path is very dark and a little bit slippery in places but there are good strong railings to hold.  The temperature in the cave is about 55 degrees year round.

 In 1924, Jim White, who discovered Carlsbad Caverns, built this ladder to climb down 90 ft to a lower level of the cave. 

 There is no running water in the cave, but there are places in which dripping water has created pools.

We took the elevator back to the surface and had a late lunch at the visitor center before heading back to the hotel.  That evening we had dinner at a Carlsbad restaurant in a lovely historic building that had once been a home.  It was prom night, and we were entertained by the fashion show of teenagers in prom clothes.  They were all on their best behavior, at least at this point in the evening!  Parents were taking pictures in the courtyard of the restaurant.  It was fun to watch them.
We left Carlsbad on Sunday morning and headed North.  A lot of the scenery, for many, many miles,  looked like this:

There were no rest areas and the prospects of ducking behind a tree were not looking good.  But then Stephen saw this quirky little place.  The signs boated of clean restrooms and a petting zoo in addition to apples and cold cider. 

The restroom was, indeed, clean.  It was in a tiny concrete block cubicle past the yak, the zebra, and the camel, and overlooking a pond with goats grazing nearby.  Strange place.  But we bought some apples and roasted corn and cider and happily went on our way.

Our next stop was the Cloudcroft Inn, where Stephen and I spent an anniversary a couple of years ago.  The rain that we experienced on Saturday in Carlsbad had been a freak spring snowstorm in Albuquerque.  Cloudcroft had obviously gotten a significant amount of snow as well.  This is the only way I ever want to experience snow -- on the ground, with sunny blue skies overhead, dry roads, and tulips and lilacs in bloom!

We had a luxurious Sunday brunch while looking out over the mountain view, as the pianist worked his way through jazz standards at the grand piano in the dining room.

We left Cloudcroft and headed down the mountain toward the desert, watching the outside temperature climb as we descended.

The stripe of white you see in the distance is White Sands.  By the time we got there the temperature had reached 70.  We continue to marvel at the diversity of landscapes and climate zones here in New Mexico!
Our Excellent Adventure continues!