Epic Road Trip 2016, 4th stop: Carlsbad New Mexico

We arrived at our excellent hotel in Carlsbad, New Mexico late in the afternoon.  We only had enough energy to cross the street for dinner, which turned out to be a fabulous local diner called "Danny's Place". We were the only tourists in the place - the wait staff seemed to know everyone else's name.

We got up bright and early the next day and drove to Carlsbad Cavern National Park, drove the seven or so miles from the highway to the visitors center, and paid our admission. We walked down the "Natural Entrance", about 1.25 miles in length and perhaps 750 feet of elevation drop. It took us about 90 minutes, and then we walked the perimeter of the Big Cavern, only a mile loop but it still took almost and hour.  We took the elevator back to the surface (60 seconds!), had some lunch in the car and then cruised the gift shop. 

December is the time to visit - it's practically deserted! We saw about 10 people on the way down to the bottom, including 3 rangers the were walking up the path. One of the guides said they get about 200 people a day in the winter, unlike the throngs who show up in the summer.  The only down side was that the bats were absent - either hibernating or off somewhere warm for the winter.

Since the day was young we decided to visit Roswell too. We arrived in time to tour the World Famous UFO museum in town - spent about an hour or so there. We drove around a bit, and had another fabulous dinner, this time at Martin's Capital Cafe. Again, filled with locals. 

The next morning we toured a little bit of Carlsbad, visiting a couple of shops downtown, Heritage Park and the Pecos River Flume.