We left our gorgeous mountain campground on June 28, 2022 and had a truly spectacular drive. We arrived at Whites City RV Park in the early afternoon – it was a huge disappointment. While we had full hook-up and were just down the road from the National Park, the “RV Park” wasn’t even a parking lot – it was more like a side alley of the store and tourist trap, surrounding by barbed wire. We actually didn’t mind all that much because we were very tired and just wanted to spend some time in the camper with the dogs.

We grilled burgers for dinner, then spent some time in the store and outside taking silly pictures. After that we watched a show and just took it easy for the night. We really needed this quiet evening, and the dogs were so happy to snuggle in with us.

In the morning we visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We stopped at exhibits along the road as we drove. Walnut Canyon had a short hike to a natural shelter area in the mountain. Carlsbad Cavern was awesome and so much bigger than we imagined. We took the elevator down to the Big Room Trail deep inside the cave. There is a natural entrance to the cave that I’m sure would have been spectacular – for this trip we were happy to take the easier way down!

We were able to go through the cavern at our own pace and that was really cool. We enjoyed seeing the different stalactites and stalagmites and experimenting with different settings on our cameras. I do think a guided tour would have been nice, just to have someone point out interesting and educational things. Overall, we very much enjoyed Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Someday I would love to go through again and enter via the natural entrance.