{"id":241,"date":"2015-02-02T06:11:50","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T06:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=241"},"modified":"2015-02-02T14:12:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T14:12:32","slug":"big-west-trip-day-4-down-under-and-out-of-this-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=241","title":{"rendered":"Big West Trip-Day 4       Down Under and Out of this World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As we looked out over the mountains and grasslands of\u00a0 the Chihuahuan Desert\u00a0 of SE New Mexico, we couldn&#8217;t help wonder what lied beneath-we were about to find out. Day 4 brought us to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the rugged Guadalupe Mountains. We descended almost 800 feet below the surface to start our guided tour of these caverns, only one of 119 found in the park.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/GuadMtns.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-242\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/GuadMtns-300x91.jpg\" alt=\"GuadMtns\" width=\"300\" height=\"91\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/CCNP1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-243\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/CCNP1-300x140.jpg\" alt=\"CCNP1\" width=\"300\" height=\"140\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Before the\u00a0tour began, Tyler and I had a good laugh. Ty\u00a0had gone over to another area to check something out, and I\u00a0remained standing at our tour meeting spot. I noticed two other people standing about 20&#8242; away from me, with a\u00a0man holding a camera and cell phone. As Tyler returned, I watched him walk in the direction of the man holding the camera, with his wife next to him. I knew exactly what was about to happen and being the good dad that I was,\u00a0I just stood there and let it play out, while holding back my laughter. He walked right up to the guy, stood next to him and started talking to him, as if it were me. Before the guy could say anything, Tyler paused looked at him, then glanced over and saw me, as he said, &#8220;Sorry'&#8221; and mumbled something else as he embarrassingly walked back to me. I burst out laughing, and he even chuckled a bit, too. The two people were cool about it and got a laugh at it as well.<\/p>\n<p>The caverns were awesome! So many different formations, in such rooms as <em>The Big Room, The Kings Palace <\/em>(the name of our tour)<em> and the Queen&#8217;s Chamber. <\/em>The tour was about 1-mile in length as we walked, and ducked through a few tight corridors that opened up into some impressive sights. This is one of those natural wonders that you must experience in person. Pictures and video just can&#8217;t do it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/caverns1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-244\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/caverns1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"caverns1\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/caverns2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-245\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/caverns2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"caverns2\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/caverns3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-246 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/caverns3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"caverns3\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Our last stop of the day was Roswell, the location of\u00a0the (alleged) biggest alien cover up ever. It was here in 1947 that supposedly an alien space ship crashed out in the desert,\u00a0 but the military denied the event and quickly came in to\u00a0&#8220;clean everything up and take what ever was found, including alien bodies.&#8221; Whatever your opinion\u00a0may be, there\u00a0were a few witnesses who came forth to say they had\u00a0 seen the crash site, parts of the spaceship and the top secret military who took over the entire\u00a0incident. Today,\u00a0there a few businesses that embrace the entire alien crash story, including the <em>International UFO Museum and Research Center.<\/em> For $5\/person you can read\/view all about this historical event, plus learn about alien abductions, crop circles, and every other aspect of UFOs. It was truly an educational, and entertaining, visit! I believe, just like I believe\u00a0the Boggy Creek Monster roams the swamps around Fouke, AR!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_247\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-247\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/aliens3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-247 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/aliens3-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"aliens3\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-247\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tyler-about to be abducted by aliens!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/aliens4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-248\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/aliens4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"aliens4\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/aliens1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-249\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/aliens1-300x218.jpg\" alt=\"aliens1\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" \/><\/a>Someone asked me about seeing any wildlife along the way. We&#8217;ve seen very little in the routes we&#8217;ve chosen, and it&#8217;s not due to a lack of looking. We saw one Mule deer in someone&#8217;s yard yesterday, but that&#8217;s just about it. The only &#8220;consistent&#8221; wildlife we&#8217;ve see are Red-tailed Hawks-lots of them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_252\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-252\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/RTHawk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-252 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/RTHawk-300x206.jpg\" alt=\"RTHawk\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Red-tailed Hawk hovers in Carlsbad Caverns NP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_253\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-253\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/GTGrackle.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-253 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/GTGrackle-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"GTGrackle\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Great-tailed Grackle calls to me outside our hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we looked out over the mountains and grasslands of\u00a0 the Chihuahuan Desert\u00a0 of SE New Mexico, we couldn&#8217;t help wonder what lied beneath-we were about to find out. Day 4 brought us to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the rugged Guadalupe Mountains. We descended almost 800 feet below the surface to start our guided &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=241\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Big West Trip-Day 4       Down Under and Out of this World<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}