After a very smooth trip from Nashville to El Paso through Dallas – chalk up a small victory for beleaguered American Airlines – we settled in for a few days of pure R&R by the pool at Oma and Opa's house. Nice.Now we're in San Antonio, where we'll take in Sea World, Six Flags and the Alamo, among other things. But first, a few pics from southeastern New Mexico, where we stopped off first at Guadalupe Mountains National Park – photo at left – and then the Carlsbad Caverns.
The latter was well worth the trip: Water and sulfides have over the years mixed to hollow out a ridge about 25 miles south of Carlsbad, creating a network of caves as deep as 1,000 feet under the surface. In many places, the water is still dripping down and mixing with the limestone and other minerals to create stalactites, stalagmites and other rock features. Very cool.
At sundown, we gathered with a few hundred of our not-at-all-close friends at the entrance to the cave complex to observe the emergence of the thousands of bats who live underground. They came out in dozens of waves of about 300 each, circling upward counterclockwise before heading off in search of water to the south. Also sweet.
