Notes: Saw evidence of ancient snake lovers at Petroglyph National Monument:
The ancient Pueblan indians who lived in the area were part of a cultural tree that included the ancient Mexican civilizations. They are believed to have traded with the Aztecs for, among other things, parrots:
Also in Albuquerque, we went up the Sandia Tramway. One of the longest tramways around, and quite impressive. Decent restaurant at the top. Nice view from up there, too:
One last observation about Albuquerque: as far as we can see, the town has about a dozen Walgreens drug stores and only one supermarket. Everywhere we drove, there was a Walgreens. But we only found one actual supermarket. We have concluded that the people of Albuquerque sustain themselves on cotton balls and aspirin.
Carlsbad, NM
After a short stay in Albuquerque we flew via Mesa Airlines to Carlsbad in the southern part of the state. Mesa airlines has friendly staff, reliable service, and a fleet of tin cans that amplify turbulence like you would not believe. It was so bad, after arriving in Carlsbad we decided to take the bus back to Albuquerque after our stay and dump our rather expensive round trip tickets.
I don't mind turbulence per se, but I do mind turbulence when I am flying in a container better suited to soda pop.
In Carlsbad, it was all about the caves. I am a former cave guide--I worked a summer at Oregon Caves National Monument--and I've had a bit of a cave bug since then. Carlsbad Caverns was absolutely astounding. It was collossal on a scale you can't imagine unless you go. The decorations are measured by the acre (the Big Room is 13 acres in size). We took 3 tours:
- Kings Palace (easy, recommended for all visitors, nice decorations, paved trail)
- Left Hand Tunnel (easy, also recommended for all--tour goes into unlighted tunnel, no paved trail, but easy walking. Visitors carry candle lanterns. Very eerie.)
- Lower Cave (moderately strenuous. Visitors wear helmets. Decorations in "The Rookery" are amazing. Cave is below the main Carlsbad Big Room. Trail is at times nonexistent and some crawling and climbing is required)
If I look a little unhappy there it's because I was waiting for my dear mother to TAKE THE FREAKING PICTURE DAMNIT.
We also did the "Natural Entrance" route on our own. If you go to Carlsbad, you must do this. It's a tad strenuous, but nothing extreme. This is the way we first saw the Big Room instead of going via the elevator. It's beautiful.
Some decorations look like they're going to eat you:
The highlight of the Carlsbad portion of the trip, however, was the bats. We drove back to the caverns at 7:30, and waited in the ampitheater next to the natural entrance. Then, all of a sudden, at around 7:50, a swarm of bats burst from the cave and swirled like a tornado around the natural entrance area. Soon they were joined by hundreds more. Then thousands. All told, we saw about 150,000 Mexican Freetail bats fly out of the cave. The caves are uncrowded by people this time of year, so we had excellent seats. We could feel the wind of their wings against our faces as they poured out.
Once they swirled around in a tornado formation in front of the cave, they streamed off to the West, where they formed an S curve before flying off to the Pecos River for the mosquito buffet:
The town of Carlsbad itself merits no pictures, sad to say. As far as I can determine, everything above ground in Carlsbad is in Texas, and everything below ground is in New Mexico. Carlsbad is a decaying Texas-style town where some of the most prominent businesses are loan sharks and a Wal-Mart supercenter dominates the view--what there is of it. It does have a lovely park along the river, though. I will say one thing for the residents of Carlsbad, and for the rest of New Mexico--they're friendly. By far the friendliest place I've ever visited. People are very helpful here.
Except the people that smacked into our rental car the last night we were in Carlsbad, causing significant damage and forcing us to shell out $500 to cover our insurance deductable. Those people weren't very nice. But perhaps that was the aliens from nearby Roswell.
The next morning, we left Carlsbad by Greyhound and headed for Albuquerque to pick up our rental car. The greyhound was clean, and much cheaper than the plane--we should have scheduled that to begin with. After we got about fifty miles outside of Roswell the landscape on much of the trip was open ranchland covered with wildflowers with hundreds of grazing antelope. It was far more beautiful than I expected. And you can't beat those New Mexico skies:
The skies here are so beautiful they make anything into a work of art:
And that brought us to Albuquerque, where we picked up the rental car and drove to...well, I can't tell you that. Check back in a couple of days and I'll have more pics from the next destination. Table of Contents for A Great Southwest Road Trip:
Part 1: Albuquerque and Carlsbad
Part 2: Santa Fe
Part 3: Taos
Part 4: Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Part 5: San Juan Skyway, Colorado
Part 6: Mesa Verde
Part 7: Durango & Silverton Railroad
Part 8: Navajoland and Canyon de Chelly
Part 9: Zuni Pueblo, El Morro & El Malpais
Part 10: Wrap Up of the Great Southwest
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