Dear Avid (at least we hope) Reader,

Due to technical difficulties beyond our control, we were not able to post most of our entries from the road.  We bought a new laptop computer specifically for the trip that worked fine at the beginning, but first stopped downloading our pictures from our cameras and then stopped accepting our cell phone as a hot spot.  Added to this, we were often in places where we had no reception from AT&T.  Even though we stopped at a computer store in Moab, Utah where they worked on the computer for over an hour, our problems were not solved and eventually we came to the realization we would not be able to post from the road.  However, we continued to write the blog while on the trip; now that we are back home in Israel, we will attempt to post our back stories and pictures.

And now we will continue with our previously scheduled blog.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

How do you describe something that is indescribable?  There is nothing in our past experiences that even comes close to the uniqueness of Carlsbad Caverns.  You can walk down to the caverns (by way of the Natural Entrance, about a 1-1/2 hour walk in itself), but we took the elevator down, 800 feet below the surface, to the entrance of the subterranean chambers that make up the caves.

Carlsbad Caverns was discovered by explorer Jim White in the early 1900s and photographed by Ray B. Davis (with Jim White) in 1915.  When the photos reached the public, they created a sensation.  But there were people who would not believe that the caverns were real.  So, in 1923, the U.S. Department of the Interior sent an inspector and, in his report, he wrote: “I am wholly conscious of the feebleness of my efforts to convey in words…the feeling of fear and awe and the desire for an inspired understanding of the Divine Creator’s work….” ’מה רבו מעשיך ה (and not for the first time have we thought this).

Carlsbad Caverns was designated a national park in 1930, and a World Heritage site in 1995.

We first explored the Big Room (a self-guided tour), a 1.25-mile walk around the 8.2-acre chamber that takes about 1-1/2 hours.  Numerous stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, draperies (look them up), and cave pools of water are the attractions, but any description cannot do justice to the scale of the formations.  Not sure the photos can do either, but we tried.

Among the things we saw: a bottomless pit (called that because the early explorers didn’t have lamps that could show the bottom), a giant dome, a formation called the Rock of Ages, and the Painted Grotto.

The second tour, of the King’s Palace, was led by a very entertaining and knowledgeable ranger.  It consisted of four rooms which are only accessible with a ranger (due to earlier guests taking home “souvenir” stalactites) who was a true educator.  We learned how the formations were created and the history of the caverns; one of the rooms has a still-active formation, as attested to by the dripping water.  We each received cave kisses, water dripped on our heads.  Though we only saw a small portion of the caves, we spent most of the day below ground, including having our brown-bag lunch.

[A very interesting piece of information that we learned after the tour from the ranger: For many years, explorers felt a strong breeze blowing from a small cave.  When they received permission to break through and explore, they discovered Lechuguilla Cave, which extends over 140 miles and holds a spectacular ecosystem not open – and never will be open –  to the public.  Within, scientists have discovered enzyme-producing microbes capable of destroying cancer cells.]

After we came up for air and natural light, we headed to one of our favorite campground chains, the parking lot of Walmart in Roswell, New Mexico.  It may not be fancy and it certainly isn’t cheap, as we went shopping for supplies three times.  And we were not alone there; at night it turns into a mini-RV campground.

The only aliens we encountered were on billboard signs.

Twin Spruce RV Park, Ruidoso New Mexico

Sometimes things are just meant to be.  Friday morning, we had no plans for Shabbat and were starting to think we would end up in a hotel (as it was Memorial Day weekend), but we found a place by looking through the Good Sam campground locator book and were fortunate enough to get a campsite in the shade of a beautiful wooded area.  Our campground, Twin Spruce, was crowded, but we were a reasonable distance from our neighbors.  It is near the town of Ruidoso, New Mexico, a tourist haven with a horse racing track that opened its season that weekend.  The population of Ruidoso is 8,000 residents with 20,000 tourists over Memorial Day.  Thankfully, we were not near the action, though we did walk through the main street, examined what the stores had to offer, and quickly returned to our RV to prepare for Shabbat.

Fire is a real threat in much of New Mexico, and signs are posted in the campgrounds and along the roads indicating the severity of the alert.  In this part of New Mexico, it was extreme – no charcoal grills, no campfires, and even smoking a cigarette outside can get one a $500 fine.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

White Sands National Monument, in the Chihuahuan Desert at the foot of the San Andres Mountains, covers 275 square miles, and it is the largest gypsum dune field (a large area of dunes entirely composed of gypsum grains, a relatively rare constituent of sand) in the world.  As we drove through the park, there were miles and miles of soft white sand; the national monument encompasses 145,344 acres with shifting sand dunes of up to 60 feet in height.  The whiteness was blinding, and the temperature was 104 degrees F.  One of the interesting things we saw was a snow-white lizard, changing its color to match the surroundings.

Sledding down the dunes is a popular activity, although we did not partake in it.

In the background were the San Andes Mountains.

White Sands was proclaimed a national monument in 1933.  [As an aside: National monuments can be proclaimed by the president of the United States.  National parks must be voted on by Congress.]

The monument was a 1-1/2 hour drive from the campground, but worth the effort.

White Sands area is also known for being near the site (60 miles away) of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon (Trinity Site) in July 1945.  The White Sands Missile Range surrounds the monument and the area is closed off on average of twice a week for a few hours for missile range tests.

As we continued on our drive to Arizona, we passed the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a federally funded research center of the National Science Foundation.  NRAO designs, builds, and operates high sensitivity radio telescopes for use by scientists around the world.  An impressive array, as the photo shows.  “ET call home.”