It’s been quite some time since our last blog post! Life happens, and we just needed a little break from trying to make content. This week we had some special visitors come to see us, and we decided to finally make it out to New Mexico’s mountain range! Joey and Janine came all the way from Washington to meet baby Mav, and he was automatically super friendly with them! I’m glad that he felt comfortable enough to play and laugh with them while they were here.
Any who ~ on day one, we decided to all drive out to Carlsbad Caverns. It’s about 2 hours and 45 minutes away from home, and the drive is probably the most boring drive I’ve ever seen. (maybe not.) We left super early in the morning since it’s first come, first serve for tickets, and after a certain time, they close all admissions. The admission fee is $15 per person, free if you’re active duty military. While we were waiting, we walked around the building that had some history about the mountains and how the caverns were formed. I will say that our number one tip is to bring a lot of snacks and food. There isn’t much there unless you want to drive 30-40 minutes to the closest town for fast food. The restaurant in the visitors center only had cold cuts, and the only café there had no cars parked out front. Super sketchy, we took a hard pass on that.
When we finally made our way into the caverns, it was a short hike to the bat amphitheater which was an outdoor seating area where you could watch bats exit the caverns every evening to go hunting! We did not stay for that unfortunately. The descent into the cavern is not for the weak legged. It starts out gradual, and then it seems like the guy who was excavating for the path just got tired of it and did super steep shortcuts. The initial scent going into the cavern is also very unpleasant. It reminded me of how a wet Asian bathroom smells like in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, no bueno, all guano. The underground sits at about 56 degrees, so if you’re not a fan of being chilly, definitely bring a fleece and wear pants.
Maverick was amazing the entire way down, slept like a champ. Once we made it to the Big Room, it was game over for him. I think it was something to do with his ears popping and the cold. So if you go down with a baby, make sure you’re ready to nurse a grumpy baby. I’m more than sure we woke up all the bats in the cave, sorry Batman.
Milksnob covers coming in clutch for cave feedings!
Maybe we’ll go back to see what that Big Room had, maybe we’ll just be left to wonder. Either way, it was a fun trip with Uncle Joey and Auntie Janine! Oh, and before I forget, Mav became a Junior Ranger! :D Click here for the link to their website if you’re interested in planning your own visit.