Road Trip Day 2 - Howdy from Carlsbad!

Visited Carlsbad Caverns today. Took gobs of pictures, but really, pictures can't even begin to show what an awesome place it is. Trying to catch it "on film" is kind of like trying to capture a moment of God's moving, and then pass it out to everyone who wasn't there. Good thing no one ever tries that!

We took the Natural Entrance hike down into the caverns. We went very slowly, not because we can't walk quickly, and not because we can't walk quickly on a steep downhill grade for a mile or so. We went slowly because we just couldn't go quickly in that place. It's a very sacred place - a place that was God's alone for a very long time, and a place He must have really enjoyed wandering through.

At the bottom of the Natural Entrance Trail is the beginning of the Big Room Trail. There are also restrooms with flush toilets. 750 feet below the surface of the ground. So where exactly do those toilets flush to? Naturally I had to ask a park ranger. Turns out they flush into a holding tank, and every once in a while the waste is pumped to the surface for disposal.

The Big Room is ... well ... really, really, BIG! And filled with sights carrying enticing names like "Rock of Ages," "Bottomless Pit," "Chinese Theatre," and such. Part of the Big Room is very wet and actively forming new cave stuff. Part of it is quite dry. It turns out that when they built the visitors' center and all the parking, they blocked rain water from draining through the rock underlying the building and parking lot. Kind of like the way putting up a building and parking lot can cut off the supply of Living Water to a church. Oops - did I just say that in my outside voice???

We wanted to see the bats leave the cave in the evening - apparently it's a wonderful sight. But there was too much lightning nearby and the flight viewing was canceled. Bummer! I guess we'll have to go back sometime...

So, here we are in Carlsbad. We found a motel room on the second floor, and as we walked up the stairs to our room we noticed fireworks soaring into the sky all across the horizon south of us. At least two professional displays were visible, and countless "backyard" projects as well. We're not used to that in Arizona, where fireworks aren't legal and available as they are in New Mexico. Best part was that God lit up the whole sky with His own fireworks, sending spiderwebs of lightning all over the night. I'm not sure whether He was just joining in the fun, or if He was showing everyone how it's done, but we enjoyed it greatly.

Off to Roswell and parts North tomorrow!