Month: February 2020 Page 2 of 3

Two Twenty Twenty. 👐🏼 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣

What a fun day we had. Even though the cold weather continues to follow us…even down here in the south.

The kids had a lot of fun hanging out with Isaac and Aliyah and so did we. We weren’t sure what their plan was but we were hoping they would hang around Guadalupe instead of heading to Carlsbad Caverns. It was supposed to be bad weather so we were assuming they’d head to the caverns. I wanted to hike up Guadalupe Peak with the girls, the tallest peak in Texas. It’s 8.4 miles with 3000’ elevation gain.

Unfortunately the mountain looked like this…

You couldn’t see the top. Well, not even the mudfle

Oh this is what camping at Pine Springs campground at Guadalupe Moubtaibs National Park looks like. Nothing too exciting, but since were out here in the middle of nowhere it wasn’t too bad actually.

We hung out waiting for the clouds/fog to lift a little. Edwin’s designing our future RV. More on this later…

When it was finally late enough in the morning that Vera went out to find Alia, she came back bummed that they were indeed going to the cavern.

Since Guadalupe Peak was out…why go up so high to not be able to see the view…and with the weather uncertain we decided on a shorter 4.5 mile Devil’s Hall hike that didn’t have much elevation gain and followed a wash. It was a better fit for the day.

As we were getting our water and snacks together Jamal came over to say they were in fact not going to the cavern today and they’d love to go on a hike with us. Yay for us. That cheered everyone up for sure.

It was a great little hike up through the canyon. Then down into the wash which led to rock scrambling.

The coolest part was the section called Hikers Staircase.

It ended at what is called Devil’s Hall. Why are so many things in our country called Devil something…👿 ?

The kids really enjoyed hanging out with our new friends. And so did we. Too bad they’re going the exact opposite way of us.

We had planned on heading down to Big Bend, but we also didn’t want to leave our new friends. We ended up staying later while we all hung out and it was a difficult decision to leave. But it’s a 4 hour drive down to Big Bend and we often like driving on the evening and waking up where we want to be instead of leaving in the morning and driving during the day.

Goodbye new friends. Happy we ran into you and got to spend some time you all. We will keep in touch 🙂

Carlsbad Caverns National Park. 28th National Park.

Within the Chihuahuan Desert is the largest and wettest desert in North America.

Carlsbad Caverns are HUGE. They are not the biggest, longest or deepest caves in the world, but it seemed pretty large to me. And so different from Lehman Cave in Great Basin National Park. Lehman Caves are only 50’ below ground, with much smaller spaces and rooms, but highly decorated. Carlsbad is 750’ below the Earths surface with large areas and didn’t seem as decorated, but here the decorations were large. Or maybe just because the space was so big it didn’t seem as intricate. The cave is large enough that you are doing a 2 1/2 mile self guided tour on a paved path. There are ranger led tours in smaller rooms but even though we called a few days ago they were all sold out for the next few days. The self guided us lit by lights around the cave. One of the pluses of s ranger tour is you walk with lanterns and they have you turn off the lights multiple times. I’m happy we got to experience that in Lehman Cave because I would not have believed how dark dark actually is. You think you’ll eyes will adjust. They don’t.

So how do these caves exist? Happen? 250 mya in Pangea this area was a coastline. Marine plants and animals built a limestone reef (from the skeletons of marine life) here. About 60 mya, hydrogen sulfide gas from oil and gas deposits deep in the Earth formed sulfuric acid and dissolved the limestone creating large cavities. As large cavities were formed and water receded, water dripping via rainfall through the limestone dissolves the calcite. It is the calcite from the limestone that form all these decorations or speleothems, the stalactites, stalagmites, cave drapery, cave popcorn etc…

Bats. They’re kind of important here at the cave. They travel south to Mexico for winter and only live here in the summer months, May to October, 1/2 million of them. A few different species. At dusk it’s supposedly quite spectacular to witness them fly out of the cave. Bats are nocturnal, so they leave the cave at night to feed, returning at dawn to sleep during the day.

In the early 1900s they began harvesting guano – you know what guano is if you’ve seen Ace Ventura Pet Detective 2 When Nature Calls. If you don’t, please reference the movie…or guess, but I highly recommend both Ventura movies instead 🙂 The guano below the roosting chamber was more than 40’ deep. They mined the guano from 1902 – 1958 and most of it was sent via train to California and was used as fertilizer in the citrus farms in CA. Of course bat population numbers began declining and scientists were blaming pesticides and habitat destruction. In 1981 the park plugged a shaft in the roosting chamber made their during guano mining era. With the hole plugged, the Brazilian free-tailed bats have begun reoccupying the area. The hole in the roosting chamber changed the temperature, humidity, and airflow in the roof of the chamber.

Even though I guess I knew this…or maybe I didn’t, but the rest of the family seemed to know that bats are mammals. I don’t know if I thought they were birds, or really I think I just never really thought much about bats before, It was interesting to see the anatomy of a bag wing to that of our hands.

Bats play an important role in our ecosystem. They do a lot to control the pest population. They do a lot for agriculture by eating their fair number of moths. Something else about moths, only a few species drink blood and that’s primarily the blood from cows…not people. And they are NOT blind nor can they see in the dark, They have eyes similar to ours and can see quite well during the day. What they do have is echolocation. Similar to sonar used by boats, bats can see in the dark and can process information in milliseconds. Bats also have a heart rate of 900 beats/minute or 15 beats/second.

This is the beginning of the natural entrance. They have a built in amphitheater to sit and enjoy the flight of the bats…another time. It’s about 1 1/4 mile down to the main chamber, down 750 vertical feet.

Once we got to the main room 750’ below we took the 1 minute elevator ride up to check in with Edwin. He wanted to ride the elevator down and explore the big room.

Jim White, is considered the 1st explorer of the cave. People knew about it, but no one entered after the dark zone. He was a 16 year old cowboy who entered the cave on his own in the late 1890s after he saw the amount of bats leaving one night. There are signs Native Americans went into the opening, but not pass the twilight zone or dark zone. He built this ladder in 1924 to do a 6 month exploration sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Imagine exploring the cave with little light…how Jim didn’t perish in his years of exploring.

Don’t mess with Texas. 19th State.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park. 29th National Park.

There’s one camping spot near the visitor center. Really it’s just a parking lot, but there’s nothing else around and the surrounding mountains are really pretty so it doesn’t matter. It’s better than a random RV place on the side of a road, like the one in Whites City outside Carlsbad Caverns.

It was like a party. We immediately ran into some older couples we talked with at White Sands. And then ran into 2 other groups that we had fun talking with, a plus being they were more in our age group. One, Girard, is a travelling physical therapist on the road for a few months. His destination is the Bay Area so I set him up with the Oakland and Transbay locations. The more exciting meeting was with Jamal, because he’s travelling with his wife and 2 kids, ages 9 & 11, 3rd and 6th grade. They’re going the exact opposite way heading in the direction we just cane from and vice versa. It was fun talking to someone doing the same thing and hearing some of the places they’ve gone and where they liked etc… Vera made quick friends with Alia and Isabella and Isaac did too. It’s been awhile since they’ve had kids their age to play with.

It was past dinner time and even though all the kids were hungry you could tell no one wanted the hanging out to stop. So even though it was pitch black and cold they had a little picnic outside and it was pretty cute when Alia said “we’re having a Buddha bowl too”. Bowl of salad, cabbage, with some pearl couscous, protein (this time pork from TC ~ thanks btw, theirs was shrimp), avocado, and cut up veggies. RV life yo.

Sunrise at White Sands…it’s like you’re in a different world.

We enjoyed another day running around the dunes

On our drive out we met a legit older couple in an earthroamer and talked with them for a bit, They travelled the world via a powerboat 10 years ago,

Then we took off and headed to Carlsbad Caverns.

On the way we drove past this guy. Only read his sign “Walking America” as we drove past. It warranted a turn around even though it took at least a mile to find one. We stoped for a bit and chatted in the middle of the road and gave him some beer and chocolate. It was much appreciated as he was about to hunker down a few miles up the road. He’s been on the road since April and plans to walk up to Alaska.

We stopped in Artesia for dinner. Didn’t realize how big oil was down in this area.

So we are off. We are going to attempt to move forward and see how it all goes.

Had a yummy breakfast with the family, some snuggles, a jump, and we’re off.

We were kind of excited for the day. Our plan was to go to White Sands National Park with a stop through Alamogordo. We did this 11 years ago when Isabella was 1 year old. When we were living in CDA we bought our Volvo is Texas. The 3 of us flew down and road tripped back up to Idaho. We had planned on driving through White Sands and had a great time in Alamogordo. Isabella has just started walking and we would find parks and playgrounds to stop at along the way. There was this randomly cute little zoo in Alamogordo that we fell in love with so we were excited to go back and revisit. I always feel mixed about zoos because I’m not for keeping animals locked up and they almost always look unhappy in their surroundings. But there’s something to be said about kids being exposed to all different animals they wouldn’t normally encounter so they grow an appreciation for them and learn and understand them so they understand the importance of animal ecology and conservation. It seems especially important in a small town in the middle of nowhere like Alamogordo.

Right north of Alamogordo is the largest pistachio nut so it warranted a pit stop for pistachio ice cream and flavored nuts.

White Sands National Park. 27th National Park. It has been National Monument since 1933 and has just been designated a national park in December so no national park sign yet.

White Sands National Park is about 270 square miles. The dunes go up about 60’, compared to Great Sand Dunes towering over at 750’. White Sands is different to most other sand dunes in that most sand dunes are quartz based and White Sands are made from gypsum. It is the largest gypsum sand dune in the world.

The sand comes from the mineral gypsum. This is why the sand is white. Gypsum is part of the salt family and is found in the rocks in the neighboring mountains. Snow dissolves the gypsum and flows downstream. As the water evaporates it leaves behind the solid form of gypsum, looks like a crystal. Gypsum is very soft and now because of wind, the selenite crystals are broken down into grains of sand.

Fun fact comparing gypsum sand to sand made from quartz. If you put gypsum sand in your mouth, it will dissolve. Yes, we tried it, and it does.

Gypsum has been mined and used drywall and plaster. They also say you’ll most likely eat up to 2lbs of gypsum in your lifetime because gypsum is also found in toothpaste, tofu, beer, and chocolate.

The dunes here are fairly young, only 4,000-7,000 years old. On the windward side, the dunes can advance 38 feet. On the leeward side, only inches. As the dunes advance they can literally swallow up what is in their path. Because if this the following plants have made these adaptations… The Yucca plant can grow to 10’ above ground so stay above ground as the sand dune covers it up. With 10’ above it can have up to 30’ of roots below. The Indian rice grass grows quickly and dispersed its seeds before other dunes move. Other plants create a root ball /pedestal.

Seen here are some of the best examples of adaptations. Many species of lizards or mice are white or much lighter in complexion than their relatives only a few miles away. Eggs of brine shrimp may lay dormant for dozens or up to 100 years.

Aww white sands. It’s pretty great here. It’s beautiful and really fun to play on/in. A few miles in the road stops and you’re driving and hard pact sand and it’s almost other worldly. It’s great to be back. And the saucers worked great!

We had planned to leave first thing this morning. In light of recent events we did not and are re-evaluating. Not much else to say…but at least the kids were happy to have another cousin day.

So we had bought the Ikon passes last year before we committed to this trip, Over Christmas when we went skiing we looked at the other places that the Ikon pass works at. We’d always heard Taos was cool so we were interested to check it out.

We had brought ski pants and gloves with us but we did have to rent skis and boots 🎿 I’d been interested in the Black Pearl skis I kept hearing about so I ended up demo-ing them and they were awesome!! IsI’m going up keep an eye out for them.

Isabella also ended up demo-ing a pair (which was only $10 more) because they wouldn’t let us get the kid rental/price anyway. They were already bumping her up to the adult rate. I tried to tell them she’s only 12 and he just looked at me and said, “yes that’s great, but she’s bigger than my 30 year old”. I’m not ready for this. For her to be an adult. Nor to be paying adult prices for Isabella already… This has been happening all trip, especially if she orders from a kid menu (or Vegas buffet price) or other entrance fees, etc… They look at us and tell us only kids 5-12 get that rate. We tell them she’s 12. Most reluctantly allow it, while giving us a glare at the same time.

We had a great morning and afternoon. Had cute little 10oz beers at the Bavarian lunchery. Its fun skiing a new mountain and exploring. But there was a lot of lift riding to make your way around the mountain. The snow was Amazing!!

I’m not in the best spot to talk about the afternoon…so they say a picture is worth a thousand words…

Today the kids and I had a fun day hanging out with TC and the kids doing things around Santa Fe.

We drove to Los Alamos and went to the Bradbury Science Museum. This is where the birth of the atomic bomb that was later dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII was built and tested.

After hearing that 2 German scientists reported the discovery of uranium fission in early 1939, a Hungarian born physicist, Leo Szilárd, living in the U.S. drafted a letter to President Roosevelt warning the President about the possibility of Germany developing a nuclear bomb and that the U.S. should begin its own nuclear project. To make a larger impact, Szilárd, had contacted Albert Einstein and Einstein signed the letter to the President on August 2, 1939. Hence, the Manhattan Project was born.

Today Los Alamos still attracts top scientists from around the world. The main objectives now are to monitor stockpiles of uranium, test the age of the materials, look at the composition of weapons as they age, and keep an experienced workforce intact. (if needed in the future…even though the U.S. is attempting to enact “denuclearization”) At the height of the Cold War, it is said that there were over 70,000 nuclear weapons. We have now reduced the stockpile by 90%.

Part of Bandelier National Monument is the Tsankawi site, home of ancient Puebloans community from the 15th century.

Pretty sure the kids had the most fun towards the end of the day when we went to the trampoline park, Gravity Park.

Edwin and I went out last night so tonight we watched the kids while TC and Chris went out and grabbed some dinner.

We had a very mellow day today. We had plans to go blow glass later on today, but the kids were adamant they didn’t want to leave the house, that they just wanted to bake.

So the girls made Valentine’s Day cupcakes that turned out really cute. Along with journal writing, piano, and of course some solid puppy time.

We went out to dinner with Cia while the kids stayed home with the cousins. Another auntie move whole parents are out…hair dying.

Alright…Dexter’s telling us it’s time for bed.

Good morning Dexter.

Dexter is just too cute and we are so lucky to be around a puppy as a bonus to our family visit. A few hours in the morning was easily spent cuddling.

Meow Wolf was our program for the day. Hard to explain Meow Wolf…it’s an interactive art installation of a house with alternate worlds along mystery to solve if you choose.

After a few hours when our eyes started hurting we had a late lunch and went to Cia’s other job at the Santa Fe maker space. G showed us his leather work and using the plasma cutter.

Over to Liquid Light to pick up the paperweights we made. The shells below are some Cia’s other work.

We went back to Meow Wolf for another few hours to find some other portals we missed.

It snowed last night in Santa Fe…which it does about 5x a year. We seem to be following snow and cold weather wherever we go. The positive side is that the kids had a snow day so we got to play.

We had a very exciting afternoon…something we’ve been looking forward to this whole trip. Edwins sister Cia is a glass blower and we got to go to the studio and make some paper weights. It was so much fun.

Kati’s turn

Isabella’s turn

Vera’s turn

That was a lot of fun Cia, thank you!!! We went back to T.C.’s and got some solid Dexter time along with the cousins.