{"id":756,"date":"2016-12-29T11:31:14","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T18:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/?p=756"},"modified":"2016-12-29T11:31:14","modified_gmt":"2016-12-29T18:31:14","slug":"carlsbad-caverns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/2016\/12\/29\/carlsbad-caverns\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlsbad Caverns"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\nCarlsbad Caverns<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019m not a big fan of the over-developed National Parks tourist attractions, so while I wanted to see caverns, I also didn\u2019t want a circus like is at the Grand Canyon South Rim, for example. When I pulled into the Carlsbad parking lot, I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. It was Christmas Eve day and I mistakenly assumed most folks would be happily baking Christmas pecan pie for the Eve dinner. I was horribly mistaken. The parking lot was crawling with tourists from in-state, out of state, out of the country\u2026 children, adults, dogs unhappily barking from barely cracked car windows. It was a mess.<\/p>\n<p>The tour of the Big Cavern takes about three hours if you walk down the 750 feet, or an hour and a half if you take the elevator down. My knee wasn\u2019t too happy and I was a bit anxious about leaving the dogs in camper in the parking lot for too long, so I opted for the elevator.<\/p>\n<p>When the elevator doors opened and I stepped out, I almost stepped right back in. There\u2019s concessions right there in the caverns. Gross.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions-1024x768.jpg?resize=640%2C480\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?resize=360%2C270&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?resize=50%2C38&amp;ssl=1 50w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010083-deep-concessions.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I held my nose and walked to the cavern walkway. After letting my eyes adjust, I set out on the \u201cstay on the path\u201d walk through the large \u2018room\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern-1024x768.jpg?resize=640%2C480\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-758\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?resize=360%2C270&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?resize=50%2C38&amp;ssl=1 50w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010103-across-cavern.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Initially, it felt very Disney with areas lit up for our viewing pleasure, but as I continued I was really astounded by the immensity of the cavern and by the fact that this place I was walking was millions of years old. I felt like I was walking in Ray Bradbury\u2019s \u201cThe Butterfly Effect\u201d story where one step off the path, an accidental squashed butterfly, can change the course of history.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites-768x1024.jpg?resize=640%2C853\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-759\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg?resize=203%2C270&amp;ssl=1 203w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg?resize=38%2C50&amp;ssl=1 38w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.no-destination.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/P1010084-popcorn-stalagmites.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s too damn slow a connection to post all the pics. Will post some, but publish others later with an update.<\/p>\n<p>P1010093 hanging things.jpg<\/p>\n<p>P1010098 otherworldly.jpg<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t drop anything in the pools! This water hasn\u2019t been disturbed in a very long time. There are microbes and critters that have never seen sunshine.<\/p>\n<p>P1010104 clear water.jpg<\/p>\n<p>It really is an amazing place. Of course the geek in me thought it was straight out of a Star Trek episode, and it really is otherworldly. Which, it kind of is in that it\u2019s not of the world we normally interact with. That 3-D thing again. I wonder if this multi-dimensional theme will continue for more of my road trip?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s odd to say that it initially felt somewhat claustrophobic considering the grandness of the caverns, but too much thinking about how deep underground I was caused a ripple in my reptilian brain. I think the abyss stared back at me<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carlsbad Caverns I\u2019m not a big fan of the over-developed National Parks tourist attractions, so while I wanted to see caverns, I also didn\u2019t want a circus like is at the Grand Canyon South Rim, for example. When I pulled into the Carlsbad parking lot, I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. It was Christmas Eve day and I mistakenly assumed most folks would be happily baking Christmas pecan pie for the Eve dinner. I was horribly mistaken. The&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/2016\/12\/29\/carlsbad-caverns\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,97,5,98],"tags":[165,167,166],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campering","category-fears","category-nostalgia","category-over-thinking","tag-carlsbad-caverns","tag-disney","tag-star-trek"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p87hG1-cc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":760,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions\/760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}