750 FEET UNDERGROUND | Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We're at Carlsbad Caverns. First come, first serve for the cave tours. Amber's waiting in line. Do you see those zeros? Three. All because of this? I was really worried you didn't have everything you needed. Do you know who you're talking to? Sounds like the caves are open from 8 to 5. First come, first serve to reserve a ticket. If you have a park pass, tickets are free. All tours are self-guided, but according to the receipt, you get three days on your reservation. So even if you don't have time on one day to go, go ahead and get in line, get your seat, come back early the next morning, and then go check out the caves. So you do have to hike down. It's a mile and a quarter. It's 750 feet down. This is the coolest cave entrance. No offense to mammoths, but this is way better. Okay, we are officially leaving the light and entering almost complete darkness. Oh man, it smells really bad down here. From March to October, thousands of bats come into this cave and roost. They hang upside down all day long and guano, their bat poop, has built up over time, up to 40 feet of it. It was an important fertilizer way back in the day and it's the reason why these caves were explored. You can just barely see the daylight and I think that'll be the last of it. It is straight down the entire way. Everything's lit up really nice. There's some facts, not a whole lot of history like mammoth caves, but definitely the walk down. Go down, it would be a struggle going up. Let's just pretend I know a bunch of facts about what this wall is made out of and all the little bugs and creatures that live in it. Oh, excuse me. Where are his parents? This is what's known as the big room. It's the largest cavern by volume in the western hemisphere. It's quite amazing. There's a pathway way over there that you can see people so it really gives you a sense of how big this place is. I wish I could give some more facts about this amazing cavernous place, but there's not a whole lot of history. They started exploring about 100 years ago. They mined the bat guano and that's about it. It's definitely worth the visit. Something that makes this cave so much different from mammoth caves are all the rock formations and stalagmites all over the place. Every corner so these collect some things. Just some tips for the caves. Make sure you eat before you go down. You're not supposed to bring anything besides water and although they do allow flashlights, you don't need them. Just bring your phone if you really feel uncomfortable. Otherwise, let your eyes adjust and you'll do just fine. This is a pretty cool sign for such a small national park, although it is one of the oldest, founded in 1930. We're supposed to be getting an oil change, but we saw this really cool outdoor place that feeds you through your window and we figured we have to try it. It's called Becky's. We'll let you know how it is. Michelle, we make our own nacho chips. Our burgers, we make our patties fresh daily from Lakeside Meats. The burgers are awesome. Everything, really. I mean, we make everything fresh. Do you make your own chili? That chili, yes. That chili you make your own? Okay. Do you want that for here or to go? For here, please. Okay, go get it. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. I'm really excited for this. Normally, I wouldn't get hard-shelled taco that screams not homemade, but she specifically said that they make their own hard-shelled tacos, so I got that. Then I got a chili dog because they make her own chili. Amber was craving a burger and fries, so she got a burger and fries. This is a big burger. I'd say that looks pretty good. I'm really excited. This hard-shelled taco is really good. It's just crispy enough to have a nice crunch and soft enough to where the whole thing doesn't break apart. Could be because we're starving because this is in a spot. This is their homemade chili and their hot dogs. If you smell it, it smells like it's got a lot of chili powder in it and cumin. That's what I get from it. Looks like it's the perfect consistency. It works. I don't think there's anything else on it. It's just like the chili sauce chili. This whole thing was $17.61. Two tacos, hot dog, burger, and fries. And a coke. Amber got a peach icy. It's like a snow cone, basically. These are the places that you need to look out for. Home places. It's called Becky's in Carlsbad, New Mexico. We were going to go to Taco Bell. Taco Bell. That's the level that we were stooping to. Then we saw that this place was busy. We were like, yes, let's stop here. No complaints. A lot of times, oil places will advertise 10 minutes or less in and out. Yeah, right. I've never had a 10 minute oil change until now. We went to this tiny little hole in the wall oil change place and it was awesome. These guys were great. Literally less than 10 minutes. And they made us laugh. Yeah. We are back at the same BLM land that we stayed in last night. Normally, we aren't so lucky to stay in the same spot for two nights in a row. However, Guadalupe Mountain National Park is only 45 minutes down the road. We're going to get up tomorrow and hike to the tallest peak in all of Texas. Van shopping. Not just playing on the phone. Civilization. Civilization. Look at my hair.