After a good breakfast on the 12th of June, we finally got out of Texas, and we only had to drive around 4ish hours. We started the morning with a movie. I wish I remember what movie it was. Gabe was really NOT impressed with whatever it was. Isn't his face amazing?
We stopped for lunch at the only food place just before Carlsbad Caverns, which was a bit overpriced as a result. Still, the food was decent.
And they had these outrageous barstools:
After lunch, we headed to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We got our tickets and then took the elevator down deep into the earth and toured to the "Big Room." It was amazing! We were all blown away by how incredible the cave was.
At one point, Brian started carrying Gabe, and Gabe fell right asleep!
Our hotel was a 40 minute drive away. We wanted to watch the bats leave the cave at dusk, and so we decided not to head over to the hotel and just kill time at the museum until the bat program. This gave the kids a chance to complete the Junior Ranger program and get sworn in as Junior Park Rangers for Carlsbad Caverns. Even Gabe finished his requirements.
I can't remember whose answer this is, but it was so perfect that we had to take a picture:
Question: Who owns the National Parks? Answer: Jesus. I think it was Danny's answer, and I also think he totally nailed it!
We looked through the gift shops some more, watched the video about bats and the cave, and then we got ice cream at the cafe.
We took pictures in front of the sign
We grabbed some snacks to tie us over, and then we headed down to learn more about bats.
Here's the part of the cave where the bats fly out of at night:
It took awhile for them to come out, and we were all getting a little antsy by the time they started flying, but then finally, they started to emerge. We had to turn off our electronics once the bats started coming out, so we couldn't take any pictures, but it was pretty cool.
We headed back to our cars, and then we headed to our hotel.
Hotel is misleading. We went to the Carlsbad Inn. Out of all the hotels on our trip, this one was the most expensive and the absolute worst hotel--er motel. When I went to check in, the office and lobby area had piles and piles of papers and things, and a great deal of those piles were covered in visible dust. It didn't inspire much confidence.
I checked us all in while Lea went to go pick up pizza. Her key wouldn't work for her room, so we had to go back to the office to fix it. By then, we had discovered a big piece of drywall just leaning up against the wall, so I asked the manager about it when I went with Lea to fix her key. He said, "Oh that's to access the plumbing for the tub. Is it a problem?" I guess not. Lea's room was much scarier. It was quite unclean and parts of the walls were stained yellow.
My tired babies didn't notice the nastiness; they just went right to sleep.
After getting the kids settled, Brian went to Walmart to see if he could buy an umbrella stroller for Gabe and some muffins, donuts, and juice for breakfast the next morning. We had planned to meet for breakfast at 8:30 in our room and then head out at 9. By 8, Lea had called to let us know that she was all packed and ready to go. Her room was so gross, she couldn't stand it anymore. Also, when she finished her shower, she discovered there were no towels! Yup, we were ready to be done with that place!
The only good thing it had going for it was this playset in the parking lot.
We headed back to the Caverns after checking out of the terrible motel for a ranger guided tour of the King's Palace. We had to get reservations for this one, and Gabe was too young to go on it, hence the stroller purchase the night before. Brian and I were were each planning to be the martyr that stayed with Gabe while the other did the tour. However, when we were walking around San Antonio, Cole was complaining about something and I said something about at least he would get to go on the cave tour since I would need to stay with Gabe and miss out. He immediately and enthusiastically said, "I'll watch Gabe!" It was sweet, but we didn't think we could possibly take him up on his offer. But even after touring the Big Room, he still just wanted to skip the tour of the King's Palace to hang out with Gabe. It made me a little nervous leaving Gabe with Cole in the visitors' center that was full of strangers as we descended deep into the ground with no cell reception and no way of knowing if Cole would need us. Lea reassured me that Cole was a good nurturer, and her words along with the splendor of the cavern helped me to enjoy our tour.
While we waited for our tour to begin, Rachel practiced her dance moves.
The King's Palace was AMAZING! I was so glad that Cole didn't want to go so Brian and I could both enjoy it.
It was a little cold, and these boys said they didn't need a jacket...they regretted that decision though.
At one point on this tour, the guide kills the lights. Right before this happened, Michael broke his glasses. There we were, looking for his missing screw for his glasses with my cell flashlight when she killed the lights. I hurriedly hid my light so that everyone else could have the pitch black experience. It was pretty cool, but I was so worried about the screw that I couldn't really enjoy and appreciate it. Thankfully, when the lights came back on, we found the screw. (We needed the screw for his glasses warranty). At some point, I took pity on my cold boy and let him use my sweatshirt.
Pictures really don't do it justice!
When we made it back up to the surface again, it took us a little bit to find Cole and Gabe, and my mama heart tried not to freak out. We finally found them in a gift shop. Cole assured us that he and Gabe had a great time while we enjoyed the tour and saw some lizards.
We hit the road again, grabbing some food in Carlsbad and then stopping for dinner in Albuquerque. While at dinner, Lea had a bit of a breakdown. She'd taken an energy drink, and it was doing some crazy things to her. As she cried a little, we told her that this was the reason we were carpooling back--so that she wouldn't have to do it all on her own. Brian drove Lea's van and her crew, and I drove ours. We drove all the way to Farmington, New Mexico. I ended up calling my mom to help me stay awake, and we finally made it to the hotel.
Oh how tired we all were!
The next morning, after rest and breakfast, our spirits were restored. We were also really excited that we would be home by that evening!!
We stopped for lunch in Monticello, and then stopped at a rock place in Moab for Cole. In Moab, we considered parting ways with Lea. We were anxious to get home, and we weren't interested in the rock shop. In the end, we decided that we would make sure she got home. We were really glad that we did when Lea got a flat tire 30ish minutes outside of Moab. Lea started the tire changing, and all the bigger boys took a turn at helping.
We stopped and got the tire fixed and then made the rest of the trip without any incidents. We felt funny when we left Lea behind at a light on Pioneer Crossing (5 ish minutes away from her house), but we figured she would be okay at that point.
We were so happy to be home!!! It was an epic road trip, and we loved seeing our family members and friends, but there really is no place like home!
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