Visited: Saturday, December 16, 2023.
Meh. So - it didn't help any that Megan wasn't up for a hike, after walking through Carlsbad Caverns. But there really isn't all that much to do here besides hiking. The visitor center is pretty basic - no movie, a very small and static exhibit, and a small bookstore. No camping, but that's not our thing anyway. Not really any place to drive.
Pretty mountains, though.
Visited: Saturday, December 16, 2023.
Oh, my my...
1) I never heard about the drive to Carlsbad Caverns. Not one thing. But it is _gorgeous_. I'm not a big "pretty drive" person - I had all of two drives I've found so enjoyable I wanted to drive them again. (H3 in Hawaii and Bear Tooth Pass in Montana.) Well, now I have #3.
2) We only took the self-guided tour, because Megan's ankle is bothering her, and our timing wasn't right for seeing the bats. But it is phenomenal. I'm not a huge cave person, but I have visited a few - and this is miles above.
3) We went early, and - I cannot recommend going early strongly enough. It nearly felt like we had the place to ourselves, which is a great way to see the caverns. By the time we left, things were significantly busier - if not bad at all for a pretty December Saturday.
4) Once again, our trip concluded with the desire to go back again. There were multiple possibilities we ruled out because of Megan's ankle, and - I enjoyed the experience enough that coming back sounds like a fine idea. It's one of the challenges of visiting the NPS sites - many of them are so enjoyable that we want to come back, but going back is time spent not going to sites we haven't been to. So we try to be conservative with going back places. But Carlsbad Caverns is undoubtedly worth another visit.
Visited: Friday, December 15, 2023
Oh, my. Let's see...
1) White Sands was a national monument, not a national park, until 2019. It's still signed that way most places.
2) On Highway 380, you pass a turn-off to the Trinity site; perhaps the nicest patch at the White Sands bookstore is actually for the Trinity site.
3) The white sands themselves are treated as snow, effectively. They are plowed, they look like snow. A sandball does _not_ throw nearly as well as a snowball. On the other hand, sand slush is much more pleasant than snow slush.
4) Just before you get to Amalogordo, there is a tourist trap which definitely ensnared us. Pistachioland is advertised all the way up to Albuquerque - over three hours away. And it's - really, mostly just a gift store. With "the world's largest pistachio" statue out front. It's actually rather a nice gift store as such things go.
5) At white sands, the yucca plants survive by growing very, very tall. Which works fine until the sand drifts away, at which point the giant stalks collapse. You can see these at the sight; while the sight as a whole is great, this might be my single favorite fact about the site.
6) At the gift shop - just over from the bookstore - they sell sleds; we saw a number of folks sledding - or rather, attempting to sled - down the sand dunes. I know some can manage it - there are some sled tracks - but this isn't snow; it's not slippery. They sell wax at the gift shop to, which undoubtedly helps, but - you're still trying to get down a fairly grippy surface.
7) The Lincoln National Forest, East of White Sands, doesn't really look anything like a forest when you first enter. Over time, however, you see more and more (and more) trees, and it earns its name.
8) The movie, right next to the bookstore, is well worthwhile.
9) Given time, the thing we didn't do which most tempts is the sunset tour.
10) Almost forgot - driving along 380, there are four "roadside tables". Labelled as such, and literally tables - picnic tables? - with covers, and nothing else. I have no idea why these exist. But a "rest stop" was the same thing, but with _four_ covered tables. So - a roadside table is apparently 25% of a rest stop.
Visited: Thursday, December 14, 2023
This is a very low-key park - honestly, just the type of park I'm most drawn to. There are petroglyphs _everywhere_ - they recommended not going to two of the three areas due to rain that morning, but even just a short walk along the trail at the third site lead to dozens of petroglyphs, of all sorts. If you're in Albuquerque, there's really no reason not to stop by.
