To the caves

Thursday, we got out of town by 7:30. Later than I wanted, but oh well. We got half way to Tucson and realized that we forgot to pack blankets. We packed sheets for the KOA cabins, but no blankets. Sometimes the AC units can be tricky to get just right, so the thought of freezing under just a sheet was not a pleasant thought. We stopped at the evil empire (Wal-Mart) and bought some cheap blankets. They're polyester (yuck) but they'll be warm.

Uneventful drive to Benson. Got to give the new GPS a nice trial run. We like it so far.

Friday morning, Bella woke me at about 6:30 needing to go to the bathroom. As I walked her to the potty, we saw some rabbits scampering around the campground. She was very excited. They were little cottontails, but in the distance I saw a huge jackrabbit loping along into the woods. I thought it was a dog at first. It was so huge!

Bella with one of the smaller bunnies in the background

We ate breakfast (yogurt and granola), got packed up, and hit the road around 10 am.

Today's trip is a bit heavier on the driving. Our destination is Carlsbad, New Mexico. A bit off the beaten path, but ever since last summer, the kids have been dying for me to see Carlsbad Caverns. We decided to work out the driving so that we could spend the bulk of a full day there. And to do that, we need to get from Benson to Carlsbad today. About 430 miles.




We stopped in Las Cruces, New Mexico for lunch. We made a goal to only eat out one meal a day, and never at a chain restaurant. We prefer to explore the mom-and-pop joints. Sure, they're sometimes greasy spoons, but sometimes you get a real diamond in the rough. With chains, you know exactly what you're going to get. That's no fun. So we ate at a place called Dick's Cafe (I'm not making this up). The service was not so great, but the food was plentiful, if greasy. And cheap too, which is always a bonus.

We had the kids race each other outside the restaurant while we were waiting for the food, and also after the meal, to burn off excess energy.




We got to the KOA in Carlsbad around 6 pm. It's an awesome campground. They even had some entertainment at 7:30. A group of girls from grades 6-10 from some kind of performing arts school in California performed a patriotic song and dance show. Pretty cute. We munched our egg salad sandwiches and carrots while watching the show.

This KOA also has rabbits all over the place. Bella tossed one a carrot and it sniffed it and then hopped off! Dumb rabbit! We also saw a few tarantulas. I'm not making that up either. The girls from the California school had one surrounded near the bathrooms and were freaking out, taking pictures, and tossing little things at it. Bella was very concerned that they were going to hurt it. The whole walk back to the cabin I had to convince her that the spider would be alright. I hope those girls didn't hurt it. To conclude this episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, when we got back to our cabin, there was a bat swooping back and forth in front, no doubt feasting on the plethora of little annoying bugs everywhere (we're definitely not in Phoenix anymore!) The kids weren't scared, but after I told them what it was, Bella quietly requested to be held. She's so cute.

Tomorrow, the caverns.