Day 21: Carlsbad Caverns and West Texas

As mentioned before, we ended up camping in Brantley Lake State Park. The NPS website for Carlsbad Caverns lists free backcountry camping, as long as you're a half mile from the road (the backcountry road, at that). Ultimately I decided that was not for us. I couldn't have been more right. I didn't drive down the backcountry road, so I suppose it could be different, but the land right around the caverns is possibly the hardest I saw on the trip. Some of the land up in Utah appeared to be nothing but dirt. But this appeared to be nothing but rocks and cactus, as far as the eye can see (although I'm sure there are rattlesnakes too). While driving to the visitors center I looked around to see if there were any clear areas the size of our tent, but I saw just rocks and cacti. And "No Overnight Camping" signs.

I convinced Kiddo that we should walk down the ramp and enter the cave via the natural entrance, then take the elevator back up. She likes elevators, but it would mean missing a decent stretch of the cave, especially the part where you descend into the mouth of the cave and eventually walk away from the natural light.

So I don't have a lot of good Caverns pictures because my current camera is awful. To be specific, it's extra awful in low-light situations, like "in a cave", "at night", "indoors", or "anything that is not outside in the middle of a sunny afternoon". It's a point and shoot from 2004. It *finally* got put out to pasture, only its replacement broke, a fact that was discovered right before this trip. So it's back. I'm a little hung up on trying to make another big trip next year, only this time with a more awesomer blog and a kickstarter page... so maybe a new one next year...

Kiddo was scared in the cave. Not overwhelmed or anything, but was NOT interested in letting go of my hand, even for me to take a picture of something. Maybe it was ok that the camera didn't work so well in the cave, then...

Kiddo actually got a bit bored too. We took the natural entrance down to the "big room", then did the loop through the big room. I hurried us through because she was getting bored and feisty.

Oddly, over the next few days (I would much prefer I had written all of these in a timely fashion, but there are benefits to being late with it, and one of them is tying in small pieces of information from later in the trip) she talked up the caverns, and drew pictures of them (well, drew them in Powder Game, which is sort of like  interactive temporary art on the internet). I think that it was a really neat thing for her to do, and unlike anything else she's experienced, but not necessarily fun while it's happening.

On our way from the ticket station to the entrance, we stopped at an activity station and made a little foam bat finger puppet. She named it Rainbow. Well, Rainbow went through the whole cave with us, but we lost her when we came back up and sat to finish the Junior Ranger book. We'd left the Visitors Center and were on our way back to the main road when I get asked "Where's my bat?" It was one of those moments as a parent where you want to just say 'sorry, we really shouldn't turn around just for a little piece of foam, and why didn't you take good care of it anyway' but the right answer is 'we're both going to have a miserable time unless we spend a measly 15 minutes going back for that thing, so let's go'.
We couldn't find Rainbow in the visitors center and went back to the activity table... where they were doing something else. But we talked to them and the nice lady left to get the finger puppet activity stuff, and Rainbow got herself a new bat body, and all was well with the universe.

This was going to be the one night on the trip that we stayed in a hotel. So we didn't have an exact destination set, just a few towns alongside I-20 in Texas that we'd find a place at. I actually sent a text to Facebook and Twitter asking for help finding the cheapest place, but Facebook decided my text should be a private message to someone, not a status update. But regardless, our Colorado host (honestly, if I'm going to do this pseudo anonymity thing I probably should have given everyone nicknames) texted me almost immediately with information. It was cool. And so I got to use the internet for the first time in awhile, courtesy of hotel wifi (which I have noticed is the number one thing mentioned on hotel signs these days).

Day 20: White Sands and Brantley Lake State Park

In the morning I was giving Kiddo a bath and I wasn't sure where our hosts were - whether they were both out or possibly behind the closed bedroom door. My phone rang, and it was our hosts - their car had broken down and they were wondering if I could pick them up (they were close enough to walk, but it's hot in New Mexico and he did have work coming up that morning). So we helped them out with that before heading out in the morning.

Carlsbad Caverns is in southeast New Mexico, and the way from Las Cruces conveniently goes by White Sands National Monument. First, we had to stop at a border checkpoint. Hey, good job putting that 80 miles from the border, guys. And that 80 miles totally includes Las Cruces, an actual city. Also, good job not checking my car or license because I'm a white guy with a white kid. I totally had an illegal immigrant in my trunk that I took into White Sands with me. I mean shit, next big trip I should totally do a side job of running drugs. I could probably make good money that way. 

So hey, White Sands! Let me tell you about it. It's got sand that is... white! No really.

I wouldn't plan a cross-country trip around it, but if it's somewhat on the way (aka your trip involves both Carlsbad Caverns and something west of it), it's totally worth a stop. It's cool. You drive in and play on white sand dunes. I never wear sunglasses... this was a rare occasion in which I wanted them. I think they rent things for you to slide down the dunes like it's snow. We probably should have done that but didn't.

Just like at the beach you have to shake the sand out of your shoes. Even though we did that before leaving the park, we still left a bit of white sand at future stops when we took our shoes off.

So we kept driving east, and we didn't make it to the Carlsbad area in time to get into the cave in the evening - I had considered going in both the evening and the next morning. That's definitely something that works for Junior Ranger books, picking them up in the evening then doing the bulk of the park visit the next day. However, our campground was about an hour away from the park, so we weren't going to do that just for the book. 

We camped at Brantley Lake State Park. We paid $8 to use the primitive campground (one of two campgrounds we paid for). The campground is aptly named ("Rocky Bay"), so I wasn't exactly kind to the stakes. But it also means it was easy to access the lake. After we set up the tent, we changed to bathing suits and went down to the water to try swimming. You'd think that July in New Mexico would be hot, but the storm front changed that. It wasn't too hot, and the wind made swimming too chilly for me. We mostly just sat on the first rocks in the water while sunset approached.

We had encountered some desert rain on the way to Las Cruces the day before, and a downpour that same night in the city. Storms were brewing all day and I was worried about torrential rain while we were in the tent. After we got back to the tent lightning started; we sat on the trunk and watched it a bit before bed.

Day 19: Las Cruces, New Mexico

From Phoenix we were off to Las Cruces, New Mexico. A 6 hour drive. Phoenix and the surrounding area had the big picturesque cacti, so that was neat.

We got a bit of a later start than I wanted with a longish drive ahead, but it worked out. Our couchsurfing host called us and said he had to work until 9ish, but that his fiancee would be home at 5 something. So she was there when we pulled up. We socialized for a few minutes, then she said her dance class got moved to that night, and would it be ok if she went? I said yes, and so we were completely alone in their apartment within 30 minutes of arrival. It's neat to meet someone so trusting.

I cooked dinner. Kiddo watched a movie and spazzed out about not wanting any of her available food choices. I thought I was making the quinoa I made way more attractive to her by having cut up baby corn and olives to put with it... but she still rejected the whole thing. Apparently olives are awesome, baby corn is awesome, but don't mix them. Got it.

My hosts were in their early 20s (but still had all the Saved by the Bell dvds!) and are going to have a mixed-faith wedding ceremony. She is a Christian; he was but converted to Islam a few years ago. Despite my fairly significant feeling of sleep deprivation, he and I stayed up late talking, most centering on ethics and life. He steered the conversation towards abortion... I get the feeling that he likes bringing that up with couchsurfers (maybe all the time, or maybe only if he's looking for a good topic of conversation). I couldn't tell how much he wanted to get a different perspective vs how much he wanted to spar, because I got both those feelings at various points. Anyway, I was sleepy but mostly made the points I wanted to make, despite my ineloquence. I don't think it's a 'winnable' topic (if there even is such a thing) if you're treating it like a debate. It's always going to come down to a few core beliefs that aren't going to be easily changed.

Rare external link! Will the Fetus Be Aborted by Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon. Enjoy.