Spelunking and sunscreen. Leaving Las Cruces, our travels took us north, east, and south today. On advice from Steve Cooper, Jason's Dad, we headed to the Carlsbad Caverns via U.S. 70. This was fortunate as the suggested route would have seen us through west Texas and lot more desert. U.S. 70 takes you through White Sands National Monument which Jason visited on an earlier family vacation. His recollection mostly centered around a Boyz II Men video he saw before this earlier trip. This monument will soon become a national park if they play their cards right. Visitor center exhibits were in disrepair but that was okay because the white dunes of sand are something to see. Despite her fear of melting, today reached 106, Jessica ventured out of the car to visit this surreal place. The valley floor stretches for miles and these white dunes dominate the immediate landscape. We took off our shoes and explored them barefoot. The sand was warm and snow white.

From White Sands, we traveled through the Guadalupe Mountains. Less than 50 miles out of White Sands you reach the alpined peaks of Cloudcroft. From Cloudcroft we headed to the Carlsbad Caverns. To our relief the temperature inside the cave was a friendly 56 degrees. We took the self-guided tour and whispered our way through the 1 1/2 mile trail. After completing the tour, we stayed in the park for the nightly Bat Flight. In a beautiful outdoor amphitheater, we watched hundreds of thousands of bats leave their daytime home to search for their evening meals, a spectacular sight. From Carlsbad we head to Fort Worth mañana.  We can almost hear those cattle calls.