National Park: Carlsbad Caverns

When going to Carlsbad Caverns, I would recommend going the long way around the caverns. You will see beautiful purple rocks and large hardened rocks. I would definitely recommend renting an audio device, because along the way, there are many audio stops that offer quick, not overwhelming descriptions of what you are seeing. I would also watch a non-staged, non-human, and non-rehearsed show. This show I speak of is the bats flying out of the caverns. This is very, very memorable and shouldn't be missed. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of bats fly out of the cave. Photos are permitted as long as there is no flash. And don't worry, they don't fly at you!

Quick Tips:

If you are a spelunker (if you don't know what I mean, skip this section!), I believe you can spelunk there with permission.

Best Way To Get Around:

A car rental is a definite. You'll need to drive to the Caverns because there is no airport; you may have to take a 4-hour drive from Texas to get there, and I'm sure that you would rather be in the comfort of a car than in a hot, sticky, dirty taxi!

Well, the first thing you should know is that the hotel has two sides. There is the more motel-like side, which is nearer to the water park (described below) and a more luxurious side. I'm a kid, and I was travelling with my grandma. I wanted the water park, so we stayed at the motel side. The motel side was pretty bad. Someone knocked on our door at around 4 in the morning. There is an open, dirty concrete walkway on the ground floor that goes from room to room. Our room was haunted, too. There was a face on the wall that wouldn't go away. The lobby was horrifyingly smelly and the opera house was closed.

There were a lot of things I loved about that hotel. There's a shop with great fudge and there is the water park. The water park has two long slides, a regular pool, some of those fountain things, and a great shady place to sit. I would recommend this hotel to families staying there for 2 to 3 nights, and for kids, because they love the water park.