Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Pros: Big cave system, fabulous tours
Cons: Remote area, hours from nearest major airport

Last fall I took an impromptu long weekend trip to southwest Texas and southeast New Mexico. I caught a quick and cheap flight down to El Paso Friday after work, and rented a car to head up towards Carlsbad, with a pitstop at the ...

Pros: Bat watching, the Big Room, Cave tours, cave formations, underground lunch room.
Cons: None

We all sat there and waited for the miracle that we had been told would occur at sunset. We intently stared at the quiet dark hole in the ground while the sun was setting and the warm afternoon air turned cooler. The shadows grew longer as our ...

Pros: Despite unfortunate developments, we still had fun
Cons: Unfortunate developments

The Craft of Revision

Donald Murray is a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Hampshire and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who writes weekly columns for The Boston Globe. He didn't go along for my somewhat...

Pros: great views; unique and interesting attraction
Cons: none

Carlsbad Cavern is one of the largest known caves in the U.S., located in southeastern New Mexico. Sometimes referred to as the “eighth wonder of the world,” the cavern is located in a National Park, which also offers scenic drives, hiking trails, and...

Pros: Affordable, Amazing
Cons: Why do we pay taxes AND have to pay to get into our national parks?!

There is a place on Earth that I might never return to again, but that will always be a place I remember fondly and a place that as an adult, I felt a truly impressive sense of childlike wonder. That place was Carlsbad Caverns and it is, quite simply, ...

Pros: Wonderful tours at cheap prices.
Cons: Can be tiring.

The drive out to Carlsbad Caverns was a spectacle in itself. Driving through the arid desert decorated with large cactii standing like guardians of their territory with the enormous mesas looming around you, it is like an introduction of what is yet to...

Pros: Everything about it.
Cons: A little hot in the summer months.

The Trip
It started off as a leisurely vacation to the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit the relatives of the family. From New Orleans, it is a long drive, nearly 24 hours. So of course we had to split up the driving time into...

Pros: Beautiful scenery
Cons: --

While traveling out West a few years ago, we almost missed what is one of the most beautiful National Parks I have ever visited. We almost skipped the state of New Mexico altogether as the hantovirus was just hitting it's peak and my mother was quite...

Pros: Learning the joy of spelunking
Cons: It's dark down there!

I had wanted to see Carlsbad Caverns for many years. When I was a little girl my Dad talked about having been there when he was a young man, before he & my Mom were married 47 years ago. Dad always said he wanted to go again, and he hoped he would...

Pros: A world-class cave you can experience with your mate, your family, or your friends.
Cons: The xx##@@!!! "guide radios".

Okay, another of Uncle Ed's Happy Travel Tales, via the magic of epinions.

Imagine the deepest, darkest hole you've ever been in. The day you took your college algebra final exam, right? Wrong.
(And no, not THAT night, either, Miguelito.)...

Pros: lots of great sights, great history, beautiful surroundings, good chance to see lots of bats in summer
Cons: can be hard on those with trouble walking, low lighting, can get slippery

Beautiful and breathtaking does not truly describe Carlsbad Caverns in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It is magnificent! Not to mention exhausting and steep!

We headed to New Mexico from El Paso, Texas yesterday in a 15 passenger van with my family....

Pros: most of the tour is easy and very affordable
Cons: none

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns are located in the Southeast part of New Mexico. From Carlsbad go south on highway 62/180 approximately 20 miles. Then turn right on the park road and drive another approximately 7 miles to the entrance...

Pros: Fabulous natural rock formations, bat flight
Cons: Remote -- hard to combine with other trips

Carlsbad Caverns are an amazing natural wonder located in Southeastern New Mexico. The caverns consist of miles and miles of twisty corridors and immense, cathedral like rooms. All are filled with stalacmite spires and stalactite icicles of all sizes,...

Pros: Every scene more beautiful than the last
Cons: Bat Guano smells pretty bad

Driving to Carlsbad from San Diego took about 14 hours. That, in itself, was an adventure. It was very tiring. My 5 year old daughter came with us this time. She was getting very anxious to get there. But, she stayed good and really was a delight to...

Pros: A good break from the outside world
Cons: Overly commercialized

I spent many of my formative years growing up in the Carlsbad-Loving area so the Carlsbad Caverns National Park was something that I heard a lot about growing up. If you went to grade school in the area, you were sure to visit the Caverns atleast a half...