Jim White sounds like a real-life Tom Sawyer, complete with cave. Jim didn’t have to evade Injun Joe, but the cave he explored is at least as impressive as the one Tom found behind a waterfall.   We got to see Carlsbad for ourselves, and to be honest, I am glad we saw Mammoth Cave in Kentucky first.  While Mammoth is well over 400 miles of, well–cave, Carlsbad is gigantic.  The basic tour, perfect for your basic four-year-old and nervous parent,  is self-guided, and covers over four miles, if you walk in or out.

Of course, with a four-year-old, we thought it prudent (and much easier!) to take the elevator that travels 750 feet from the lobby of the Visitor’s Center. Okay, it felt a lot like cheating, but it left time at the top for a great picnic.

Did I mention my kids haven’t been to McDonald’s in 33 days? Please don’t tell them–we’ve been trying to keep them distracted!

Back to Jim White, the one-man P.T. Barnum of the Carlsbad Caverns: you would be pleased to see how well the National Park Service is stewarding your find. Like teachers, the underpaid staff and the sea of volunteers at national parks and monuments across the states have been unbelievably dedicated, knowledgeable, and champions of their particular natural or human site. They are not all trained docents or presenters. Most of them are neighbors nearby or retired women and men who are thinking of legacies, and as Ronald Reagan once said, “…just want to leave the woodpile higher than I found it.”

We didn’t see any bats while we were at Carlsbad.  Wrong time of year.  But we did see bat guano that was roughly 45,000 years old.  By far the youngest cave feature we saw.

Sometimes it’s nice to be somewhere where you’re not the oldest thing in the room!       .