Las Cruces, Carlsbad Caverns, NM and El Paso, TX

Maander and the sea of nothingness
where we parked before entering
Carlsbad Caverns

So the people we have met warned us about west Texas. They said there is nothing there. You want to blow your brains out because there just isn't anything to see and you have to drive... and keep driving and keep driving. Guess what? They were right! Our trip that took us from El Paso to Carlsbad was barren. It was insane how straight a road can go for so long and for there to be nothing, absolutely nothing. But before that lets talk about Las Cruces!

Actually beautiful sights on our
way to Carlsbad

New Mexico. I have never been here and had really no expectations. I knew we wouldn't hit Santa Fe or Albuquerque and those are the only towns I know of in New Mexico and even those I have little knowledge of. We arrived in Las Cruces after a short little jaunt from Deming. Lately, we have really been hitting the road hard and getting east as quick as we can. We want to avoid the cold that is in central Texas and get to the Gulf Coast to help regulate the temperature. Las Cruces is a good in between as we trek slowly but surely. We chilled at Starbucks for a longtime and watched all the new NBC comedies from the night before (The Office, Community, etc etc) Afterwards we went to explore the town. Turned out NMSU was there and we have had fun walking around colleges in the past so we said how bout it.

Las Cruces had a good vibe to it. According to Wikipedia its main industry is the federal Government which has some military test facilities nearby. We walked the campus of NMSU saw the peeps and just tried to get an idea of what NMSU student life was like. We saw some ROTC people and looked at some bulletin boards to see what activities went on. It was a Thursday and it said they had a Improv show from 9-11pm. We said we would try and make it cuz that just sounded like a cool way to see a different side of Las Cruces.

ROTC Ooh rahh! 

Nifty!

We walked a bit more around campus then headed back to Maander to go find some grub. The site Yelp.com has been a great help on our journey. It is a bunch of reviews by people who go to these places and rate them and write up a short review. You find all the local hang outs and if a place has some unique nuance to it they let you know. A highly reviewed place was Ziffaro's Pizza. We headed downtown to see what was up. It looked like Las Cruces did a half-hearted attempt and making a downtown walk that didn't really work out. We found Ziffaro's after a bit of searching and proceeded to nom. The food was excellent and the atmosphere had a very midtown Sacramento feel to it. I liked it and I over ate the food was so good. Not many young people at all at the restaurant but it was popping.

After dinner we headed on over to the Improv. When we went inside it was only 2 other people. We introduced ourselves and asked if it was a performance or something you participated in. They said either or and Anna said earlier she wasn't interested in trying improv. I said I would try one little thing then we would be on our way. A couple more people showed up and we began. They had to explain every improv game they had but it was easy to catch on and I did my best. I couldn't say I did a great job but I was able to get a couple laughs. I found the way you get the best laugh is if you reference something they are familiar with. So my Seinfeld quote went over well. I have been watching a lot of Arrested Development on Netflix lately and I noticed they used lines from that show a lot. I participated for probably 40 minutes then excused myself, it was a cool experience.

Only Steers and ____s come from Texas!!
Jk Jk :)

Las Cruces to Carlsbad would be the longest drive in a single day we have ever done so far. Maander has been strong and I was confident. Our plan was to stop in El Paso, TX get some good grub, we heard their Mexican there is really good. The road you take you have to swing into Texas then back up into New Mexico. Getting to El Paso was no problem and I realized I hadn't been to a big city in awhile. El Paso has 600k people there. We went into the predominantly Mexican area, though we are unsure if possibly the whole town is the Mexican area, and went to a highly rated Mexican hole in the wall joint. Anna and I succumbed to our temptations and we ordered way too much food. I have not eaten so much in a long time. The food was great but did not warrant me gorging myself.

Nom Nom

From El Paso to Carlsbad was when I realized what all those people said was true. We drove, and kept driving. There just was nothing. Absolutely nothing. There were little cafes or gas stations along the road that tried to capitalize on the 120 miles of nothing in between El Paso and Carlsbad yet every single one of them was shut down and looked to have been out of business for many many years. It had an eerie feel to it and I just wanted this leg of the trip to be over with but it didn't want to be over with. The caverns are a bit before the city so we stopped at the information booth and got info for the caverns with the day almost over the caverns were closing and we would hit them the next day. We rolled into Carlsbad exhausted and the weather was this blustery cold that made you feel like crap. The town of Carlsbad is a complete pit of garbage nastiness. Never ever go there by choice. If you see the caverns make sure you are way the hell away by the time you rest your head. The roads were the crappiest I have ever seen in a city. Every building looked like it was falling apart and the highest octane of gas they had was 90. I was pissed and this city felt like garbage, Anna suggested just getting a hotel and I gladly agreed. I didn't want to experience this town at all. We ended up in a Best Western and tried to recharge our batteries. Late at night it sounded like some drama was happening outside and it was hard to go back to sleep which just made me have an even worse taste in my mouth in regards to Carlsbad. Blaaahhh now the caverns

Just before we enter the Cavern

Carlsbad caverns is way bigger than Kartchner. We walked probably 3 or more miles into the cave and into a depth of about 800 ft. When I compared the two caverns I found that Carlsbad is like a typical American meal and Kartchner was like a decadent Gourmet meal. Both are good in their own right but very different. Kartchner is much smaller but it has much more color and the formations or decorations that are found in the cavern are rarer and more intricate. Carlsbad doesn't have big differences in color but it is just big, really big. It has solid decorations some awe inspiring things it just is lots and lots. Carlsbad is significantly cheaper than Kartchner (6 bucks compared to 22) but it is self guided and not as well lit. Carlsbad allowed photography in the cavern so we took many pics, enjoy:

Looking out as we descend into the Cavern

Column

Listening to the recordings as
we see the decorations

Extreme close up of a stalagmite

Thats a tall one

Draperies

Some parts were quite low
imagine myself, couple close
calls in bumping my head

Get your mind out of the gutter

Not pointing at the pic above me
Just being amazed at some of the formations

A pool inside

We now are just trying to get across Texas and get to Fort Worth Dallas area. We aren't doing the 600 miles in a day thing so we have stopped in a couple of smallish towns. We stayed the night in the town of Hobbs, NM which is right on the border of NM and TX. Nothing there and is mainly there because of the oil fields that surround it. We didn't do much just hung out at the Chili's. We had some adult beverages at the bar as we waited for our table to be ready. I got the bill for a beer and a Long Island Iced Tea and it was 15 bucks! I was like ouch but the friendly dude next to us popped down a 20 and said, "On me, the casino treated me well today" hehehe I knew there was something good about a casino.

That night we spent at Wal-mart where in the middle of the night we were awoken by some more drama outside but it sounded like a cop rolled up quickly. We then awoke to find that someone threw an egg at Maander during the night. Dang 'ol dang children, I shake my fist at you! Now I find myself in a Starbucks which are increasingly rare here in the middle of this nothingness in a town called Abilene. We just finished the longest drive we have ever done, about 200 miles. Maander is mighty and eager to take us to our destinations. Tomorrow we plan to do another long haul and roll into Fort Worth. We will bounce around that metropolitan area till Thursday where Anna and I will spend sometime with her friend Melody in Mansfield, a little south of Dallas.

Kisses and I thought this would be short but I now realize when things suck there is more to write because I can just complain a ton. I wonder if there are more negative adjectives in the English language than positive ones. Someone look that up?