down under.........in new mexico

from the top of the sand dunes of monahans to a chilly 800 ft. below ground level to the caverns of carlsbad, n.m -- today we took tyler and kathryn to another west texas(nm) wonder. funny, how all my life, living out here and actually visiting carlsbad many times to see my grandmother, we never went out to the caverns. what an amazing trip it was, unbelievable sight. we all had an incredible time, "hiking" down the caves and seeing and learning about the spectacular sights and ecosystems. we even had lunch and a break at the cafe -- along with a bathroom, gift shop, and elevators at the 750' mark. none of us could figure out how they came in and made this place underground so "modern." ..... all the walkways and ammenities and electricity. we weren't able to see the bats, as they are all migrated south to mexico for the winter months -- i think i was glad about that......over 400,000 of them fly out every day (when they are there) at dusk to eat insects for thier meals and return every morning at dawn -- must be an amazing sight to sit and observe that. anyway......would highly recommend it to you if you are ever in the area----it's a pretty good workout though--thank goodness it was all DOWNhill and you had to take the elevator to get back up to the street level!