Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We LOVED Carlsbad Caverns National Park. (entrance fees covered with our America the Beautiful Pass)

I first heard about these caverns through another blog (sorry I can't remember which one) telling me about the bat flights. Each spring the bats return and depart the caves in a mass of bats. The bats have only recently returned and numbers are still low (normally around 1000-10,000 nightly) and guided tours don't begin until the end of the month. You are permitted to go to the natural entrance and watch (no photos) but since the park closes at 5:00 we would have had to return at 7:30 to see the bats, then drive 40 miles to camp so unfortunately with our air conditioning still out, we are in a hurry to get to San Antonio so we skipped coming back.

The caves though were amazing! We could have spent another day here too in the caverns...darn that air conditioning but it is oh so NEEDED here!

The pictures are not great...I didn't have a tripod but they give you a feel for the Big Room which is the one we went into. By the time we arrived, had lunch and got into the park, it was 3:30 and we were told to hurry down the elevators as the park closes at 5:00 therefore we had to be back up and out by 5:00 and were catching the last elevator down! (Forgot to remember that tidbit of info so if you are reading this and are planning on poing to these caverns...go EARLY...you will love it and want more time I am sure.)