The Magnificent Seven

Hello faithful travel companions! Our apologies for the lag in posting entries. While our trip is now concluded we thought it would still be a good idea to fill in our notes, post our pictures, and catch everyone up. 


So where did we leave off?? Oh yes, San Antonio...


We woke up this morning with a mind to see the Alamo before heading to New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns. We really didn't get to see much more than the facade of the mission building -- which in fairness is the most famous part -- because we had the dog with us. I never realized that what we most recognize as the Alamo is not the building where Davey Crockett died; that distinction really belongs to the barracks placed alongside it. Also, I never knew that these buildings are not in their original locations -- they were moved to the present spot so that they would be easier access for tourists. Hmmm. But it's hard to be too critical when we didn't go inside to the museum and learn the whole story.

We then hit the road with a mind to finish the night somewhere near Carlsbad Caverns. The open road! After 10 days of cities and people, we finally (finally!) were free to the wide open spaces of the west. The one stop we had planned was Chuy's Mexican Restaurant in Van Horn, Texas -- part of John Madden's "Haul of Fame" [I don't know why it's spelled 'haul' and not 'hall']. Apparently he stops there when travelling across the country in his bus, which he uses because he refuses to fly. Mark ordered John's favorite and I chose some chicken tacos. They were tasty, but not something I would drive out of my way to eat again. (Mark's note: I would.) Good for them though for capitalizing on a celebrity visit. The dining room was pretty full with more patrons arriving as we left. 

Bellies full, we continued on towards New Mexico. The trip was spectacular! Since we were driving through the Texas range for part of the journey, Mark insisted we download the theme song to the movie "The Magnificent Seven." It was completely appropriate for the setting. He was pleased as punch. He was even more pleased when he realized that we were the only ones on the road for miles around. We decided to play a game: what would we spot first - wildlife or people? Wildlife won. Despite there being a pretty significant barbed wire fence which looked electrified on either side of the road, a coyote had managed to slip through and crossed the road just ahead of us. It was a very long time before we saw either again. 


Just before getting into White's Creek, New Mexico for the night we came upon an oasis in the desert. The Guadalupe Mountains which are part of the National Park of the same name. Obviously not one of the better known National Parks, but worth its distinction all the same. Out of nowhere these beautiful green mountains thrust themselves through the arid desert land. Apparently, these mountains are "the world premier example of a fossil reef from the Permian Era." Who knew? We didn't until I later looked it up, so we missed out on a chance to explore this palentological wonder. Fortunately, it would turn out alright. 

Our plan was to check in to the hotel and spend the rest of the night blogging. Our trip, however, had other plans for us this night. Upon our arrival in White's Creek we did in fact check-in and then walked across the street to the tourist boutique in search of a souvenir. We've taken to purchasing Christmas ornaments wherever we go and have quite the collection started. Looking around and not finding anything we decided to replenish our supply of M&M's -- the official snackfood of the Halling road trip. Herein began the nights adventure. The cashier innocently asks us if we are in to see the bat flight. BAT FLIGHT??? My interest was immediately peaked. "Tell me of this bat flight," I encourage him. It turns out that every night just before sunset the bats that call Carlsbad Caverns home come out from the depths to feed, returning just before sunrise. We were just in time if we headed into the park and to put the icing on the cupcake it was free! HECK YEAH!! I was all about it. Mark took maybe three minutes of begging on my part to be convinced that this was a good idea. 


It was SO worth it! We pulled in and found seats in the auditorium built at the mouth of the natural entrance to the cavern. This auditorium was perfectly placed and built of completely natural [read: rock] materials, simply stunning. A ranger, who looked strikingly like Seth Rogen, was in the middle of giving his talk about the bats and "white nose syndrome" that has been plaguing bats all over the world. It's really unfortunate. He answered audience questions for a while until he was interrupted by what seemed like static in his microphone. Turns out it was the radar that picks up the bats' frequency and was the indicator that the ranger program was over and it was time to sit silently, without electronic devices, and wait for the bats to make their exit. It was STUNNING! You would think that tens of thousands of bats flapping their wings would make some noise, but before we knew it there was a silent swirling vortex of bats before us. We sat there awestruck for 30 minutes trying to process the sheer volume of creatures before us. I really wish we could have taken a photograph, but the electronic mechanism would have interfered with the bats and that wouldn't have been very nice.


We left the bats feeling very glad that I'm such a talkative person who likes to make conversation with everyone. Returning to the Rodeway Inn -- which doubled as a waterpark still open at 9 pm [there were hotel guests playing in the water in the dark] -- we researched the potential trails we could take in the caverns the next day. I'm so excited! They've been on my bucket list for quite a while and since seeing Wind Cave two years ago, Mark has been looking forward to Carlsbad as well. Yay caverns!