What an amazing day we had at Carlsbad Caverns. We started off in the Visitors Center getting the boys signed up for the Junior Ranger Program. I cannot stress enough what a good program this is for kids ages 6 to 12. They learn so many interesting facts and they are encouraged to talk to the Park Rangers, who are always very knowledgeable about their parks. Then we bought our tickets to tour the Kings Palace inside the Cavern. There is a nominal fee associated with the tour, but we were able to tour a part of the cavern that is closed to the general public. The Kings Palace used to be open to all, but too many people started taking pieces of the stalactite as souvenirs. So as a result, you can only go to that area now in a guided tour. It was spectacular.

Let me back up a little bit. The caverns were discovered in the early 1900's by a 16 year old boy named Jim White. He saw bats coming out of a cave and realized there was no way that many bats (he estimated eight million, a slight exaggeration, most experts estimate the number of bats living in the cave to be between two hundred and four hundred thousand) could live in small cave. So he started exploring and soon discovered the huge expanse that is Carlsbad Caverns. The "Big Room" alone is 600,000 square feet, or approximately the size of 14 football fields.

Okay, back to our day. Most of Cavern that is open to the public is free with your admission to the park. You can get the 750 feet down into the cavern one of two ways, an elevator or through the natural entrance. We did both. For our morning tour of Kings Palace we took the elevator. It takes all of 60 seconds to drop the 750 feet. The temperature is roughly 56 degrees, so being the good mommy that I am, I schlepped everyone's fleece jackets and sweatshirts in a backpack. At first the boys were reluctant to put their jackets on, but soon realized they were getting chilled. The tour of Kings Palace takes about an hour and a half and includes stopping several times for historical facts and to take in the awe of the massive stalactites, stalagmites and gorgeous draperies. After our guided tour of Kings Palace, we took the self-guided tour of the "Big Room" which is a mile and a quarter loop. Between the Kings Palace and the Big Room we had walked close to 3 miles. I was very proud of Sean. He only started complaining at the very end, and only because he was hungry. He didn't once proclaim "I can't feel my legs" which is his usual refrain when he grows weary of walking.

We took the elevator back up to the Visitors Center and much to our delight discovered they had a restaurant. After getting some lunch the boys finished up the activities for the Junior Ranger Badges, turned in their workbooks and received their badges. I wanted to take a look at the natural entrance, so we headed out the door and down the path. We met up with a couple Park Rangers and told them of our plan. They knowingly laughed and warned us that once we started walking down the path we wouldn't want to walk back up. Glenn assured them that there was no way we were walking the 750 feet down into the cavern. The Park Rangers were right. We started down a little ways, just to have a look. Then we went a little further because it was so fascinating. Pretty soon we were at the point of no return. It was going to take more effort to climb back up than to continue our descent. There are several signs as you head into the natural entrance warning of exhaustion and weak knees. I had both come upon me at approximately the mid-way point. There was no use complaining, what was anybody going to do about it. All we could do was keep on heading down. And down we went, a mile and a quarter. I don't know how long it took, maybe an hour, but I was so happy to see the elevators. Up we went, 60 seconds later we were back in the Visitor's Center. We got information about returning for the bat flight that evening and headed back to the KOA. As we were driving down the mountain Glenn noted that if we hurried we could make it to Sonic before Happy Hour ended. That became my one goal. I wanted a Cherry Limeade and was not going to be deterred. We made it, screaming in on two tires at 3:58. Whew! I got my Cherry Limeade at half price. Oh I love Sonic.

We got back to the RV and Glenn and the boys changed into swimwear to check out the pool. I pulled another of my delectable freezer meals out and started dinner. We had Mandarin Orange Chicken and Jasmine rice. It was tasty. Much better than the Teriyaki Chicken we had the other night.

After dinner we piled into the car again and drove the 45 miles back to Carlsbad Cavern to watch the bats take flight out of the cave. There are very strict rules for viewing the bat flight. No electronic devices whatsoever. No cameras and no cell phones. They also want you to remain quiet and seated during the flight. Once he got the rules out of the way he answered bat questions, gave us bat history and generally kept us entertained until the bats took flight. He was the opening act and the bats were the main attraction. I suppose I was expecting the sky to be blackened by the bats, that is not the case at all, however it is still amazing. The bats come out of the natural entrance, flying in a counter-clockwise pattern until they clear the cave, then the head off to do their nighttime feeding. These Mexican Free-Tail Bats are tiny. Their bodies are only about the size of a man's thumb. If I didn't know they were bats, I would have assumed they were little birds. Their exodus from the cave can take up to two hours. We didn't sit there for the whole two hours, we roughed it out for about 15 minutes before the boys were bored with the bats. Truthfully, once they start out and you've seen the counterclockwise movement, there's not much else to see. It was still an awesome sight and I'm glad we did it. I don't know that I will ever get to see something like that again and anytime you have the opportunity to see something out of the ordinary, you should take it.

Then it was back to the RV for showers and to tuck three sleepy young men into bed. Carlsbad Caverns may have seemed out of the way on a trip where the main focus is the Grand Canyon, but what a day we had. Is it out of the way? Yes. Was it worth it? You bet. Experiences like these are going to be the memories our children will take with them into adulthood and can shape their futures. The whole reason we are on this odyssey is because Glenn wants to recreate some of the memories he had as a child. Will our children fondly look back on this trip and tell their children about it? I hope so. Maybe one of the boys will want to be a National Park Ranger, maybe one of the boys will want to study bats or geology. I don't know, but I know I'm glad were out here on the open road together, enjoying this beautiful country.