Carlsbad Caverns - DAY 2

More about POST, TEXAS

Before we move on to day two there are a few things I want to say about the city post and the hotel.

As I toured the hotel and discovered its library and different parts of it, I was excited to see so many authentic relics from the early 1900s

Old organs with pump pedals and large radios that originally came out in the late 1800s and the library was full of books but not just a facade of cardboard with fake books like in most places these days….. but all the books were really from the early 1900s

Especially interesting were medicine books surgery books pathology books I open them and looked at the drawings and the books were falling apart but it was so interesting to see so much literature from so long ago

I woke up quite early due to the train that was right next door to the hotel and since there are no barriers on the road - the train sounds his horns every time he goes by and dang - - it's super loud- especially if you are 50 feet from the track.

Good thing though it woke me up really early as I got to see the sunrise and it turned out that the colors of the sunrise were magnificent.

Have a look at these photos from the sunrise.

Breakfast

Of course I got the Nespresso machine out to make some coffee for breakfast and some coffee for the road later…

Believe it or not I think I am weaning off caffeine because I didn't even finish the first (and only) cup of Nespresso coffee of the morning and I haven't had another cup all day... Those that know me well, remember there were days when I could easily consume 14 to 15 Nespresso Pods a day!! I am sure Nespresso will feel the lack of consumption of pods.

With my luck, now that I finally weaned off the caffeine, they'll come up with a new study that says caffeine is the best thing for you in the world and the more you drink the better haha

ELECTRIFIED and dumbfounded

I headed out towards the Carlsbad caverns and the GPS took me through Seminole City and chose very VERY very small roads specifically county road 208.

I've been doing a lot of traveling this last year but I've never EVER come across a smorgasbord of so many electrical poles and lines in one area in my life!

I don't even understand how anyone can tell what goes where and the picture here is worth a thousand words so have a look and tell me if you don't agree?

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??

Hello there New Mexico

Finally, after one and a half days of driving I managed to get out of Texas and into New Mexico

I must say that entering New Mexico, one comes to realize and appreciate how neat and tidy and organized Texas really is

I'm not saying New Mexico was dirty but it was just unorganized.

Sorry New Mexico – it is what it is

The speed limits are also quite slower in New Mexico.

Carslbad Caverns

After another 4 hours driving we finally reached our first destination for today….the Carlsbad caverns.

Ronit - my wife, tells me to stop talking in plural form since nobody is traveling with me however I explained to her that when I'm traveling, all of you - the readers are with me in my thoughts – so there are times I speak in plural form... But I am definitely alone during these travels for the record 😉

BTW – I drove to the caverns knowing there was a very big chance of not getting in because I did not make any reservations and they were sold out of tickets for that day, however I decided to just drive to the ticket counter and worst case scenario it's on the way to the White sands Park anyway

But when I reached there, the ranger said that it's not busy and they gave me a ticket that was limited by time and of course I grabbed it.

I opted to hike down to the natural entrance of the cave and not go through the visitor center so that added another half a mile and half an hour to the Trek.

If you have not been to these caverns please do yourself a favor and go!!!! you will be blown away!!! it is unbelievable !!! I was speechless during the entire trek inside.

It's a good thing I was not aware of just how long this “hike” was going to be because I may have decided to not do it.

I have one bad knee that can act up especially when going downhill for a long time and boy was this downhill and boy was this a long hike and boy oh boy was this deep.

Folks listen up carefully - we are talking about hiking down 79 stories depth over one and a half mile range. SEVENTY NINE – and we did not even reach the bottom. It goes on and on…but us tourists get to hike that low.

At some stage I had to start walking backwards to give the bad knee a rest.

The trail twines and spirals and winds deeper and deeper and when you think we've reached the end – SURPRISE – another spiral of never ending trails.

Thank God there was an elevator to go up - cause there was no f#$king way I could have done it without a powered vehicle.

It's going to be tough to choose which pictures to include in the blog but I will do my best. Some of these structures reminded me of the movie alien and the predator and when you see my pictures you'll see why.

I also included pictures from the hike to the natural cave entrance. There beautiful plants and trees to show you...

And the SPIRALS DOWN begin

more and more spirals - deeper and deeper

yet again - deeper and deeper

Me capturing 2 others capturing the exact moment of the 750 feet mark

Alamogordo - Close to White Sands Park (for day 3)

From the caverns we head out to Alamogordo New Mexico which is close to the White sands national Park.

There were breathtaking views on the way in an area called the Tunnel Vista

We also had very heavy rains for a lot of the drive which limited the speed to 40 mph

But emerging on the other side of the clouds everywhere we went - we saw rainbows and so you'll see in the pictures amazing breathtaking views followed by multiple rainbows

Classic desert aire hotel

I made it to the hotel around 5:30 p.m. and found a place for dinner just across the street in a steakhouse called.... Y'all's steak house.

Even though it's literally across the street from the hotel, getting there was no easy feat

Since I was walking, I had to cross a street with eight Lanes no divider and no crosswalks with super heavy traffic. Just imagine crossing 75 or tollway without a divider between the travel directions.

This was like the game frogger.

When an opening presented itself I ran for my dear life across the street

After dinner – getting back was no easier

It's just that drivers can't see you at night but I managed to find an opening and dashed across safely

I know I should not order steaks in a restaurant .....but the meat wasn't horrible...

Just not something to write home about 😉

Well that's it for today it was mostly driving in the rain slow and winding roads...

Looks like tonight I'll finish the blog before 11:00 p.m. yay

Blackberry Cobbler - just took one spoon to get my months sugar supply