Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns is located in the southeast corner of New Mexico. We arrived in Carlsbad early enough in the afternoon to make it to the bat flight on the first night.

Bat flight amphitheater located at the "Natural Entrance" to the caves.

Bats leaving the cave. According to the park Rangers, the bats circle the mouth of the cave sevens times in a counter-clockwise direction before flying out for the night.

How would you like to turn your porch light on and see this?

We had high hopes of bringing you lots of photos from inside the cave. I've already mentioned on several occasions that we really don't know what we're doing with a camera.

Here's what cave pictures look like when you don't know what you're doing:

Isn't it great? We have hundreds of photos like this!

If you would like to see quality photos of the inside Carlsbad Caverns, go to the photos page at the National Park Service site. We can attest to the fact that this is really what it looks like. The formations inside the cave are amazing and beautiful.

Here are a few pictures of us and the kids.

Well.. it is a "bat cave", so I guess it's appropriate that it have a "bat phone"!

In general, the National Park Service does an incredible job of operating our national parks. This is the only time that I have felt otherwsie. I used to live in the dorms in college, so I've seen some major mold growth in a bathroom... but nothing like this!
Fresh water spring used by prehistoric people. I'll bet they had help from those people in Roswell, NM (which is just up the road).

Well, this is our last "National Park" stop. From here, we're headed due east. Who knows what we'll find along the way?