| One word comes to mind ... fantastic. It's roughly a 1500 foot decent into the core of the earth where
millions of years have formed what many call the most beautiful network of caverns in the
world. A gaping holes lures visitors such as ourselves down into a simply spectacular
display of stalagmites and stalactites hanging from the roof, and growing from the ground.
A brief history: New Mexico, millions of years ago, was
covered by a massive ocean, concealing the caverns. Northern New Mexico resembled
something like the Caribbean Islands today, with vast beaches.
John White discovered the caverns back in the turn of the
20th century. Quite a fascinating story actually ... he was riding through the country
side on horseback when he caught a glimpse of what he thought at the time was a fire in
the distance. When he got closer, he noticed it was a massive flock of bats exiting the
cavern entrance. Today, over 1 million bats live in the caves.
The entrance by day is swarming with Sparrows which
rangers refer to as the "Day Shift". Sparrows feed on insects by day, while the
bats feed by night ... the "Night Shift".
To this day, new cavern entrances throughout Carlsbad are
being discovered and explored. It is still considered an "active cavern" which
means moisture is still entering the caverns and continuing to form stalagmites and
stalactites.
For years, Ellen's family has been visiting New Mexico
where family resides, but even after all the trips out west, Ellen has yet to visit the
Carlsbad Caverns. Well, wait no more, put a check next to that one on the "list of
things to-do".
Up to this point, it was Frank's favorite spot. You'll
have to read up on the Grand Canyon to see why the caverns fell to second place. But
all-in-all, the caverns get two thumbs up all the way.
ps ... thank goodness they put in an elevator back in the
60's. |
