After White Sands, we headed to the city of Carslbad. Once again the weather was extra hot - here are Paul, Alison, Eero, and Cielo taking advantage of the swimming pool at the hotel.
Before we left to go see the Caverns, Cielo and Eero created a home for Cielo's Prairie Dog (aka P-Dog) and Eero's owls (the owls are hiding).
At Carlsbad Caverns National Park, we split up the team - Nana and Granddad would take the elevator down, and Paul, Cielo, Eero, Vernon and Alison would walk down. Here's Eero getting ready.
It's a long walk down from the top - 2 kilometers of walking with a vertical descent of 790 feet. Eero, Vernon, and Cielo are ready.
Here are Cielo and Paul a little farther down. You can see the twisty trail continuing down below, into the darkness.
Paul, Cielo and Vernon even farther in. This was Vernon's fifth trip to see Carslbad, so he was pretty sure he could explain anything.
Pretty soon it got too dark to take a picture without the flash.
Eero (wearing a neckerchief to keep his neck warm), Alison, Cielo, and Paul take a break. The reflective bits on the jacket Paul is wearing really flare up in the camera flash.
Finally, after seeing a lot of cool things, we reached the bottom. Eero walked all the way down, but as soon as we got to the bottom, he demanded to be picked up, and promptly fell asleep. Here are Eero, Vernon, Paul, Nana, Alison and Cielo taking a break next to the bottom of the elevators.
After walking in the dark for a couple of hours, we shot back up in the elevator and went outside in the blazing sun. This was the only time on the whole trip where we felt like parasols were a good idea.
