Alamogrodo

Retirement Time

We left Carlsbad this morning around 09:30. Once again the sky was as blue and clear as it could be. Not a cloud. I think I would miss an overcast day now and then. We have actually been very lucky so far as weather goes. Since our second day on the road, when we had a little rain, it has been sunshine every day.

Our destination today was Oliver Lee State Park in Alamogordo New Mexico. The drive took us over the Sacramento Mountains at an elevation of 8600 feet. Yes there was snow up there, not much but snow no less. Once across the peak we did the descent to the valley floor and soon we had 82 degrees. We thought Duluth was hard to dress for.

The rest of this day is dedicated to retirement time, tomorrow we will head into town and do laundry and explore the area a little. We are very close to White Sands National Park but seeing how we were just there we may pass on visiting. 

We do not have internet here at the park so I’ll have to wait until we go into town later to publish this post. We had full T-mobil service until we reached the park then lost it. We are sixteen miles outside of Alamogordo.

Yesterday was different from the other days we have had in the fact there was no wind, no even a breeze all day. That lasted until shortly after we went to bed then the wind picked up and blew all night long. This morning, nothing not even a breeze just a beautiful sunny morning.  

                                                Tunnel at the Top of the Sacramento Mountains

  

 Views from our campsite

 View out our window

 Sun is starting to set

Dog Canyon (trail we will take tomorrow)

 Sunset

Carlsbad Day Two

This morning we woke up to 37 degrees and high winds, but with a beautiful clear sunny sky, so it didn’t take long to warm up to 65 degrees. We decided to go to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park. It is a state operated zoo and cactus garden specializing in native species of the Chihuahua Desert and New Mexico. The staff at the zoo works with the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game and other public and private entities in wildlife conservation efforts for many injured and orphaned birds, mammals and reptiles. It’s so nice to know that the animals here are actually better off living at the zoo than living in the wild.

Admission to the Living Desert Zoo is only $5.00 with free parking. The zoo trail winds through different desert habitats with labels on the trees and cactus as you pass.  It’s still a little early in the season so some of the displays were empty but we were able to see quite a bit. The cactus and succulent greenhouse at the end of the zoo trail is really amazing it houses many varieties of both native and exotic cacti and succulents from around the world. No crowds and if we were out of the wind a perfectly beautiful day.

We topped it off with a trip to the dollar store (I love the dollar store) and lunch at Subway, than back to the RV for some relaxation, cleaning and map reading to decide where we will be traveling tomorrow.

Entry to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park, Carlsbad New Mexico

Matching Mexican Parrots

Bald Eagle

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

Along the Gardens

Bobcat

Prairie Dog

Desert Tortoise

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Wild Pig

Common Black Hawk

Buffalo

Carlsbad Carvern

We woke up to another chilly and windy day in Carlsbad, just the perfect day to spend in the Cavern. The last time we were here it had snowed and there was about 8 inches on the ground when we pulled into our campground. We toured the cave the next day and the temperature was about 65 degrees when we left the cave, today we had sun and a high of 65 degrees.  The temperature in the cavern is a steady 56 degrees with a high humidly.

 We were lucky to get in on a ranger lead tour of the Kings Room; this is an area that cannot be visited without a ranger. The tour takes about an hour and forty five minutes and goes through the Kings Room, the Queens Room, and the Green Lake. The pictures Rich took don’t do justice, you just can’t capture the depth and the size of this cavern, and it is just incredible.

We started the tour with a high speed elevator ride down 750 feet (75 stories). We left the elevator and entered an area so large there was a restaurant, restrooms built right into the cave walls, a small gift shop and a waiting area where we met our tour leader. After a few words from him about cave behavior we started our tour with another descend of 8 stories, we are now about 850 feet below ground.  

As we walked from area to area we learned about the history of the Caverns, how they were discovered and used in the past, we also had an opportunity to experience total darkness when the tour guide cut the lights. I felt very uncomfortable as I have terrible claustrophobia and that extreme darkness really kicks in the old anxiety. Actually, I haven’t been in darkness like that since our son Jeff turned out the lights on a tour we took of Wind Cave in South Dakota when he was about 10 years old that sure surprised the ranger on that tour. Needless to say Carlsbad Cavern is just unbelievable, it’s like one of the places you have to see before you die, which Richard almost did on the way out. Because the wait to take the elevator back to the surface was over an hour I talked Richard into walking out. The ranger said it was an easy uphill climb; many switch backs, for 750 feet... HE LIED!!!! IT WAS NOT EASY!!! We ended up walking up with the same group of people and all congratulated each other when we finally reached the top. We then treated ourselves to lunch at Chilies and put back all the calories we had just walked off.

750 feet below ground level

 

In the cave with the lights out

  

Finally OUT

Carlsbad New Mexico

Brantley Lake State Park

 Site 46

Another chilly chilly morning, we even had ice on our hose connection this morning. We decided to head up to Carlsbad New Mexico. We got started around 9:30 and settled in at Brantley Lake State Park, just north of Carlsbad, around 1:00 pm. We initially paid for the next three days, there is a lot in the area to see and this will give us enough time to do that.