Carlsbad, NM

February 17-20

We arrived at Carlsbad RV Tuesday afternoon. The campground was all unpaved and very dusty. It was so unimpressive I forgot to take any pictures. The next day we drove up to Roswell. First stop the visitor center. It's located in the lobby of the city's convention center. As we drove into the lot it was full! As it turned out we pick the day of a State Senator's wife's funeral. We found the last space in the 500 space parking lot. As it turns out the visitors center was closed because of the funeral. As we were walking back to the car we saw the Carlsbad Museum and Art Center across the way. We decided to visit and it was great. Inside was a recreation of Robert Goddard's work shop. He was the inventor of the first rocket using liquid fuel. On the way back to our car the funeral was breaking up and I walked through the crowd of black suits in my shorts and colorful Hawaiian shirt.

On Thursday it was off to the Caverns. I had been through the cave about fifty years ago but it was Debbie's first time. At the visitor center we watched a presentation and



learned all about how the cave was formed and found. It was then time to take the self-guided tour down the natural entrance.

Seating at the Entrance Used to Watch the Bats Flight Out of the Cave

We walked down the center of the seating and then continued on down the serpentine trail into the cave.

The Natural Entrance