Bottomless Lakes

On our way back from the caverns we decided to make some stops at lakes to get out and walk around, to make the drive a little more bearable. Ty found some bottomless lakes on the map and that is where we went. These lakes are just east of Roswell. We were a little surprised at how little it was and disappointed. We were hoping for a little bit more.

Not very big right, and we could see the bottom of the little pond too. We decided to keep driving in hopes that the pond was the lakes. Sure enough the pond wasn't the lakes! The Bottomless lakes are BEAUTIFUL! If I remember right there are 4-5 of these lakes surrounded by red rock. These lakes were formed from water running underground and then breaking through with erosion. They are not very wide but man are they deep.

Inside the visitor center

A diagram of all the lakes

Showing the depths of the lakes

We found some of these pecos 'diamonds', these would make some of my siblings go hog wild trying to 'collect' as many as they could as sneaking them into the van without my parents noticing and getting in trouble:)

The sun was starting to set so we took off running trying to get pics and views of all the lakes

This place is next to the campground and pretty awesome.

It has a nice beach to go swimming and let kids play in the water, not too deep here obviously. Then you can also fish in this lake too.

Naturally we brought our fishing poles and took a couple minutes to fish:) The picture is once again not the best quality. By this point it was pretty dark and we wanted a picture of us fishing. Anywho, It was pretty tricky because you had to cast down over the cliff and try to avoid trees. It was a pretty good drop, it would make me nervous to have kiddos there. The ranger warned us to be careful and not fall in because it's hard to rescue people:)

The sun going down on another great day:) We hope to go back and do some camping there in either early spring or fall, when the temperature is bearable, we will see.

Thanksgiving at Carlsbad Caverns

For Thanksgiving Ty and I decided it would be perfect to head down to Carlsbad Caverns. I have heard many good things about the caverns and Ty has been there once with his mom and really enjoyed it. We couldn't take time off from work to travel very far and thought that Carlsbad would be better to go to now instead of the dreadful summer heat.

We met up with some friends, JB and Veronica, whose family is down there and had Thanksgiving dinner with them. After dinner we went down to the Pacos River and walked around. Veronica's younger brother then took us on a tour through Carlsbad City. Funny note: he showed us all the 'make out' points, they are the good places to see things in town, hence they are the 'make out' points. . . make sense?
JB got a new camera and loves taking pictures, so here ya go.

Here we are down at the Pacos River. The river was beautiful with walkways and trees AND GRASS! You don't see much grass down here in NM.

Here is a semi good picture of our hosts and friends. Sorry it is blurry, but you might as well get use to it because the cave pictures aren't any better. Just preparing you now is all.

Down at the river the next day.

We kept seeing these lovely green alien brain things floating in the river. Figured we were close enough to Roswell that they had to be from aliens. If you happen to know what these are please let me know.

Okay into the caverns we go. Here is our neato guide showing us how to use the rope to get down into the caverns. Yes at this point blood pressure is rising and feet are sweating.

Here comes Ty down the rope, did just a great job. Obviously I did to and with no broken bones, thank heavens.

Now comes the descending instructions on how to use the ladders. There were three ladders to get down to the bottom. We all made it down safe and sound. I was very proud of myself, no vomiting, no wetting of the pants, no fainting, just a little numb in hands and feet.

Here we are all decked out with helmets and gloves.

This was pretty neat. Some poor lonesome bat died and then the cave buried it and now it is fossilized.

Our tour group coming along.

Ty waiting his turn to climb back up the ladders. 

Here is the picture of all three ladders. You gotta move your head a little for different lighting to see them all:)

Next are some pictures of the 'Big Room'. This place is pretty amazing. It is big enough to hold up to 14 football fields. Just to walk around was about a mile or so.

Mr. Handsome giving us a pose.

We thought that is little structure looked like a walrus, neat uh?

The next day we did the Kings Palace tour. Here we are starting the tour.

A little pond in the cave, there were lots of them.

After that tour ended we decided we needed exercise and walked out of the caves instead of taking the elevator. We were moving it pretty fast and it took us about 40-45 minutes. It was a very long walk out.

First sight of light, almost out!

Looking back into the caves

This is where you sit when the bats fly out at dusk. Too bad for us they were in Mexico trying to keep warm, the poor little things.

Well there you go folks. I would definently recommend this place as one to go visit. It was lots of fun!