Saturday (Oct 23) after locating the giant roadrunner in Fort Stockton, Texas, we made our way north to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. It was a two lane highway most of the way - we were glad it was the weekend, and there was very little truck traffic.
Due to our "skill" level (read age and physical capability), we opted to tour The Big Room. This is the large cave - 6000 sq ft - that has paths with railings all the way around it. The walk is about one mile and very well lit. I had much expected this to be very similar to the other two caves we had visited, but it proved to be very different. The paths in the other caves were dark and narrow, and we had a guide to lead us through and explain everything. The Big Room is a self-guided tour, very well lit, high ceilings and very wide open. The formations are different in that they don't seem "polished" like in the other caves. A lot of the formations are very similar in shape, but appear to have a much rougher surface. As with any cave formations, you are not to touch them as it does wear them down and changes them. While the temperature is only 50ish, you stay pretty comfortable because you're constantly moving. It was an excellent experience, and I'm so glad we visited.
We stayed overnight in the town of Roswell - did not see a single alien, although our waiter at dinner was questionable! His name was Jon Jon and was just a little on the weird side - we definitely questioned his sobriety! All of the wait staff at this particular eatery was pretty unique, but this guy certainly took it a few steps farther. Good food, though - I had a most awesome Green Chili Stew - incredible!
Went to church on Sunday where I discovered the retired pastor there used to be a pastor in Lakewood, WA - he even knew my pastor. Mike waited patiently for me - washed the car, bought cigarettes, visited a local park. He took me by the park to show me a piece of the Berlin Wall the German Air Force sent to the city of Roswell. Another tidbit of history is the fact that German POWs were held in Roswell during World War II - they were used as labor for paving the banks of the North Spring River. They also built an Iron Cross into the wall, which was later covered up with a layer of concrete until the 1980's.
Sunday night we stayed in Albuquerque, but left this morning (Oct 25) without visiting anything in the area. We traveled west on Highway 40, and I was glad that Mike was driving. The crosswinds were pretty rough - I'm not sure I could have held onto the steering wheel at times. We arrived in Flagstaff in late afternoon - tomorrow we'll explore some of the area surrounding this city. The temperature is quite a bit lower than we've been enjoying - low to mid 50's during the day and below freezing at night. Mikey's cold, but maybe the home temps won't be such a shock to his system when we get there!
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