Carlsbad Caverns & a visit to the Ngo's

Erica & Wes' belated honeymoon road trip, part 2 -
       CARLSBAD, NM & LAVEEN, AZ

I did a little self promoting the last few weeks and craft shows are in full swing. (^_^) To alleviate the stress, I will blog about my somewhat recent road trip.  Remember the detailed journal entries and pictures I promised a few weeks ago? Here it is. You're welcome ;)

Our first planned stop was at Carlsbad Caverns. I wasn't a huge fan of the day but Wes really enjoyed it. (He likes caves and especially bats.) I liked the cave itself but everything else about the day was only so so.

SO.MUCH.RAIN.

We came into New Mexico and I must have accidentally angered Mother Nature because it rained...and rained...and rained. Luckily, the caverns were underground and not affected by rain. I was pretty worried that our day would be ruined. There were some hiking trails in the park but we had to skip those. The picturesque mountain trails weren't very beautiful to drive through because winding mountain roads plus slick road conditions plus rain equals stressful driving. And my left windshield wiper decided it didn't want to work very well. (x_x)

Before going into the cave, we stopped in the gift shop and Wes wanted to buy every mug and magnet. LOL He refrained and only got one mug & one magnet. I got a magnet for my mom, a commemorative coin for Mike and a pair of socks for myself.

The entrance into the cave.

The cave was 900ft underground. We walked down a mile to get to the Big Room. It was a really pretty trek. We saw stalactites and stalagmites. A lot of them were named after what they supposedly looked like but I don't remember any of them. We also saw popcorn (the clusters of water droplets) and soda straws (the hollow skinny stalactites). There were pools of super clear water here and there. It was hard to take pictures because of how dark it was but I tried.

After walking all the way down to the Big Room, I decided I was hungry so we rode the elevator back up, had some snacks in the car and took the elevator back down. (Thank goodness for elevators!) Refueled and rested, we took the 1.3-ish mile self guided tour around the Big Room. The Big Room was literally a big room. It was the bottom of the cave where a lot of the formations were. All while we were walking, we wondered where the bats were. We found out that they sleep in a section of the cave where visitors aren't allowed.

The bats come out each night around 5:45pm and visitors are allowed to gather at the mouth of the cave and watch them fly out. It's supposed to be a really neat sight to behold. This was actually the main reason why we stopped at Carlsbad. After cave exploring, we went back to the hotel and putted around until it was bat time. We drove back to the cavern with exited anticipation, but, it was raining and the bats didn't come out. (;_;) Super sad face!! There was a good handful of tourists gathered around and the park ranger (Ranger Mark) did his best to entertain us but in the end, we all walked back to our cars soaked and disappointed. The bats didn't come out the night before either because of the rain so we had high hopes that they'd come out Sunday night to feed. We later heard that it was supposed to rain the rest of the week. Those bats either gotta man up and fly out or just starve.

Before leaving the city, we decided to grab dinner. The only place open on a Sunday night was Danny's Place. It was a barbecue restaurant but I foolishly got a burger. Well, sort of. It was called a 'flip plate' and it was supposed to be a local favorite. It was a hamburger quesadilla. It was a hamburger patty, salsa, and an American singles slice of cheese in a folded tortilla. Not very tasty, in my opinion.

That was it for Carlsbad and we were headed to see my cousin, Sieu and his family in Arizona the next morning. Before getting to his house, we ate at Chompie's. It's a sandwich place that Wes saw on Man vs. Food. The portions were huge and the food was delicious. And they had watermelon beer! :) Our waitress, Karen, was great. She told us some pretty funny stuff but I don't remember what and at the end of our meal, she sent us home with bagels (we were the last customers that night).

 Brewed in Phoenix. Keeping it local : )

So much food!! I got the meatloaf sandwich with split pea soup. Wes got the Jewish sliders.

We hung out with my family a bit when we arrived (oh and its STILL raining, by the way) but it was late so we didn't want to keep the kids up. I was super excited to see everyone and could have stayed up all night playing with the kids and catching up with my cousins, Sieu and Jill. My second cousin, Michelle, is in a variety of dance classes (9 dance classes, I think is what she boasted to us). She recently had a summer recital. Before bed, she showed us the video recording of her recital and she and her little brother gave us a live show as they danced along. So stinkin' cute!!

Me, Michelle and Kate. I should have taken a video of the live dance recital reenactment but I was too entertained to think about it at the moment. 

The next morning, the kids had art camp so Wes and I entertained ourselves. We went to IKEA and the Arizona Mills mall. Wes saw an arcade machine that only came out in Japan. But it was here!! Pictures had to be taken. LOL Oddly enough, he didn't want to play the machine (he claims we were on a tight schedule and didn't have enough time). We wandered around the mall a bit and headed back to my cousin's for some old fashioned family time. On the way home, we picked up Chinese take-out that Jill called in. She got two sushi rolls for Michelle. The 6- year-old eats sushi. I'm related to the coolest kid ever.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

The rest of the night and some of the next morning consisted of catching up with my cousin and his wife, Jill, and playing with their two kids. Best time of the trip so far and just what I needed after driving three days in torrential rains. We all played board games & acted silly with the children. Michelle was the master of Candyland and Ryan loved Don't Break the Ice (even if he got the rules a little backwards). Even Kate (the eldest of the children who isn't really a child anymore) was a good sport and played along. The cats tried to come out to play but Ryan just chased them off again. Haha!

 We attempted to play Sorry but everyone lost interest when Wes started explaining the rules.

The kids have a ball pit in their play room. I got in and played some. Ball pits are pretty fun even as an adult!

Our stay reminded me of Christmas dinners when I was younger. I had tons --okay, like 15-- aunts and cousins packed in our living room and my mom and dad were busily cooking a delicious meal in the kitchen. We played made up games all night. We didn't hang out much outside of those family dinners but when we were all at my house, age and social status disappeared and we were all the best of friends. Those Christmas gatherings ended when I was in high school because everyone grew up and moved away. I don't think we have ever all gathered together since. It was great getting to reconnect to one part of my dad's side of the family again. Laughs were had and memories were relived. Good times overall.