Exploring the Caverns

What an incredible day today was. Steve and I travelled to Carlsbad Caverns National Park today to explore the caves, and what a magnificent trip it was. Although I have lived in New Mexico most of my life I have never had the privelage of visiting the Caverns. I sure have been missing out on such a wonderful creation! I knew that the Caverns were a great sight to see, but I did not expect them to be as magnificent as they actual are.

We decided to walk the Natural Entrance route instead of taking the elevator down to the Big Room, which is where the main visiting area of the Caverns. The Natural Entrance route was a mile in distance and dropped 750 ft. into the Caverns. Honestly, the route felt a lot longer than a mile and it tooke us about an hour to complete it. It was a steep path, and by the end of the path our knees were a bit weak. The views along the route were breath taking though.

By the time that we reached the bottom of the Natural Entrance route we were one step from being famished. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but we were quite hungry, so we had lunch in the rest area which is located in the Big Room. We had packed a good lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, banannas, gold fish, and carrots.

After lunch we explored the Big Room. According to the park's visitor guide, the Big Room is so big that it six football fields could fit inside it. There's a 1.2 mile trail that circles the Big Room. It was an amazing 1.2 miles. I was quite frustrated at times because my camera does not do well in dark places, and the Caverns were quite dark. Some of my pictures came out pretty decent though.

About 3/4 of the way through the path I got a bit sick so we didn't get to enjoy much of the rest of the path. We took the elevator back up 750 ft to the Earth's surface. We could have walked the Natural Entrance route again, but we figured it would have been a very strenuous walk back up, and the elevator was a quick and easy way to get back up.

Steve and I walked around the visitor center for awhile, bought some magnets and postcards, talked to a park ranger, and decided that it was time to leave. We anticipate to return to Carlsbad Caverns one day and do one of the ranger guided tours.

We're staying in Carlsbad tonight and tomorrow we are going to check out Gaudalupe National Park. After a short hike in that park we are heading back to Socorro.

If you have never been to Carlsbad Caverns, I highly suggest checking it out sometime. It is so beautiful and wonderful. Truly a great creation of God.

~Carmelita

Yippee for the summer!

Well, Steve and I surived finals week and the spring semester and are now almost recovered from the brutality of the last week of school. We both passed all our classes with wonderful grades. Steve received A's in all his classes, and I got all A's except for one C (curses to Ecology). Looking back, we decided that it was a tough semester, and we are thankful that it is finally over. We anticipate the next two semesters will not be as bad as this past one, but who knows what can happen.

Our original plan was to not take summer classes this summer; we wanted to just work and enjoy our second summer as a married couple. Our plan was washed down the drain when Steve was convinced by a very influential person in his life (that is not me) to take a directed study over the summer. On top of that, Tech is offering an awesome class this summer, Philosophy of Language, that I decided to take. Fortunataly, these classes are not demanding classes and we anticipate that we will still be able to thouroughly enjoy our summer.

We plan on doing some traveling this summer, although the traveling will consist of short trips around New Mexico and Sourthern Colorado. We are beginning our traveling with a trip to Carlsbad Caverns this Memorial Day weekend. I've never been to Carlsbad Caverns even though I have lived in New Mexico most of my life. Steve and I are both excited to go and explore the caves together.

I hope the summer is treating everyone well. If you live in New Mexico I hope you don't fry too much over the summer. It's going to be a one hot summer!

~Carmelita

In the Middle of Finals Week

No, Steve and I have not fallen off the face of the earth. We have, however, fallen into a big pile of projects and finals. It's the last week of the semester, and you know what that means...FINALS. In lieu of in-class finals, Steve has two projects and two take home finals. For the last three days, he has been glued to his computer. He has hardly left the table. It's really bad for him, and he's a bit stressed out.

My crazy week was actually last week. I was just like Steve, glued to my computer. I had to force myself to go to class, and I skipped work for the entire week. Things have calmed down a little bit for me. I have a Western Literature final tomorrow, and then my last final is for Ecology on Thursday. I studied for Ecology all day yesterday, and tonight I studied for the Westerns final. The Westerns final shoulnd't be too bad, but I'm a little worried about Ecology. Ecology is my hardest class this semester.

So other than finals...nothing much is going on. On Thursday afternoon, both Steve and I will be done with school for the summer. He starts full-time at ATA sometime in the near weeks, and I will increase my hours at ICASA for the summer. I got a raise today, so I'm really excited. Working at ICASA has truly been a blessing during these last four years. Yes, I have worked for ICASA for almost four years.

So, yeah, there's not too much to say right now. I will definetly have lots more time to post over the summer, so be on the lookout for more frequent posts. Praise the Lord, this semester is ALMOST over!!!

-Carmelita