We woke up this morning to 38 degrees and light snow in the White's City RV Park. The park is minimalist but it has everything we want: full hookups and no obstructions for our satellite dish. White's City is named for Jim White, the cowboy who "discovered" Carlsbad Cavern in 1898.

We spent the morning touring Carlsbad Cavern. As we drove the 8 miles into the national park we only saw one other vehicle so we thought we might have it all to ourselves. We were surprised to find an almost full parking lot including two large buses of local grade school students. Loud kids were everywhere as we walked into the visitor's center but we beat them down into the cavern. Actually, when we were down there (750' below the surface) we could hardly detect anyone else. The rounded shapes of all the stalagmites and stalactites diffused all sound. We did pass a few couples and see an occasional camera flash but all-in-all we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. And it was beautiful - very hard for photos to capture the grandeur of it all (and our little cameras are inadequate to take good photos in such marginal situations - so go to this link for Google images). Most impressive is how huge it is - the main cavern is over 8.2 acres and takes a couple of hours to circumnavigate. 

This afternoon we drove back over the Texas state line and visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The mountains are a Permian era ocean reef that has been uplifted and they are now the highest point in Texas (8749'). Surprisingly there are no drives or anything to do there other than hike or backpack into the wilderness mountains. We did pull off the highway to visit the Pinery Butterfield Stage Station Ruins on park property (which has the only trail where dogs are allowed). We walked the few hundred feet with Abby (at 32 degrees with wind howling - burr) and that was about all we could do in the park (we both came to the conclusion that it was really pushing the definition of "national park" for this mountain range to be so designated - maybe we are just snobby because we have had access to so many spectacular mountainous national parks). 

This was a Butterfield stage stop and we have been encountering the "Butterfield" name just about everywhere we have traveled in southern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas (e.g., we stayed at the Butterfield RV Resort after we left Tempe, AZ). We have now learned that John W. Butterfield submitted the first successful bid to deliver mail overland between the East and West Coasts in 1857, and now his name is everywhere along the route.

Tomorrow we drive to Santa Fe. It is supposed to remain chilly but the wind is supposed to die down (hope so). The forecast is for much improved weather beginning Monday so we are hoping for a great week in the Santa Fe/Albuquerque area. We'll keep you posted.

Postscript: We stopped at a great grocery store in Abilene Texas to stock up. They had frozen quail so we bought a dozen. It is too windy and cold to pull out the BBQ so Sharon will bake four for dinner glazed with her roasted red pepper preserves. Yummmmmm!!!!!!