Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Betty in the National Parks: Carlsbad Caverns

via email from Betty AnoninTX:
Never fear, dear Bettys!  This was just a day trip!  The PRT and I loaded up the Land Rover Chevy Blazer, and we shot off down the road to New Mexico for a day of fun and hiking in Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We did load up the truck, but not with luggage.  We took people this time!  My niece Jennifer and great nephew Aidan went with us.  The back seat was extremely full because we also took Rijk and Sophie from The Awakened Heart

So why did I take Rijk and Sophie?  As I was staring at my Betty books and pondering which one to take, I realized this one was perfect because of the title.  Carlsbad Caverns was my very first national park to visit.  I was approximately six years old when my family (minus my oldest sister) made the trip to visit relatives and to go to the park.   I was scared to death when I saw that big black hole, but Betty AnoninNM held my hand.  We all look so happy in this photo!  I imagine we were all telling my dad to hurry.  This trip and a wonderful ranger we met on the trail started my love of national parks and monuments that endures today, many years later.  That ranger took the time to talk to a skinny kid and explain things about the caverns.  He showed me a fossil along the trail, and I was totally amazed.  Carlsbad did awaken MY heart to the national parks and monuments.
  

I still get a thrill when we exit the highway and drive down Walnut Canyon to the visitor center.  After we paid our entrance fee, we started down the path that leads to the entrance.  When Aidan saw the natural entrance, he said “whoa,” paused a few seconds and stared, and then said “awesome.”  His eyes were huge.  I myself am still awestruck when I see that big, dark opening.  The bats do enter and exit here, but they are still in Mexico and don’t migrate back until April or May.  If any of you ever get a chance to visit Carlsbad, I urge you to take the time to watch the bat flight in the evenings.  Here are Rijk and Sophie posing on the path down.


The Caverns are truly beautiful.  We have visited Mammoth Cave and Wind Cave National Parks, but I love Carlsbad the most.  There are 117+ caves in the park, with three of them open for tours, but the majority of visitors go to the big Caverns.  We took the self-guided, natural entrance tour.  It is a 1.25 mile hike down.  Once down, approximately 750 feet below the surface, we took the Big Room tour.   Over six football fields would fit in the Big Room, and it takes an hour and a half to tour it. The ceiling is 250+ feet high.  It is a beautiful place.  Aidan and I talked all about how stalagmites might grow up to touch the ceiling and how stalactites are stuck tight to the ceiling.  The ranger taught me that all those years ago!  Aidan particularly liked the soda straws, which are very thin and delicate.   Aidan and I decided we liked the Bottomless Pit the best.  In the Big Room, there are huge stalagmites.  Here, Rijk and Sophie are posing in front of Crystal Spring Dome, which is the largest active formation in the Caverns.  I apologize for the poor photo, but it IS dark in there.  The PRT does his best to oblige.  After the Big Room walk, we took the elevators up to the surface.


After a quick meal, we headed back to Texas.  The PRT and I intend to go back in a couple of weeks because we want to take a few more tours.  We want to do the Kings Palace tour again.  It is a ranger-led tour of another big room, and the rangers always turn the lights out for a few minutes so that people can experience cave darkness.  Then we want to do the Left Hand Tunnel tour, which we’ve never done.  It’s a lantern tour, led by rangers also.  I hope you enjoyed our quick Carlsbad trip!  It was fun to have my niece and great nephew with us, as well as the van Taak ter Wijsmas.


18 comments:

  1. Thanks for the Tunnel Tour! With the Taak ter Wijsmas. Great pictures! And hey, I had the same haircut as you when I was about ten years old! And we all had the same kind of sneakers at some point!

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    1. Keds. Mine were red. And the cowlick in my bangs torments me to this day. I have a widow's peak (aka my pointy Eddie Munster hair) with a cowlick over it. Sigh.

      Betty Munster AnoninTX

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    2. Had a cowlicks in my bangs too back then or a couple of years later, actually, when my hair had grown long again. At the sides, mostly at the left temple. Curling up and giving me "horns".

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    3. That should have been "Had cowlicks...".
      Betty van de Rode Pen Anonymous

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  2. Betty Barbara here--
    We finally made it to Carlsbad several years ago and it was too cool. I was ever so thankful that there were elevators that went both down (to the Big Room) and back up. My knees couldn't take the walk downhill from the original cave entrance!! It was totally fantastic.
    Thanks for reminding me of a good trip.

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    1. The park is overhauling the elevators, and only one is working now. The line gets pretty long. The rangers make a point of telling everyone that people don't have to stand in line to ride the elevators because it is ok to walk OUT. Aidan thought it would be great to walk back out! He's 8. We stood in line. :)

      Betty AnoninTX

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  3. Thank you, Betty AnoninTX, and please convey my thanks to the PRT as well. Very kind of him to join our game.

    My only caving experience is in the Peak District in Derbyshire, one of the Blue John caverns. I believe The Great Betty never toured them, but they'd make a great setting for a Neels Novel outing.

    I was alone that day, and the private cavern-operators weren't going to let me take the last tour of the day because there was no one else there -- and they officially didn't permit solo tourists in with their guide, because of the potential liability if the tourist claimed the guide and behaved inappropriately. I promised not to accuse the 17-year old, spotty guide of harassment, and they decided I had an honest face or something. He did turn out the lights for a moment, and we both held our breath (breaths?) to 'see' the complete darkness and 'hear' the absolute silence. Awesome in every sense.

    How far is Carlsbad from Albuquerque? I have a friend in Albuquerque...

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    1. The PRT aka Mr. Maps says it is about 5 1/2 hours from Albuquerque to the caverns. If your friend would go through Vaughn to Roswell to Artesia to Carlsbad to the park, it is flat all the way and quicker. No mountains. There is a new Hampton Inn in Carlsbad btw.

      Cave darkness is pretty awesome! I remember the ranger (the last time we did the Kings Palace tour) having us wave our hands in front of our faces. Our minds play tricks with us because we could barely see our hands. But we really couldn't... The rangers in Wind Cave turned out the lights too, but the ones in Mammoth didn't. Spotty guide! ha I need to google Blue John Caverns.

      Betty AnoninTX

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    2. Thank you Betty AnoninTX for cheering up this homesick displaced New Mexican! Having made the drive from Albuquerque to Carlsbad more than once, your PRT is dead on, it is 5 hours if you have a lead foot, 6 hours if you are cautious, 5 1/2 hours for most people.

      My mother had two small strokes this week and was medevaced from Silver City (SW corner of the state, opposite Carlsbad in the SE corner) to Albuquerque last night. There was no able and compassionate Amazonian nurse alongside her on her flight, just an EMT and my Marine dad. She is making an excellent recovery thus far, but it was a long night last night. I was so wishing to be in NM instead of on the (expletive deleted) East Coast last night, and your pictures and stories made a tough night much easier. Thank you ever so much!

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    3. Oh no. Thoughts and prayers for your mom and you.

      Betty AnoninTX

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    4. From me too. I hope your mom gets well really quickly.

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  4. Army Betty, if you need a babysitter or anything, please let me know. I'd be happy to buzz over. It expletive deletes to be far from someone you love when she is sick. Been there.

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  5. Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers, and sitting offers. Fortunately, my mother is being sent home today! Best Mother's Day present ever! Modern post-stroke drugs are fabulous, no permanent damage from the strokes, although they will have reshock her heart next week to get it out of a-fib (not sure what that means but I'm sure TGB would...)

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  6. Army Betty, that is great news! The best! And on Mother's Day too. Here is an explanation for Atrial fibrillation, known as AF or Afib and the shock treatment.

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    1. Thank you! Great information!
      My mother just informed me that her cardiologist is British -- a refugee of the NHS -- and his PA is Dutch. How they landed in Albuquerque is beyond me, but I know from TGB that if they were awful people they'd have landed in Pittsburgh.

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    2. How much do you think they would charge you to photograph them posing with a Betty in each hand?

      B von S

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    3. That is about the best conclusion to a scary event that one could possibly hope. Congrats and happy Mother's Day to all the mums on the blog and all their mums, too.

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    4. Good news for sure! So glad! :)

      Betty AnoninTX

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