The temperature hit 105 degrees today. It is times like this when you really appreciate the finer things in life such as air conditioning. Although we do not have air conditioning in our car, we really appreciate that other people do have that luxury. Yes indeed, good for them. We stopped at a Wal -Mart and looked into getting an air-conditioning unit we could install in the back window of our car, however, the local authorities regard that as a driving hazard. They are real sticklers around here. Fortunately, the windows in the car do roll down (most of them).

We arrived at Carlsbad Caverns just in time to observe 375,000 Mexican Free-Tailed bats (give or take 10-20 thousand) make their daily departure from the "Bat Cave" to feast on tons of insects. They have our permission to go back for seconds. It is a phenomenal site, sound and smell to experience. Matt had the added experience of having some bat pee on his arm. We are hoping this is a sign of good luck in some culture. Jen missed the joy of watching this notable experience because her head was seeking comfort and shelter under her hands and between her legs. She seemed awfully happy to hear about it though.

Carlsbad Caverns was the first part of our journey that took place underground; about 800 feet underground of the Chihuahuan Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains. Our subterranean adventure began at the natural entrance, where you can literally walk down into the depths of these enormous caverns. The prized jewel back in the day (1800's) was guano. Matt offered to bring back some of these precious jewels for Jen's pleasure, however, she declined. In truth, they would not have made the trip around the world. This is not due to the fact that they were likely to be stolen, but more to the point, they stink. Guano, not to be confused with gumbo or guayaba, is bat droppings. Collecting bat droppings was quite the lucrative business to be involved in. It was used as a potent fertilizer, highly valued particularly by the citrus farmers in California. It sounds like a bunch of crap to us. The prized jewel to us, like most visitors, were the caverns and the fantastic formations that developed over a mere 250 million years. We have reintroduced a few words into our vocabulary including speleothems, helictites, and everyone's favorites stalactites and stalagmites (was that tite to the ceiling or tite to the floor?). This would be a good time to apologize to our sixth grade science teachers. We are sorry we were not more interested in earth science at the time. Unfortunately, we were distracted by the hormones that began coursing through our veins. Now that the hormone levels have begun to level off, we have a much greater appreciation for it. Thank you and we are sorry.

At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert, you will find the largest gypsum sand dune field (275 square miles) in the world. After walking for a short while on the Alkali Flat Trail (which is not really flat) over the dunes, we realized all we could see in any direction were these powder white dunes. It is almost impossible to resist the temptation to jump off the dunes, and we did not even try to resist. Mental note to self: the desert is hot in the summer, very hot. Perhaps this is why we did not see anyone else out there running up and down the dunes. The steady flow of Stealth Bombers in the skies above served as a reminder of where we were. The Trinity Test Site (explosion of first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945) is less than 60 miles north of White Sands.

Our introduction to the Gila Cliff Dwellings was a bit more dramatic than we would have planned, but who are we to stick rigidly to a plan? As the sun began to set behind the mountainous Gila National Forest, we made our final descent down yet another steep grade with multiple switchbacks. As we turned into the last switchback, the brakes did not respond as you would hope when driving down the side of a mountain (we did not slow down). With some furious pumping of the brakes and a few Hail Mary's, we came to a stop about 100 feet past our turn with the brakes smoking to the extent that Matt jumped out of the car looking for the fire (we knew that firefighter training back in Ithaca would come in handy some day). There is nothing quite like the smell of melting brakes to accentuate a beautiful sunset in the mountains. We are happy to report that there was no fire (that we are aware of) and that we have become big fans of gears 1 and 2. You will find those located just beneath the "D" on your automatic transmissions. As it turns out, they really do work! With the brakes cooled off, an unspecified amount of cheese sausages and roasted marshmallows consumed, a good night sleep under our belt and car fluid levels triple checked, we were ready to check out the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

The Gila Cliff Dwellings are an amazing site. They are a series of seven natural caves, five of which were inhabited, that lie 180 feet above the canyon floor. Caves with a view (imagine Land of the Lost). The Mogollon people called this their home from the late 1270's through the early 1300's, although artifacts have been found dating back from AD 100 to 400. The degree to which the dwellings have been preserved is extraordinary. You can see the stone walls they built by hand which included windows and "T" framed doorways and the original timbers.

Petroglyph National Monument consists of over 20,000 images (primarily animals, people and crosses) "pecked" into the stone. The oldest date back over 3,000 years, although the majority are between 400 and 700 years old. The sad part is that there writing is neater than Matt's. The park ranger informed us that they had had quite a few tourists have their cars broken in to, so we kept our visit pretty short.

The following day we walked along the Sandstone Bluffs, Lava Fields and La Ventana Natural Arch in El Malpais National Monument. A bit further down the road we visited El Morro National Monument, home of Inscription Rock. It is pretty from a distance and intriguing up close. People have immortilized themselves into this rock for centuries. From the Anasazi's bighorn sheep (late 1200's), to the Spaniard's "paso por aqui" (1580's), to the American's precisely chiseled names and dates (1840's-after the Mexican-American War), this rock serves as a historical time line.