The Chihauhau Living Desert

One of the two bobcats

Our last adventure in Carlsbad was to visit the Living Desert Museum and Zoo. It was fascinating. While the desert looks so arid with little life, it actually has many more life forms than greener pastures. 

For example, the Chihuahua desert has hundreds of types of grasses, many more than in wetter areas. Fascinating! We enjoyed meandering around the Living Desert and enjoyed our first sight of a roadrunner. We didn't see the cougar, but saw two handsome babcats and some gray wolves. Most of the animals are there because they were rescued. 

One of my favorite displays was the small botanical garden filled with beautiful flowers, cacti, etc. I was amazed at the wide variety of cactus and the wonderful names!

organ pipe cactus - very fitting name I think

This looks like a type of hibiscus. I don't recall its name.

barrel cactus - love the pink spines!

These wild pigs are the same type in a child's story, The Lion's Bed. But I can't remember what they're called. 

This photo was a miracle. The roadrunner never stands still and I had a heck of a time catching him! 

Carlsbad Caverns - Wow!

We're used to Virginia's caverns which, compared to Carlsbad, are little mole tunnels. The "big room" in Carlsbad could hold 14 football fields. It was huge, but also very lightly lit. I didn't get many good photos. The real adventure was walking down unaccompanied into the cavern. It's about a mile down to the main level and then a one and half mile loop around the big room. Walking into the black hole reminded me of the old movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth, parts of which were filmed in Carlsbad. The rock formations are a lot less colorful than Luray Caverns because the rock is mostly calcite which is grayish white. They don't have the orange and blues from iron and copper. Using the "night scene" setting on the cameral added color that wasn't really there. We spent an enjoyable four hours in the caverns but were glad to come out again into the light. I don't think I'd enjoy being a bat.

Journey to the Center of the earth begins here.

Beautiful formations all the color of the gray rock in the foreground.

The underground rest area reminded me of an airport concourse with souvenir kiosks and food vendors. 

This picture shows a ladder used by the cowboy who discovered the caverns to go into one of the lower rooms.