Family Road Trip - Day 3

Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day)
Miles Traveled: 435 miles (1219 total)
States Visited: New Mexico, Texas
Cost of Gas: $2.53 (Roswell, NM)
Breakfast: Good hotel breakfast
Lunch: French bread sandwiches in car
Dinner: French bread sandwiches in hotel room
Sites: Roswell (drive through), Carlsbad Caverns
Lodging: Hampton Inn in Fort Stockton, TX

Today was Memorial Day. After another good breakfast buffet we drove across New Mexico to get to Carlsbad Caverns. We had thought we might try to see some of the tourist attractions in Roswell, but we only stopped at the Walmart for oil and lunch supplies because we started late and needed to get to the Caverns with enough time to see the place.

We arrived at 3:30 with just enough time to do a self-guided tour around the Big Room. The last guided tour of the day was already booked.

The first thing you do is take an elevator down 750 feet into the main cavern. From there the self guided tour is about an hour and a half walk. We finished just before the last elevator out of there at 5:00 pm.

My attempts to take pictures in the cave were pretty poor. 

Lissa did a better job, but still couldn't do justice to the awesomeness of the place. 

This is the "hall of the giants." On the right is the largest stalagmite ever found (in Carlsbad caverns) --the "giant dome" which stands 62 feet high. 

Rosalie was tired of walking in the mostly dark long before we were done, but the only way out was onward. She got rides from dad and siblings part of the way. 

After leaving the park we drove down a highway in really bad condition until it crossed the border of Texas and was suddenly in really good condition. We drove on this little highway past oil derricks and tons of blossoming yucca all the way to Fort Stockton, Texas to another nice hotel. All that blossoming yucca made me wish we could try out the recipe for "cream of yucca blossom soup" that we saw in the museum at Mesa Verde.