Blog#9 New Mexico to Texas

Published by Eileen Salazar on 03/11/201803/11/2018

Sunrise in Pine Springs campground

Day 11, Guadelupe Mountain to Marfa, Texas
Up early and drove to Carlsbad Caverns. Stopped for lunch in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Finally got a photo of the roadrunner. He greets you at the edge of town.

This one held still.

Ate at a place called Chala’s Wood Fire Grill. It was wonderful. Had Chorizo (made in house) and eggs. It came with beans and in stead of rice, fried seasoned potato wedges—the best I’ve ever tasted. Homemade tortillas-yumm. Enough food on my plate that I made a breakfast burrito for another day.

In Carlsbad Caverns, I met a woman there who came from Baltimore and had come into the underground rest stop inside the caverns from the Natural Entrance. She said it was very steep—coming down 754 feet in elevation from the outdoors above ground. The elevator ride takes a full minute. This lady said her knees were already starting to complain. I also have knee pain with steep descents, so I opted to skip that route. I could have gone at it the other direction, but all my other body parts object to steep ascents. So I skipped that, too. This woman had been in Big Bend National Park (my next stop) before coming to the caverns, and said it was 92 degrees there. This is not supposed to be the time of year for that nonsense and I won’t have it.

I eavesdropped on an older couple in the gift shop, they were working the cashier there for a discount on a tee shirt. They explained that they travel the national parks, buying a tee shirt at each one that has on it that particular park’s logo. Then they cut the logo out and are making a quilt with them. Clever American Couple.

The caverns were impressive. Very beautiful in an eery sort of way. I hiked the self-guided Big Room Route, 1.25 miles. The Big Room is aptly named, at 4000 feet long and 625 feet wide. The park and self-guidied tours are free, when you have an annual or lifetime pass. Warmer in the caverns than it was above ground where the wind was howling. The bats were not in residence yet this year, which bummed me out. Next time. I had my wildlife need met on the drive out of the park- saw a herd of deer and a flock of Barbary Sheep.

Barbary mom and calf

Went from the caverns to Marfa, Texas to stay at an AirBNB. It was adorable. And I really liked this little town of ~ 2,00 people. I took my host’s recommendation for dinner and dined at the Hotel Saint George. The service was team centered and the entire team was good. Food was also very good. I met a couple there who were from Austin, Texas. They were on a trip to see all the big Texas State Parks. They, Liza and Bob, had overheard me asking my waitress, Meghan, if she had seen the Marfa Lights. Meghan had indeed seen them—a couple times. I asked her if the roadside observatory was sketchy for a lone woman to stop into at night and she assured me that it was not. “There are so many police and border patrol guys passing by there all the time, you really don’t need to worry.” Liza then offered to have me go with she and Bob to see the lights—I noticed her husband said nothing and did not make eye contact. We got to talking about birds, and Liza invited me to come stay at their home in Austin, where she said they have Painted Buntings in their backyard. Again, Bob remained silent. I’d bet he mentioned to Liza later in the evening that maybe inviting strangers to travel and stay with them was not an invitation he wanted extended. And I did not see them at the Marfa Lights overlook. I also did not see the Marfa Lights, though I stood in the frigid wind until my ear ached. Maybe another time…