We drove through Carlsbad (the city) on our way north to Brantley Lake State Park. We were not quite sure what awaited us, but as we got close to the sign marking our turn-off we were struck by the unusual terrain. Imagine a wide open expanse of desert terrain with some low hills - just enough to block a long range view of seeming nothingness. As we turned off the main highway, we started down what seemed like an endless road to nowhere. After driving on slightly hilly terrain for almost five miles we saw the turnoff for the state park. The campground was on a hill way off in the distance from the entrance to the state park. This park had a self-pay system in effect, so we were able to head off (in the distance, again) to the campground with an ability to 'check it out' before committing.
As we arrived in the campground we observed a group of roadrunners running next to the road as we did our campsite tour. It was quite funny to see these birds 'in the wild'. They really are not anything close to the size of Paisano Pete (we knew that), and in fact are nothing close to the size of the Roadrunner in the 'Coyote and Roadrunner Show', either. As it turns out, we also found out (a couple of days later at the Living Desert Museum at Carlsbad) that the roadrunner is actually quite a vicious bird.
As far as the campsite goes, it was beautiful. There was a large loop road running around the top of a hill overlooking a lake (made by people, so technically it is a reservoir). Here is a view of the dam that caused the lake to form:
We set up camp that afternoon and had a great time sitting out under the stars (a fantastic view of the stars since we were really not very close to any significant number of people). The next day Heather Lynn was not feeling great (not badly sick, just not feeling 'right'), so we decided to hang around the campsite instead of heading to Carlsbad Caverns. In the evening, we were getting pretty bored, so most of us (not Pam) decided to go to a movie in town. Here we are in front of the theater. Quiz question: Which movie do you think we went to see (the movie titles can be viewed in the picture)?
The next day we decided to visit the Living Desert Museum (in Carlsbad) and then head down to the Carslbad Caverns. The Living Desert was extremely cool. It is set up on a mountain overlooking the city of Carlsbad. First we viewed the numerous exhibits inside the centre - here is the 'touch' centre (the background behind this exhibit looks like a real-life backdrop of our southwest landscape):
We then went for the 'tour' outside on a walkway leading us through the 'live' exhibits, or zoo. We saw a great deal of different animals (birds, rodents, cats, etc.). There was one area where we saw a full-grown male turkey and a whole variety of birds that were flying freely around us.
Reba's favourite (future pet) was the prairie dog:
Near the end of our tour Pam and David stopped off in the cactus hothouse (it was about 70 degrees outside but around 95 inside this hothouse):
After visiting the Living Desert we headed down to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. The road leading up to the cavern entrance was fairly winding and a bit disconcerting to drive (it was worse on the way down). We got to the caverns entrance, stopped at a picnic spot for a late lunch before heading in.
The Carlsbad Caverns are some of the world's largest dry caves. There is one cavern, called the "Big Room" that is the size of fourteen football fields. It took us about an hour and a half just to walk around and view this one room! Here we are in another cavern group shot, although this time we are 800 feet below the surface!
We then headed back up to our campsite at Brantley Lake for bed-time. The next day we packed up and got ready to start heading west across New Mexico.