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Caves for Days and a great town in Texas!

We drove into the Carlsbad Caverns National Park yesterday in search of the epic caverns and caves we've been reading about.  The park was about 17 miles away from our KOA camp.  We got there, loaded the baby Henry up on the backpack someone gifted to us a few months ago and went trekking!

I get our tickets and we get on an elevator that took us 750 feet down into the cave system.  You could feel the temperature change as we descended.  We exited the elevator and it was an eery, cold and musty environment. I couldn't help but feel a little on edge.  I had Henry facing toward the cave versus me so he could take it all in.  He's not used to facing out yet, so this new world we took him into was kinda scary.  Probably the biggest fail I've done so far as a new daddy.

We start trekking.  How they built this paved trail so deep inside the Earth, is beyond me.  As we walked through, you could hear and feel little drips of water that apparently, over time, form the weird spiraling rock structures (ie. stalagmites and stalactites).   The cave went for a bit and had little stopping points with historical signs talking about the first folks that ventured into the cave.  One section had a bottomless pit that was explored a while ago with wood and rope ladders.  No thanks!  

On the other end of the cave, there was a natural entrance that you could access the cave from.  With Henry aboard, we thought the faster route would be best for all of us, so we used the elevator.  Below you can see some of the cool things we saw.  

We got about 45 minutes into the trail system and poor Henry had a massive meltdown!  Uncontrollable crying and screaming deep within the cave.  Both Laura and I felt a bit hopeless being we were so far into the cave at that point and no way to get out.  All the people around us and everyone down there could hear his very loud voice.  It was funny to some degree but also a bit terrifying!

Lesson learned.  Henry is a little over 4 months now and I think it was a bit overwhelming for him.  I think everyone down there with us won't forget that day.  "Remember when we were stuck in that cave in Carlsbad and the baby was crying uncontrollably?"  Oh the memories...

We ventured back into town and snagged some lunch then went back to our KOA site and began packing up and organizing for our next trip.  

Yesterday, we left for Midland Texas.  Midland is a quaint little city that is just below the panhandle of Texas.  On the way there, we passed miles and miles of oil fields with their circulating pumps that look like hammers.  This sort of blew my mind because it looked a lot like Boise farmland but with no crops or cattle.  I guess oil is a big deal here.

We settled into our next RV site, Midland RV and unhooked the trailer and headed into town for dinner.  Obviously, we found a nice little brewery called Tall City Brewing Company.  It was great!  The people were super friendly and the food truck they had was very good.  The contrast to our experience in El Paso is significantly positive.  Even though there is a large Hispanic population here, the people seem to be happier and more friendly.  I can only pin it on the economic differences between the two cities.  It has to be harder to live in El Paso for some reason.  Reasons I am unfamiliar with.  The folks here are super sweet and kind.  They don't let you escape without a sir or thank you.  I am enjoying the Texan charm the ladies bring with their country accents and the wide variety of cool cowboy boots is fun to observe.  The Texan guys are tough looking.  They look like they work really hard for a living and they're proud of what they do.  I like it.  I can only imagine if someone were to cross them, they'd deliver a good ass kickin.  :) 

We decided to stay in Midland for a couple of days then we will do a long travel day Friday into Austin for 3-5 days.  I have heard nothing but great things about Austin.  The live music scene is likely off the menu but you never know.  We will see the city and explore the sites before heading to New Orleans.

I am getting more and more excited to continue exploring our great country.  We've seen some pretty remarkable things up to this point and now that we're heading more into the midwest and soon to the east coast, I am getting super stoked.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Nate











 #travel #camperlife #Texas #influencer #chevycolorado #epic


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