BATS:

Ever since my daughter learned about the National Parks during third grade social studies, she’s been fascinated with bats and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I have to admit, I had never even heard of the place before we were watching a video about Carlsbad Caverns during e-learning two years ago. Fast forward through fourth grade and now the summer before fifth grade, and we’re still talking about bats and the caves at Carlsbad. So, what does my husband do? He says “SURE! LET’S GO SEE THE BATS!”

Okayyyyyy. So, we planned a trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico. To see the bats. And tour the ginormous cave.

Now, if you think this post is going to be filled with loads of photos of bats hanging in a cave, I hate to disappoint you. For one, none of my photos I took hundreds of feet down in the cave turned out. All were dark and blurry. Second, you don’t tour the section of the cave where the bats are hanging and sleeping during the day. And third, when you do see the bats take their nightly flight out of the cave in search of their evening feast…there is no photography allowed. You have to be super-duper quiet; any noise will disturb the bats and there is fear that the hundreds of thousands of bats won’t return to their cozy little cave.

So, the only bat photo I have for this blog post is the stuffed animal bat Emily was THRILLED to buy at the gift shop after touring the cave. ( Also please notice and be very impressed with her Junior Ranger pin. She worked really hard the day of our visit to earn that honor!)

Now, I planned on staying at the hotel during the nightly “bat flight”, but after doing some research and learning that the bats don’t really care that there is an amphitheater filled with nature lovers, and that they don’t actually fly in your hair as in my nightmares… I too… went along for the bat flight. And I am so glad that I did! It was really cool! The park ranger entertained the crowd as we waited for the bats to begin their flight. He taught us all we could ever need to know about bats, answered all of the questions curious bat lovers shouted at him and even taught us sign language for bat, flashlight and cave. When the time came, we all got very, very quiet and watched as the bats came swirling out of the cave and took off for a nearby watering hole for a drink and then off to chow down on insects. Did you know a bat eats about a third of its weight in bugs or ….whatever… every single night? They can because they never land while flying out and about. They catch the bugs mid-air and swoop down for a drink in the watering hole, never really landing. They’re always flying. Kinda like a hummingbird, I guess. Though those hummingbirds sure are a lot cuter 😉

WHITE SANDS:

Since we were already in New Mexico, we decided to drive a couple of hours to White Sands National Park. Again, someplace I had never heard of before this summer! Well, it is quite an unusual place to experience. This is not the hot, white sand you may be used to on your vacations. This is gypsum sand, which means it’s cool to the touch. You can walk and walk and walk on it and your feet don’t get hot. That’s not to say it wasn’t SCORCHING on this July day we visited the park. 95 degrees with an even higher heat index means it was HOT. So hot that when you checked in at the park, the ranger suggested that every person have a least a gallon of water to drink while exploring around the park and… sledding. Yes, sledding. The park is known for visitors sledding down the hills just like we do during the winters on snow hills here in Chicago. So, we grabbed a sled and headed for the gypsum hills. That ranger was right. It was so hot that every time Emily slid down the hill, I’d hand her the water bottle for a big drink. Then, back up she’d go again. And those hills were HARD TO CLIMB!!!! We’d stay in a spot for 15-20 minutes, then get in the air conditioned car and drive to a new hill. Then repeat. After a couple of hours, we were headed out of the park on to our next destination when we noticed this bright pink and blue car down the road. There were two college girls cleaning the sand off of their car before getting back on their summer road tip. ( We took the lazy way out and found a car wash!) That car was so cool looking, especially with the bright white backdrop, that I had to ask to take a photo. And a mention about the last photo– missile testing. White Sands National Park is surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range. A military testing area operated by the Army. Lucky for us, the gate was open the day we arrived! LOL

ALIENS:

On the road from Carlsbad to White Sands we passed through Roswell and well, had to stop for lunch and take a few photos of some aliens! There’s even a McDonald’s that has a space ship theme to it. And the big alien at the Dunkin’ Donuts was doing a good job wearing its mask.

It’s always fun to see something unexpected on a road trip and there were a few other places of interest that caught our eye while we were driving along. Places that we had no idea were in the area. We spotted a sign for the birthplace of Smokey the Bear! This was in Capitan, New Mexico. The detour gave us time to explain who Smokey the Bear was to Emily. How as a cub, he was badly burned in a forest fire in 1950 and how that all led to the campaign and Smokey’s catchphrase: “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires”. Unfortunately the historical park itself where Smokey is buried was closed because it was a Monday. But, the Lincoln National Forest was open and we did get to see the area of the forest where Smokey was rescued. And… on the drive to the Smokey Historical Park… Phil discovered another sign that was wayyy cool to him. A small, and VERY PRESERVED, town where Billy the Kid had his last stand.

Smokey the Bear, Billy the Kid, Bats, White Sands and aliens. It was a short, but memorable trip and we’re looking forward to another visit to a few National Parks ( maybe Mount Rushmore?) next summer.