Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains and White Sands National Parks

 Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday, May 5th we left the White City Cavern Inn where we spent the night and drove 7 miles to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Again, Cute puppies like me were not allowed in the cavern, so Dad and Mom had to go in separately.

Mom wanted to go into the cavern through the traditional outside entrance but it required an extra two hours to get to the bottom of the self-guided tour and another hour and a half to tour the bottom part of the cavern.

Instead, they both chose to take the elevator down to the self-guided tour. After descending 750 feet below the surface in the elevator to a wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites.

These pictures were all taken in the big room.

After visiting the national park we stopped for lunch at White City on the way back out of the park. A local resident stands guard outside of the only restaurant within miles of the national park. 

There were some interesting statues there too.

We drove several hundred miles further south, back into Texas, to explore Guadalupe Mountains, National Park.

The Mountains are beautiful, but the only way, into the park, is by foot on the trails. Well, it was 99 degrees that day, so we decided to forego any hiking and took a few pictures, then moved on.

We finished the day by driving through the desert to El Paso, Texas, and from there to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where we spent the night.

On Thursday, May 6th we drove 75 miles to White Sands National Park in the New Mexico desert, very near Alalmagordo the US Military's missile testing site.

Even though these dunes look like snow, they are white sand that was deposited millions of years ago when this area was an inland sea.

The dunes are very hot so there is a boardwalk out among them so visitors can explore them without causing damage to the environment.

Dad and I took a break in the shade of a shelter while Mom was taking pictures.

There were several picnic areas around the park road and some dunes that sand-sledding was allowed, to the delight of the younger crowd.

We finished the day by driving 200+ miles to the Western side of New Mexico.

Tomorrow we will be exploring Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona😃.