Our day got off to a late start after we let the boys sleep in until 8 am! We then headed out toward our destination of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It was a long drive. We were stopped at Border Security about 100 miles North of El Paso and had to show our passports and justify our trip. The agent was kind and didn’t give us any trouble. We then drove right through Guadeloupe National Park without stopping, pulling into the Carlsbad Caverns Visitors Centre around 1:30 pm.
I have been looking forward to arriving here the whole trip. Carlsbad Caverns was my all time favourite stop on our first Great North American Road Trip. I actually didn’t remember much specifically about the cave, just that it was incredible and that I was completely blown away by its beauty. I can confirm, after visiting this cave for the second time, that it is one of the most astonishingly beautiful places on Earth. I was, once again, completely overwhelmed by the magnificent splendour of this place. If you have never visited here, you must. It is beyond amazing.
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| We descended through the natural entrance and walked down 75 stories via paved switchbacks. |
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| The most incredible soda straws. |
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| Draperies. |
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| The columns are spectacular. |
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| Cave popcorn. |
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| These three looked like sages standing in judgment. |
After the cave, we did some grocery shopping and then drove through a large area of nothing but oil extraction and refineries. Just refinery after refinery - on and on and on.
We pulled over shortly before sunset in Pecos, Texas in a city park across from a huge fire station, still in the middle of a landscape of refineries. We ate fish tacos for supper with fresh (and spicy) salsas we bought at the store. We will camp here tonight before continuing our drive across Texas tomorrow.
