The Best Man and I celebrated Labor Day by hiking the highest peak in Texas: Guadalupe Peak. The elevation gain was over 3,000 ft with the highest point measuring around 8,750 ft. The total mileage was 8.4 which makes this one steep climb. It was hard to say the least, however the views made it worthwhile. It was amazing to look down and see how high we had climbed once we reached the top. There was one small mountain range close by, otherwise it was extremely flat from our vantage point at The Top of Texas.
After the hike we managed to find ESPN on our motel t.v. and were able to watch the VT season opener vs. Georgia Tech. VT was up (10 to 7) near the middle of the 4th quarter so we muted the game to do some trip planning.
I skimmed my notes on New Mexico and noted there were some hot springs in the general vicinity of our travels. After looking into it we decided to book a small room at an inn in Truth or Consequences, NM. Yes, that's the name of the city. Definitely curious as to the history of this city's name. After the inn was booked we glanced back at the t.v.
Overtime?! 14-14 with VT about to punt. The kick was good and VT won their first game of the season. Barely.
Today we headed back to the Caverns for two guided tours. The first of which was a lantern tour where explored the cave on dirt trails with only the light of our lanterns. We learned a lot about the history of the caves and how the first visitors must have felt venturing in the darkness with an oil lamp or candle.
After briefly surfacing for lunch, we walked down into the cave from The Natural Entrance to meet up with our tour of The King's Palace. These chambers are the most decorated of these caves and are truly stunning to see up close. My little camera couldn't do it justice. The Best Man's camera however was able to capture a lot of the detail my pictures left lacking. Even with The Best Man's Cannon, external flash and multiple lenses, it is so hard to get an idea of just how enormous these caves really are. All I can do is recommend you make the trip and see for yourself. You won't regret it.
After emerging from the caves for our final time we headed to Carlsbad KOA for the night. We ended up with tent site with electrity. We soon had a visitor- a bunny! It wasn't very shy, which leads me to believe it was hoping we'd toss it some food. This KOA has a spectacular bbq dinner. We split a beef bbq sandwich and 1/2 rack of ribs. The sauce was fantastic! I love vinegar!
Next stop: Truth or Consequences, NM for the hot springs. We are both looking forward to relaxing and recharging.
1 comment:
Back in the 50s, the host of the radio show, Truth or Consequences, offered to host an episode from the first town willing to change their name. This town won!
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