Channel Mike

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

Today was going to be a good day, and it was. Rather than drive and drive, we were going to spend the first half of the day playing and exploring at Carlsbad Caverns. It was marvelous to go to bed knowing there were no alarms and we would simply wake up when we awoke. We didn't have to be to the ticket office to pick up our tour tickets until 10:30am so no big deal. I still woke up first at about 7:30 and Audrey followed pretty quickly.

We took pictures throughout the day with each person's favorite desert plant:

The morning deteriorated pretty quickly as Jak woke up hyper and disrespectful. Emma followed suit as she often does. And Audrey laughed and egged it all on. We struggled through breakfast, got everyone normalized, and made it up the mountain to the cave. Jak still had a chip on his shoulder, but as he got involved, it went away. After picking up our tickets to enter the cave and to take a guided tour, we stopped by the car and unloaded everything that wasn't necessary. We then went to the mouth of the cave where Jak had moved ahead of us by about fifty yards. I asked him to wait about half way down into the cave for the girls. I got them all lined up for a picture, but it wouldn't take. The camera had an error and it would not go away no matter what I did with it. I wasn't dragging them back up out of the cave and back to the car, so I resigned myself to no pictures in the cave and I just lugged the dead weight of a useless camera all through the caves. We got this picture after we were finished. We returned to the entrance, snapped this, then left.

From the natural entrance to the main chamber of the cave where they have installed restrooms and a lunch room 700 feet below the ground takes about an hour to hike. It's a fascinating hour looking at the fallen rocks, stalactites, stalagmites, dark corners, and intricate formations. Everyone loved the experience. But about ten minutes into the hike, Audrey had to use the bathroom. There's not really an option to turn around and go back up out of the cave. It's a narrow trail that's intended to be one way only. And climbing out of the cave is a real drag. So I asked Jak to stay right with her and told him to move as fast as they politely and reasonable could to the restrooms and that I would catch up with Emma as fast as I could move her along. By the time we all got there, we had been chewed out by three separate park rangers for allowing kids to go unsupervised, and Audrey didn't make it in time because she was being held up by a ranger about 100 feet from the restrooms until I got there. Without getting into the whole argument about rules and my lack of respect for most of them, I was pretty upset and frustrated with the NPS's destruction of what must have once been a fine cave. We got all four of us to the restrooms, got some snacks, and fought like hell to keep Emma within ten feet of our table for about 30 minutes until our tour started.

Emma got really wound up and we were getting looks from nearly everyone as Emma shrieked, sang, and ran circles around everything. When our tour started at 11:00am, I had to pick her up and carry her just to keep her from running away someplace. She continued with her sound effects, irritating everyone since the accepted voice level in teh caves is whisper level, and embarrassing me as I wondered what I could legally do to actually shut her up. I tried everything that wouldn't get me locked up and nothing worked. She had a few moments where she would talk to me normally rather than make obnoxious sound effects, but mostly she just shrieked and sang songs throughout the majority of the 90 minute tour. Exhausting.

At the end of the tour, there were places within the caves that we hadn't seen, but I had had enough and corralled them all out of the caves, up the elevator that awed Jak and me, and to the waiting car. Jak was upset that he wanted to hike a nature trail very near the entrance to the cave, but I was having none of anything. Once we got Audrey and Emma bucked, however, I drove about a mile from the visitor center and allowed him to take a less crowded nature hike on a different trail. He seemed to have a good time and seemed to gain an appreciation for the desert with its unique plants, animals, and insects. I watched him from the car with the girls and took this picture. He also really like the lizard pictured at right.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Santa Fe. It's a beautiful area that I wouldn't mind visiting again with more time to experience it. I like the nice ecology that's in between the desolate desert and the rich forest. Trees are well-spread-out and don't get that tall. There are some nice hills for complexion. It's just a beautiful place.

Audrey and Emma got to swim in the hotel pool from 9:30 to 10:00pm and were loud, active, and hyper the entire time. Afterward, I was able to get them both bathed, dressed, and into bed by 10:40. Audrey was out in about two minutes and Emma took about 20. That's a wonderful difference from the last two nights. I think I'll shoot for pools in the future with them.