This morning we were up early to head to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We took two trips down to the caves. First we took the elevator down and walked around the Big Room. Then we went back up to the surface for lunch and hiked down the natural entrance. Neat.
Las Cruces is close to White Sands National Monument, a huge dune field made of gypsum, which when it is bright and sunny is nearly as white as snow. Earlier in the week we made plans with Jon and Linda to meet them there after work and then we were going to go back to their place for dinner. Jon was my mentor when I started working at Xavier as a student and Linda worked in the cubicle right next to me. They moved to New Mexico a few years ago, so we don’t cross paths very often.
It was a good plan, but then I got sick. I ended up skating through work on Thursday and we had already made plans to leave Las Cruces after work on Friday, but we still wanted to see them and the dunes. I was functional enough after work to stumble my way to through the dunes and Jon and Linda met us there to hang out. Afterward we just went back to our respective houses, rather than to theirs.
Our visit to the dunes was nice. It was a cloudy, rainy day, so the dunes were hard and not as white. It actually made it easier to walk on and the kids still found plenty to do. It was great to see Jon and Linda and I am very glad that I was able to make it and that they were willing to risk exposure.
This evening it was back to Dripping Springs for the main hike. It was about a 3 mile roundtrip hike out to a small canyon in the mountains where there was once a sanatorium and hotel.
This afternoon we headed to Dripping Springs for a hike. I think that Dripping Springs is a sort of recreation area near the Organ Mountains, just outside of Las Cruces. We were short on time so we were not able to do the main hike. We plan on going back tomorrow. Instead we did a couple of short hikes and some climbing.
After lunch today we went to Saguaro National Park. We have seen a lot of desert on our trip, but the saguaros here were very dense. They had one of the most interesting films of any of the national parks we have been to. After stopping by the visitor’s center for our traditional sticker and t-shirt, we went for two short hikes – one through the desert and one up Signal Hill, to see some petroglyphs.
Similar to the historic walk in Boston, Tucson has a turquoise trail that you can follow through their downtown, passing by about 25 historic sites. We followed the trail this afternoon after work.
The kids and I ventured out this evening for a full moon hike at a local park. It was nice. There was a large crowd, and too many people who thought they needed flashlights.
Yesterday we went to the Mystery Castle; today we headed north to Montezuma Castle. We tried to stop here last week on our way to Sedona, but it was closed because of the government shutdown. We spent about 30 minutes each at Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. The castle area features some neat cliff-dwellings. The well area features a spring that comes up in a limestone crater of sorts. Over 1.5 million gallons of water per day come up through the desert floor. There were also cliff-dwellings, cave-dwellings, and a pit house around the well. I am glad we had to make a special trip and had more time. Had we gone last week we would not have taken the time to go to Montezuma Well.
We did the Tom’s Thumb hike today after work. It was just over two miles up, then back down. It was a tough walk up, but Rose hiked the whole way down, which was awesome. We were treated to about 30 minutes of beautiful sunset on the drive home.
This afternoon the kids wanted to hike Camelback Mountain with Ian. We did the hike a couple of weeks ago and they liked it so well that they wanted to do it again. I hung back with Lucia and Rose. Susan, Andrew, Ian, Elliot, and Mari went to the top.
Today we headed about 90 minutes north, to visit Sedona. We went for a 5 mile hike, climbed bell rock, visited downtown, and then headed to the airport to catch the tail end of the sunset. On the way home we stopped and In-N-Out Burger for our second visit of the trip.
Today we hung out at the campground all day. Bocce ball in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, a walk to the lake, then a campfire cookout.
