The Lubbock Lake Natural Historic Landmark is a museum and archaeological preserve dedicated to the natural history of the southern high plains. The small museum is full of interesting and somewhat graphic exhibits, and outside are a number of life-sized bronze sculptures of some of the impressive creatures that once roamed the area. There are walking trails around the preserve, where we stretched our legs before another day of driving.
Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark Museum
Pointing to the highest point in Texas
Where Columbian mammoths once roamed
The 3.2-mile Lubbock Lake Natural Historic Landmark Loop encircles a large swath of open grassland. It isn't the most exciting landscape, but it was peaceful and pleasant, and we saw quite a few animals, including prairie dogs, jackrabbits, and a burrowing owl.
Texas grassland
Burrowing owl
Lubbock is also home to the American Windmill Museum, dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of windmills for future generations. On its grounds are windmills of all types and sizes, including a Dutch-style windmill and a modern wind turbine.
American Windmill Museum
Twin wheel, wind turbine, and Dutch windmill
We next stopped in Hobbs, New Mexico, at “Hardywood,” also known as “My Wild West Show.” Sal, the creator, told us he transformed his house into an Old West street scene as a tribute to his late parents, who he used to enjoy watching Western movies with when he was a kid. Sal has done 100 percent of the work himself, with contributions of reclaimed materials from the community. It's an ongoing project and clearly a labor of love.
Sal's Wild West Show
Hobbs, New Mexico
The Pecos River Flume in Carlsbad, NM, was once featured on Ripley's Believe It or Not as the “world's only river that crosses itself,” as the irrigation flume splits off from the Pecos River and then turns and crosses above it. Consider me skeptical of the “world's only” claim. At the time it was built in 1903, the flume was supposedly the largest concrete structure in the world.
Pecos River Flume
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Heritage Park
Lodging: White's City Cavern Inn, Whites City, New Mexico. Located half an hour south of the town of Carlsbad, this is the closest hotel to both Guadalupe Peak, TX, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM, our objectives for the next two days. We're glad to finally be spending two nights in a row at the same place.
The only restaurant in Whites City – which is not a city at all and has a population of 14 – is a cafe that closes at 2:00 p.m. We knew this ahead of time, so we'd stocked up on provisions in the town of Carlsbad and dined this evening on cans of ravioli in our room. Good enough.
Around 6:30, we drove into Carlsbad Caverns National Park to witness the famous “bat flight,” a sight I'd seen once before, about 45 years ago. Each night spring through fall, thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats emerge from deep within the cave just after sunset for their nightly insect feast, and the Park Service has built an amphitheater just outside the cave entrance for the public to witness the spectacle. No use of electronic devices is allowed, so no photos, but it's quite impressive.
To the Batcave!
Guadalupe Mountains from Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad Caverns amphitheater
Where the bats emerge from the cave