Day trip to Living Desert State Park and Carlsbad Caverns

Another blue sky and sunshine day, up to 80F again. Cath’s getting tired of all the hot temps! We decided to visit both the Living Desert State Park, and Carlsbad Caverns today, as both are nearby. It seemed like a very full day, but it worked out well. 

We toured Living Desert State Park in the morning when it was cooler, getting there a little after 9am. It’s a marvelous place, well worth a visit. They do a lot of animal (and bird and reptile) rehabilitation, and the permanent residents of the Zoo part are the animals that cannot be returned to the wild, for one reason or another. Lots of local birds, animals, grasses, cactus etc, and lots of signs to tell us what we were seeing.

1-legged Road Runner got around amazingly well

A peaceful place

After a burger lunch in Carlsbad, we headed south to the caverns. You can hike down right from the top, but we took the elevator option down 750 feet, walked the mile loop around the Big Cave, and took the elevator back up at the end. They provide kennels for the dogs ($4 each) and actively enforce a rule to not leave pets in hot cars outside. Interesting tour, but Cath and I did feel that Mammoth Cave in Kentucky was better.

On the way back we stopped at the Carlsbad Walmart for groceries etc. Curt and I took one car home with the dogs and supplies, while the gals stayed in Carlsbad to do laundry and a bit more shopping. We were all back to the cg by 6:20 for evening margaritas.