Carlsbad Caverns

Last week we were talking about Carlsbad Caverns.  I went when I was around 10  years old I think.  Brian took the boys a few years ago, but the girls have never gone.  Brinley was "down" for a road trip.  When Aubrey heard it was three hours away, she decided not to join in the fun.

Aubrey dodged a HUGE bullet too.

Let me explain.

I really wanted to work out before that morning, and my class at the gym is from 9-10.  By the time we came home, showered, and took care of a few things, it was 11:30 before we left. 

Brinley and I didn't think a thing about our casual start.  We had checked out the operating times.  We figured if we could eat along the way, go to the caves, and be home by 8:30.  

I was really grateful we didn't have car problems because there was nothing on the route to get there.  NOTHING.  Almost nothing.  It felt like absolutely nothing.  Just two lane roads and lots of dead grass.  There was one small town called Jal, NM, populaton 2,091.  We were grateful too because we needed to use the restrooms.

We never found the cowboy sculpture and after seeing the remoteness of New Mexico, Brinley concluded life in Odessa could be worse.

We had a great time in the car together.  We were minus the craziness of multiple personalities at home.  (AKA disagreements, whining etc.)  We chatted about her mission.  We listened to part of "Insights from a Prophet's Life" by Sheri Dew.  We have both read this book about President Nelson, but we were perfectly happy listening and learning about our prophet again.  She reminisced about some of her random roommate trips at BYU...driving two our to go to the hot springs or to visit a different city.

When it was time to decide if we were going straight to the caverns or heading into Carlsbad first for lunch, we decided we definitely needed lunch.  It was 2:30 pm, and we were hungry.  So we went 25 minutes out of our way to go into town.

We casually stuffed ourselves at a local restaurant and headed down to the National Park.  

We stopped at a couple of signs along the way to take pictures.  

This was on the back of the welcome sign.  Smart!

As we drove down the windy road that led to the caverns, Bryn noticed a large electronic sign: SOLD OUT.  On the opposite side of the road there was a sign with a little more information.

What?  We were silent in unbelief.  Sold out?  It was 3:30 in the afternoon.  According to the sign, last tickets were sold at 1:45.  We were speechless.  Then we started giggling.  Then we wished we were huge flirts like my sister Becky, so that we could talk our way into the exhibit.  We knew we didn't have a chance, but we kept driving forward anyway.

Lucky us, the gift shop was open.😏  We decided to head in.  We were just laughing at our situation at this point.  We drove three hours to eat at El Jimador in Carlsbad, New Mexico and turn around and drive home.  Craziness.

We had to make do with these fake stalactites in the gift shop.  And we imagined what it would be like for this shirt to mean something to us: 

Then we left the building to take a few pictures.  

There you have it...the landscape.

It was definitely a memorable trip to the Carlsbad Caverns!😂

When we pulled into Odessa, Brinley said, "Well, at least it's already 7:00."  I was confused.  I asked her what she meant by that.  She explained she was glad we had knocked out most of the day.  She's been a little bored and restless at home.  I was cracking up.  Just a little eight hour car drive to make her day go faster.