Sorry. . . We've been slacking on the blog. So, to catch up:
Austin, Texas was fun because we met up with Kyle there. He was down with the RPI lacrosse team. We met up at night to go out with him and some of his buddies on 6th Street, downtown Austin. Everyone at the bars were in a festive mood, since the South by Southwest Festival was starting up. But, that made it difficult to find a place to park up. We went between two different RV parks and Walmart parking lots. The traffic was crazy bad, and there were lots of lines all over the city, but it was worth it to see Kyle! We did hear some amazing live music. Our favorite was Jonny Gray. Little guy, but with a raw, unique voice, playing his acoustic guitar under the staircase at the a pub we have forgotten the name of. He played lots of awesome covers we all sang along to while we drank our Shiner Bock, and then also some original songs. http://www.reverbnation.com/jonnygraymusic.
We didn't do much else in Austin, since we usually had to sleep in and sleep it off after hanging out with Kyle. We did ride our bikes around Zilker Park to see the natural spring pool, which was pretty awesome. After Kyle left, we ran away from the crowds and headed towards New Mexico.
Driving across so much of the country, we had started to get a sense of the scale of our Rand McNally maps, and could usually judge how long a trip would take us. Carlsbad Caverns didn't look too far, we figured we could reach by afternoon. But after hour after hour of flat, scrub brush dotted desert, we wondered if it would ever end. Every mile we went, the horizon looked farther and farther away. We saw an occasional oil drill, or a lone cow wandering through, but very little else. We drove and drove, hoping we had enough gas to make it to the next not-deserted town. Nicole started to get annoyed at the dry dusty landscape, and decided she could never live out here. She needs to be near water, lots and lots of water.
As we crossed into New Mexico, we ran over our very first tumbleweed! We both burst out laughing at the absurdity of it, breaking the monotony of staring at the road. Our first stop in New Mexico was the the Living Desert State Park. Part horticulture preserve, part zoo, part animal rescue, the park was absolutely amazing. The rescued animals, a one winged bald eagle (lost it to a run in with a power line), an arthritic mountain lion, a mangey prairie dog community, a roadrunner (Nicole didn't know they were real!), all had fantastic homes in enclosures that seamlessly blended in with the desert environment. The caretakers were friendly and shared each animals story, if you wanted to know, and we were so impressed that we walked the park twice, to see if we could catch the animals that were sleeping the first time around.
As evening fell, we parked up at an RV park, just outside the gates of Carlsbad Caverns. There was an old stone house up at the top of a hill, not far from our park, and we decided to hike up there to watch the sunset. The structure was fenced in, and surrounded by the perfect rattlesnake abode, but Nicole slid under the fence to go check it out. The wooden front door was open and she was a little apprehensive, but it was too cool not to check out. The ceilings were low, dirt floors, and the only thing sign of life was Indian burlap fabric hanging ragged from the ceilings and framing the tiny windows. She snapped some photos as she crawled through the different room, each on flowing the incline of the hill. She made it out the back door as was greeted with a spectacular view of the sunset. It was only when we came back to the RV and looked at the photos, did we see the cave paintings on the exposed, natural rock inside the house. It was a real adventure, but we never found out anything more about the history of the house.
The next day we went to Carlsbad Caverns, home to one of the largest cave chambers in the world. It was incredibly insane, descending 740 feet into the earth and winding through the different chambers. The photos don't really capture the majesty and awe-inspiringness of it, and neither can words. There was a one and half hour wait for the elevators to get out, so Nicole decided to hike it out. It wasn't as "strenuous" as the park rangers cautioned. She made it out before Mary Lou.
Click here for Austin photos!
Click here for Carlsbad photos!
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