'19/#33 This Is Why We Head South

I am writing this with the furnace on and sitting in front of our electric fireplace. The high temperature yesterday and forecast for today will not get out of the 50 degree range. With overnight lows in the low 30's with feels like temperatures in the mid 20's  South Texas beckons us with warmer temps and open arms. The winds here in New Mexico have also been strong enough to rock the trailer and loud enough to wake us up during the night!

That being said, we did have a good day in Carlsbad Caverns. People say once you have seen a cavern you have seen them all. To a point that is true but each cavern has it's own uniqueness. Yes they all have stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, drapes, and all the other formations created by water and time but they are all with their own personality. Some are distinguished by their size or their length or the colors in the formations or just a unique formation of the calcified minerals that did not form the same as any other cavern. We have been to Mammoth Cave, Luray Cavern, Howe's Cavern, Wind Cave, Florida Caverns, and now Carlsbad Caverns and each was an experience to remember.

Mammoth's overall size is mind boggling, Luray's singing stalacpipe organ, and the boat ride on the underground river in Howe's Cavern are some of the things that distinguish these from any other cavern. If you have ever been impressed by a cavern tour do not bypass any others just because someone said "Oh it's just another cave". The size of Carlsbad's Great Room is staggering and the history of how it formed from an inland sea is well worth the trip. It is definitely not just another cave.

We were going to do the White Sands National Monument but the cold and wind and road closures due to missile testing at the nearby missile range will have us put it on the agenda at a later date. For now we are staying warm and planning the rest of our trip south. We will stop in and see some friends in north Texas for a few days before our last stretch into south Texas and our winter home.

For now I am staying warm in our home in Carlsbad New Mexico because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary