You heard right from our last post. The excruciating drive from Dallas to Carlsbad took us about 10 hours. Texas is huge! We noticed a lot of red dirt. The Suburban and Aljo got very dirty!
We hooked up and got settled in since we had driven for so long. We opted for a pull through site to make things easier with full hookups.
At night, we disconnected our water hose due to the possible freezing temperatures outside.
The next morning, we got ready to visit Carlsbad Caverns!
It was still about an hour away from our campground so we started our trip early.
On our way in, we saw a large herd of big horned sheep. A little hard to see them but there were at least 50 of them!
We finally got to the visitor center and had fun seeing all the exhibits. We watched to video on the park and learned some history on how it was found.
We might’ve had too much fun with the exhibits…
Things had significantly changed since the first time the cave was explored.
Getting closer to the caves, you could definitely smell the bat guano. You get used to it though.
Although there were lights hung throughout the cave, we brought our headlamps and flashlights. We were ready for some cave exploring!
We thought it’d be as cold inside the cave but we learned that the caves stay at an average temperature of 56 degrees F. We shed some of our jackets once we were inside the cave.
We saw some interesting rock formations from our little hike down.
None of our pictures were all that great but we had an amazing time cave exploring!
Luckily for us, we didn’t have to use the same equipment the first explorers used on their trek through here.
We would have loved going on the many cave tours they offered but they weren’t available when we were there.
We had walked 800 ft. down the cave. Fear not! We did not have to go back the way we came. We were able to take an elevator back up to the surface. It brought us right back to the Visitor Center. You have the option of taking the elevator down as well so don’t be detoured by the walk down.
We had a blast cave exploring. We wish we could’ve stayed longer but our trip was coming to a close.
Leaving the KOA in Carlsbad Caverns was easy enough since we weren’t there for very long. We were headed to Phoenix, Arizona, but we were planning on making some stops along the way.
One being White Sands National Monument. It became a National Park in December of 2019.
The park was 3 hours away from our KOA so it didn’t take too long but we stopped for a car wash along the way. The Suburban had picked up quite a bit of dirt along the way.
Driving towards the park was just incredible. There was nothing out there but you can see a sea of white sand.
We stopped at the little visitor center with some small exhibits and their welcome video. It was pretty small but they had working bathrooms and some benches to rest on.
Driving in the park was weird. The roads are covered with white sand.
White sand every where.
We even saw someone pulling a trailer with a camel! That was a fun sight.
We drove for a bit and then headed to a picnic area. There weren’t too many people there but a large group of people were having a party with some loud music.
We had some fun walking around a bit. We wish we could’ve brought a sled though. There were families out sliding down the dunes. The sand was so fine, it shifted constantly.
We did try to slide down but it didn’t work out as well as we wanted.
We went back to the trailer for a late lunch (we had chicken quesadillas!).
It’s a fun place to roam around.
We waited for the sun to set before we headed out. All the colors of the sky were beautiful behind the white sand dunes.
We were on our way to the La Cruces’ Walmart for the night. Driving there in the dark was not the smartest idea. There were some mountain passes we drove over and we wouldn’t do that again. We had to go to a second Walmart though since the first parking lot was on an incline.
We easily got settled in after parking and went to bed.
Onwards to Phoenix, Arizona next.
The Journey Begins 