Texas

Once again, I find myself apologizing for being late on posting.  Better late than never though, right?  Anyways, right down to business, let me bring you up to speed on my travels.  After Carlsbad, it was over to the Dallas area where I was looking forward to getting back into civilization a little bit.  What I didn't know though, is that Dallas/Fort Worth is one of the most confusing areas EVER to travelers.  Or at least this traveler.  Since I have my handy GPS phone, I got where I wanted to go perfectly fine, but it wasn't fun.  The highway system around the two city area is like they were trying to recreate some kind of epic plate of spaghetti.  It's absolutely insane.  And they love to build frontage roads that run alongside highways (in some areas for miles) and service both the on- and off-ramps.  Many times, they put the ramps so flippin' close together, it's just a 37 car pileup waiting to happen.  Also, if I'm allowed to say so (and I am), the drivers, IN GENERAL, in Texas are horrid.  I mean, blatant "I'm going to cut across multiple lanes of traffic, without signaling, without warning, while speeding 20 mph over AT LEAST"-style driving is not a rarity in Texas.  I found myself, on more than one occasion, chuckling at the semi-morbid humor playing out in my mind involving just a few minutes of that white fluffy stuff falling from the sky and natural selection.

While I'm on my little Texas rant (It wasn't all that bad, haha - I really enjoyed Austin, which I will get to), I suppose it's worth mentioning one other odd little tidbit-o'-fun (that's a technical term).  When you get to Texas and turn a TV on, one of the first things you notice is how about half of the commercials are specific to Texas.  It's quite hilarious really.  Everything is about how Dairy Queen is really good... blah blah blah, IN TEXAS!  And most of them are either fast food or car commercials.  Come to think, do they air ads about anything else in Texas?  Maybe they don't...

Ok ok, now that I've made Texas seem like one big fast food drivethrough, I will say it's got some cool things about it.  After Dallas, where I mostly entertained myself with random things, I headed on down to Austin (thanks to Dave and Allie for letting me crash with them!).  Austin has a very unique personality.  And for a city (if you know me, you know I'm not really into the whole city scene), I liked it a lot.  Over the last number of years, Austin has come to be known as a bit of a technology hub, with many tech companies maintaining significant presence there, including Facebook, who recently opened up an office there.  While I was there, I explored a lot of the downtown area, including the famous East 6th Street area, as well as some area outside of downtown.  I also got to see the original Whole Foods store, which is right there in the heart of Austin.  I love that store, despite it's prices, so that was cool for me.  It was massive and had a huge food court area.  I've got some cool photos from the Austin area, which I will post once I get a chance to upload them...

After Austin, it was over to the Houston area (just for a night) and then onto Baton Rouge, where I currently am.  I have started doing a little traveling through Couchsurfing.org, which is a GREAT site and a GREAT way to travel for those who are open to the idea and like getting a local taste of places and meeting new people.  I already like it a lot and highly recommend checking it out!

Pics and more to come!  Stay chill.

Carlsbad Caverns

So before I set out on this trip, if you asked me whether I had any specific places that I really wanted to see, it is very likely that I uttered the words "Carlsbad Caverns" at some point during my response.  Well, on November 23, 2010, I got to.  For six dollars.  Now, I know what you're thinking... Six bucks!?!?  Yes.  Which is why I went and bought a keychain for eight bucks at the gift shop.  I like a good deal as much as the next person (maybe more), but these Caverns are so epic, they'd be worth a $60 admission...  So basically, I'm still well within the bounds of what I would call an "awesome deal" and I've got a nifty keychain.  And the satisfaction of having supported one of the sickest natural attractions in the world.  Ahhhh, all in a day's work...  Least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.  It was a cool keychain.

Anyways, as far as the caverns were concerned, you basically walk down a fairly steep path for about a mile or so until you get well within the depths of the cave.  If ever there was something here on earth that was capable of making you feel like you were on another planet, this would be it.  There are even some caves I didn't get to see because you only get to go to them if you take a guided tour.  I just did the self guided tour and walked around the Big Room, as they called it, and saw some of the main things in there.  The caves were much more massive than I was expecting, with miles of trail winding throughout them.  And a normal household voice carries for about a quarter mile down in them...  Pretty awesome.  It was tough to get any decent pics down in there with the low light conditions, but a few turned out decently.

Looking up through the same opening pictured above.

Easily a quarter mile down in and only just the tip of the iceberg.

Easily 25 feet tall and built completely from dripping water.

Looking straight up.

Deeper into the caverns, stairs used by tourists back in the 1920's.

That's a lot of dripping...

Huge.  At least 30+ feet tall and probably 15 feet in diamater

at its base... Again, lots of dripping water.  Haha.

Looking up at the ceiling at a random time.

The landscape at the caverns... Above ground that is...

White Sands National Monument

So I assure you all that I am still alive and well.  Roadtripping just has a knack for dictating your schedule a little bit... It's like having a job you love, but just don't get paid for (well, monetarily at least...).  You're staying so busy with everything you're trying to do that before you realize it, you've got things setting up camp on that "to do" list like it's Black Friday.  Then you finally sit down with a free moment and the difficulty of eating those groceries you meant to pick up earlier, but so conveniently didn't, rears its annoying little noggin...  Never mind that, though, because I have food this time.  So we're good.

Having left Tucson refreshed and ready for more adventure, my first stop was to be at White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico.  This is only the second time I've ever been to legit sand dunes, the first of which being The Great Sand Dunes in southwestern Colorado.  These weren't as tall, but they are the biggest gypsum dunes in the world if I remember correctly.  Gypsum dunes are actually pretty rare, due to the fact that gypsum dissolves in water and is usually just carried out to sea.  But at White Sands, there is no outlet to the ocean, so the gypsum crystals carried by the rainwater from the surrounding mountains collects in the Tularosa Basin valley area.  And unlike most types of sand, gypsum doesn't readily convert solar radiation into heat, so it's passable by barefoot even on the hottest summer days.  There weren't too many people there when I went, so it made for some decent photo ops.  Though it was a bit windy...  Anyways, enjoy the pics.  Stay shiny.

Looking somewhat North