Continuing across the southwest...

Happy New Year! We are, once again, falling behind on blog posts... but we'll desperately try to catch up in the next few days, and resolve to be better about writing in real time during the next leg of our trip! So although we are currently in Philly with Amit's family (sisters Dorit and Shimrit, and Shimrit's husband Daniel), I'm actually writing to tell you about our visit to Carlsbad Caverns and our brief but lovely stay in San Antonio. After we left Arizona, we drove across New Mexico and, after going through two checkpoints (one was permanent... probably related to being very close to the US-Mexico boarder, and one was an impromptu checkpoint... think orange cones blocking the road and lots of cop cars), we ended up in Carlsbad, the home of some of America's most beautiful underground limestone caverns. The caverns are filled with incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations, as well as a whole bunch of other special geologic formations for which I don't know the names. We walked through the central part of the caverns, known as the "Great Room" and then we went on a special tour through the area of the cavern called "King's Palace." Other than just admiring yet another one of our country's incredible natural beauties, one of the interest things I learned from this experience is how our view of "conservation" has evolved over the years. When explorers first discovered the caverns, they knew it would be a treasure for the public, but their way of sharing it with the world was to create an event hall in the caverns where people could have parties and weddings! They completely trampled on some of the structures, destroying them forever. The next generation knew better than that, but built large elevators and public access structures that damaged the water systems of the caverns... their solution? Refill the caverns' pools using a hose! (If you couldn't guess, this also created long-term damage) Now, our national park service is doing their best to be VERY careful of how we use the caverns, but who knows what we are doing now that will later be discovered to have been a mistake. Oh well! We're doing our best! The night of the 24th, we left Carlsbad and drove to San Antonio. It was a quiet night, with most people celebrating Christmas at home. So the roads were quiet and the hotel was dead, which suited us just fine. A few of the special amenities of the hotel were not operating because of the holiday, but the hotel made up for it by bringing us two beers and a bowl of popcorn to our room, as well as offering us coupons for breakfast at a local bakery. The next morning we walked along San Antonio's famous "Riverwalk," a gorgeous boardwalk built in the downtown area along the river and canals. It was incredibly peaceful and relaxing, given that it was Christmas morning, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely (see some pictures I've attached of the riverwalk). From San Antonio, we drove to Houston to visit with my dad's cousin Linda and my great Uncle Max, but for those stories, you will have to wait until the next post!!! Best wishes to all for the New Year... be safe and careful tonight! All our love, Dena (& Amit)