Cruising with the Land Yacht: Carlsbad, NM and San Antonio, TX

After the Balloon Fiesta it was time to head home, but there were still places and people to see along the way. From ABQ we headed to Carlsbad, New Mexico.

We had heard it was best to take a tour if you could at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The tours fill up fast and we were lucky that we got there just in time to get the last two spots for the 1:30 tour of the King's Palace. We spent the morning on a self guided tour of the Big Room choosing to enter through the Natural Entrance instead of taking the elevator directly to the Big Room. We enjoyed the King's Palace tour much more. Our guide told the story of how the cavern was found and explored. They are still finding new tunnels. It was hard to take pictures in such a large dark place.

From Carlsbad we headed to Texas. We spent one night in Sonora, TX, which was just a convenient stop along the road. Then on to San Antonio. I had never been to San Antonio. We toured all the Four Historic Missions and the Alamo. The Alamo was having some restoration work done which interfered with taking exterior pictures. What they have preserved of the Alamo is small, it is a shame that the rest of the fort was taken in by the city before they decided to preserve it. We enjoyed our walk on part of the River Walk Downtown and the 7.1 miles that we rode on our bikes near the campground. We ate at two great vegan restaurants. When passing through that area again we would like to explore more of San Antonio and ride/walk the entire River Walk.

Looking back at the Natural Entrance from inside the Cavern. I cannot imagine finding this big hole in the ground and deciding to go explore with a lantern.