On one of our last days in Carlsbad, we went to the neighboring town of Artesia. Artesia has been hard at work the last few years working to bring more visitors to the area - you can tell by all the newly installed artwork around town and that various parts are being fixed up very nicely.

Went to see this amazing new mural by artbyfish showing the Carlsbad Caverns, and came upon a strongman competition called King of the Cave. What a cool thing to happen upon! We watched the competition for a few minutes and were super impressed with everyone’s dedication and hard work! These competitors are amazing!

Carlsbad, NM was originally the town of Eddy . There was a spring in Eddy that was thought to have healing powers similar to those of a spring in Karlsbad, Austria. In 1899, the town voted to rename Eddy to Carlsbad, NM in hopes they could build a large resort with healing waters of the spring and attract visitors from around the world.

If you’re exploring Carlsbad, NM, one place you might find interesting is Sitting Bull Falls . It’s about 40 minutes SW of town, but a nice drive. It is part of the Lincoln National Forest , which is actually a HUGE area of land encompassing what used to be multiple separate forest reserves (Lincoln, Gallinas, Sacramento, Alamo and Guadalupe).

We took a quick stroll around Carlsbad, NM one evening in search of the town’s public artworks. They have an amazing plaza and arts center that has several murals and statues, but also a few murals around other parts of town. Even the police logo is artwork! Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious Mexican dinner with margaritas!

The main event for us while staying in Carlsbad was Carlsbad Caverns National Park .
Did you know that the Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns is the largest single cave chamber by volume. But this doesn’t make it the biggest cave system! That record goes to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky (longest cave system in the world!)

As a full-time RVer, we usually read our books on tablets but Kate always has to snap a shot of the Little Free Libraries wherever we go! Did you know that there are over 200,000 LFL worldwide?

Travel day again! We have arrived in Carlsbad, NM! Total time in Texas was 3 months + 1 week.
Carlsbad is still in the Chihuahuan Desert , so the landscape is very similar to Terlingua, TX.

There is so much amazing hiking in the Big Bend area! On one of our last days here, we hiked the Closed Canyon Trail , a trail in Big Bend Rank State Park, about 20 miles west of where we stayed.