Carlsbad, NM Pictures

http://www.flickr.com//photos/61109131@N07/sets/72157627187389321/show/

Summer Roadtrip Day 1-Home to Carlsbad , NM.

I'm keeping both a mental journal and an actual journal journal of our trip this Summer.  There is a lot to cover so far.  

Day 1- We left home at about 5:30am and hit the road.  Henry went immediately for some game time(Nintendo ds) and Emma enjoyed watching the sun come up on our way out of town.  I think besides, Mommy and Daddy, she has been the one to watch the landscape(s) as we drive.  Not even 60 miles into the trip and Henry asks, "Are we still in Texas?"  He doesn't understand how big our home state is.  We continue driving and soon rediscover the joys of traveling with the little people.  Literally two seconds after passing a Rest Area, Henry informs us that he needs to go to the bathroom.  The next 10 minutes are spent locating a bathroom and hoping that our little man can hold it just one second longer.

Our next main event and one that has had us worried for a good part of the trip so far is our incident with the rather large, rather dead dog(possibly wolf).  As we were changing lanes to get around another vehicle, we enter the left passing lane, only to swerve and run over a really big dead dog in the road.  We had no other choice, it was that or be rear-ended or smashed by a semi.  We chose the dead dog.  We didn't chose the sound that started to come from the car each time we went in reverse and then later when the car was in drive.  Luckily, later in the trip, we had it checked and everything is alright or alright enough for us to continue on our trip.  

We made it into Carlsbad, NM about mid day.  We opted for the self guided tour of Carlsbad Caverns and  begin our hike in the caverns.  The kids loved it!  They were a little spooked by some of the dark corners, but otherwise were wide eyed and looking at everything.  We enjoyed the 58 degree or cooler temps down in the cavern while we hiked, took a lot of pictures, and were in awe of the beautiful natural wonders that we saw that afternoon.  We went back to the hotel for a few hours and then drove back to the caverns to watch the night bat flight out of the natural entrance to the caverns.  We were not disappointed and after listening to one of the rangers talk about the bats and answer various questions from the crowd, the motion alarm sounded and then sounded again and then little by little, the bats came flying out.  Henry loved it and he was one of the reasons we went because the boy loves bats.  Emma wanted to stay and watch until every single bat had left the cave:)  We left and hit the sack once we got back to the hotel.  

Some of the things we heard today-

Emma-"We ARE on the mountain, Henry!"-on top of the caverns.

Emma-"I caught air!"-at one of the rest stops after running around flapping her arms(wings).

Henry-"Are the bats going to leave without us?!"-while still on the road to Carlsbad, NM.  He was worried that we wouldn't make it in time for the night bat flight.

It was a good first day on the road and I have to say that the kids did so much better than I thought they would do.