The Monroy Family: On to Carlsbad Caverns

After leaving Alamogordo we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. The plan was to get to Carlsbad (actually, Whites City is where the Caverns are located. 15 miles from Carlsbad) and set-up camp. We wanted to go to Flight of the Bats at dusk at the caverns. However, as we were driving to Carlsbad I started to feel terrible. My throat was killing me and I was feeling so weak. Since Ryan had just got diagnosed with strep I was positive I had it also. So, we decided to head to Jal, where Henry's parents live. It is only an hour from Carlsbad and this way we could relax and just try to get to feeling better. His parents were out of town so we just let ourselves in and made ourselves at home. The kids had fun turtle hunting in the backyard. In the morning I called my doctor in Rio Rancho and asked him to call in a prescription for Strep to a pharmacy in Carlsbad. After lunch in Jal, we headed out to Carlsbad to pick up my prescription and head to the caverns.

We drove to Whites City and headed straight to the RV park to set up the pop-up and cook dinner. There was a tiny, and I emphasis tiny, park by the RV park with a slide so the kids and I started walking to it when the guy who manages the RV park said that I should drive over there due to the fact that there are a lot of rattlesnakes in the area. NICE. So all I could think of was a rattle snake crawling into the pop-up. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we were in Carlsbad/Whites City the temperature reached 112 degrees. NICE.

After dinner we headed up to the Caverns to see the Bat Flight. Right at dusk the bats fly out of the caverns for the night. It was pretty awesome to see. After the bat flight we headed back to the pop-up and I went straight to bed as Henry and the kids made smores.

In the morning we woke up early due to the fact that it was all ready 80 degrees and it wasn't even 9 yet. We ate a quick breakfast and packed up the pop up and headed back to the cavern to go hike it.