Van Horn Texas, and the Carlsbad Caverns!

Nov.29th

We packed up our horses and left Austin-
our stay there was longer than expected-and more wonderful and fun than we could have imagined! We will spend the night in Ozona,Texas-if you have not heard of it,well we have not either. There is a KOA there-so we should be fine for the night.
Nov. 30th
We decided to spend the night in Van Horn,Texas-another KOA.
the park is ok,a few two many stickers for Ginger-but all is fine.
We ended up spending three nights here-the people(our hosts and workampers) are so friendly. They are a great group and it is fun to just hang out here for a bit.
We decided to make the two hour(each way) to see the Carlsbad Carverns. Both of us have wanted to check it out-so off we go. The day we choose is Tuesday,Dec.2nd-in honor of David's Birthday-his 55th I have to add!
We did a jet-boat tour on Nolan's 30th Birthday-so this seems only right.

We arrive at the caverns-they are in the middle of the desert-amazing how they were ever discovered in the first place! We had booked a tour of one area of the cave-the Kings Palace. We left Ginger at home-and when we went over the New Mexico border-the time changed back an hour too. We cancelled our tour for fear Ginger would not be so happy when we got home so late. We did the natural entrance to the "big room"-self guided tour about 1.50 miles, and about 2 hrs long. we begin our decent-it will be a total of about 800ft,and all steep switchbacks into the cave. We were both totally out of our comfort zones-and wondered if we had made the right decision to walk down-and skip the elevator! the first part was pretty eery-and,to top it off,smelled like bat poop. we kept on, because the alternative-to walk back up was not an option!
the path smoothed out a bit as we got lower, and closer to the "big room" at the bottom of the cavern. the scenery was quite beautiful-and amazing how this cavern has been exactly the same inside for millions of years. In the early 20's,guests had to walk on wooden stairs all the way-that would have been pretty scary and difficult.
All in all, we had a great time and were so glad we did the whole tour. Tomorrow our calfs will feel our choice!