Visiting with the aliens, and inside the caves!

Busy day yesterday! Slept fine in the Home Depot parking lot in Roswell, and then topped up the gas at $2.36 USD a gallon ($0.83 CAD per liter).

Then, the reason we came to Roswell... we were off to the U.F.O. Museum.

I doubt there is anybody who hasn't heard of Roswell and the U.F.O. connection. But in case you haven't, here's the short version of events... back in June 1947, something crashed on a ranch near Roswell. When the debris was found by the rancher, he said it was unlike anything he had seen before, and brought his find to the authorities. Next thing you know, the military is there picking up the pieces and everything disappears. Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a press release stating that a “flying disk” had crashed on a ranch near Roswell during a powerful storm. Later in the day, as government scientists arrived in the area, the story appeared to change. A press conference was held and it was stated instead that a weather balloon had crashed. Reporters were shown debris said to be taken from the crash area, such as foil, rubber and wood, which appeared to confirm that the object had been a weather balloon.

But lots of other people said it was not a weather balloon.

Ruth, visiting with the aliens.

Lots of displays.

And lots of reading material!

The aliens have arrived!

They are funny looking dudes.

Roswell gets right in the spirit of things!

And many businesses too!

It's all about the aliens.

Enjoyed our visit...lots to read, and even a few short documentary type films to watch there. And for $5 a piece it's even a reasonable price!

But, we still wanted to make it to Carlsbad Caverns before the 2:30pm deadline to walk into the caves.

We hit the road at 11:30am, figuring that was lots of time. After all, it was only about 100 miles (160 kms) on four lane highway.

Not very interesting scenery!

However... the town of Carlsbad was really busy and it took forever to get though it. And, we had to stop for a quick bite to eat. I was starting to think we weren't going to make it by the 2:30pm deadline!

Taken at 2:05pm.

But, we still had to drive 6 miles (10 kms) on a curvy road up to the parking lot, get parked up and get our ticket!

We made it to the ticket desk, and presented our National Parks Pass and were given free admission. Great deal! She did say we were cutting it close... our ticket was stamped 2:26pm!

We made it!

However, the 2:30pm deadline was to hike to the bottom of the cave. Had we not made it, we would have had to take the elevator down. Not quite the same experience in our mind! So, we happily set off on the approximately 1 hour walk underground to the Big Room.

We're headed down there!

It didn't take long to get dark.

Looking back at where we came from.

Wow!

We've been in a lot of caves. Some haven't been that good, like the overpriced one in Barbados that we were in last year at this time.

But Carlsbad Caverns is definitely one of the better ones that we have visited!

We carried on... 750 feet below the surface!

Of course the photos don't do it justice because you don't get any sense of perspective. You really need to see it in person!

We were trying to be fast because the last exit to hike back out was at 3:30pm... so we had a pretty good idea we wouldn't make it. That's okay... we would just have to take the elevator back out.

You can see some people at the bottom right in this shot.

This old ladder was installed back in 1924 during a six month exploration sponsored by National Geographic. The ladder descends 90 ft! 

Can you imagine exploring back then with only basic lighting?

Definitely a cave worth visiting. Highly recommend it, and we are amazed that entrance was free with our National Parks Pass. Normally I would have thought there would be some kind of surcharge so we were impressed.

We had tried a couple of weeks ago to sign up for one of their longer guided tours because we had so much fun on the Wild Cave Tour we did at Mammoth Caves a few years ago, but unfortunately they were sold out. 

We found a boondocking spot just outside the park, and that's where we spent the night.

Yesterday's drive, 103 miles (165 kms).

Today, we are headed to Jal, New Mexico where apparently they have a free municipal campground... with hookups!

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Lots of Amazon Black Friday deals already starting...

4 pack of Enerwear Ladies Wool Hiking Socks. They normally sell for about eighteen dollars, so this is a great deal!

22" Blackstone Tabletop Grill at a record low price.

And the big 8qt Family Size Instant Pot is at amazing record low price.

And in Canada...

Coleman Camping Gear is 30% off!