Part 32 here
Texas is huge. To cross it we spent another day. We drove by the Prada store, that has merchandise, but not a cashier or an entrance.
Tethered Aerostat Radar System
Just drove by
Today our destination is Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. As all of the other caves we had visited during our trip, this is not just regular cave, it has it’s own feature – deep inside, 754 feet below the surface, there is a cafe and a little store.
Cafeteria and a store
Currently they are selling only cold sandwiches, but in 1950s it was a real restaurant, with a well equipped kitchen. However, that made the life of cave inhabitants difficult – the bats couldn’t fly outside to hunt in the evening while lights in the restaurant were on. And the pleasant smell of cooking food attracted some other creatures, such as raccoons and foxes and more. If the refrigerator was broken, the chemicals leaked inside the cave, damaging the formations. So the decision to close the restaurant was made to protect the caverns and bats.
Very long time ago, during the Permian Era, here was a lagoon with coral reef around it. The geological processes on Earth changed the continents and at some period of time the ocean started to retreat. Inside the limestone layers the small caverns appeared. Because the underground waters contained acid, the limestone was changed to a gypsum, that is a very fragile material, so the size of the caverns continued to grow. With the retreating of the ocean the level of the underground waters lowered too, until the caverns became dry. In our days it is a big chain of caverns, not fully explored yet. The new chambers and passages are continuously discovered.
Big Room’s model
Lion’s tail
We chose the easiest exploration – just self-guided tour in the Big Room. If the tourist has a lot of time, he can select different types of tours, including guided tour in the narrow passages, where some special equipment need to be used.
90 year old ladder. It was used for the explorations of Lower Cave
Lower Cave, where new passages are found
The Big Room is actually huge, and there is good audibility inside. When the dad was about 180 feet from us we could hear his camera shutter. 
When the path brought us back to the elevator and we went outside, it was raining. The evaporation steam went up from the ground and I had a feeling that the ocean is still here, in the base of the hills.
Looks like the sea
Storming sky
Part 34 here