These pictures are from our visit to New Mexico March of 2006. We visited Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Albuquerque, the Atomic museum, the old City of Albaquerque, Santa Fe and Bandalier Canyon. I could not stay the whole time (only over the weekend) so Claudia was alone with kids from Albaquerque and on. The pictures below are from three places-->

(1) Carlsbad Caverns which is a huge cave system several hundreds of kilometers long. It contains a huge cave room which is half a kilometer wide and 110 meters high and contains millions of stalactites, stalagmites and columns.

(2) White Sands National Monument, a all white desert with large sand dunes. The sand is Gypsum and it is possible to sled on the sand dunes using sleds and toboggans. It was a little cold and we had a sand storm when we visited. David and Rachel pretended it was a snow storm on the planet Hoth.

(3) The pictures at the bottom are from an ancient Indian town in Bandalier Canyon.

Click on the small image to see a larger photo.
Travel Photos
Inside Carlsbad Caverns. Carlsbad Caverns is among the largest caves in the world
Inside Carlsbad Caverns		 Carlsbad Caverns contain a room which is the largest cave room in the world. It is half a kilometer wide, and 130 meters high
Cave room		 We took the look walk around the big cave room. The size of the room is astounding
Wikman family		 The big room contains one million stalaktites, stalagmites and columns
Cave formation		 When you tried to photograph the entire room all you got was a black photo, so we focused on close ups
David and Rachel
The bottomless pit, who dares to enter?
The bottomless pit		 One of the side tunnels around the big room. There are also 85 separate smaller caves
Tunnel		 There are small and large columns in the big room, the really big ones were not possible to photograph due to the darkness
A large column
 Lots of stalactites Lots of stalactites Columns and stalaktites. The big room contains one million stalaktites, stalagmites and columns
Columns
The big room contains one million stalaktites, stalagmites and columns
A column		 Rachel and David were making up hundreds of names for the different formations they saw. The walk around the big room was long
Rachel and David		 What'ya say about a cave restaurant 250 meters under ground
Cave restaurants		 There are many interesting cave paths connected to the Carlsbad caverns stretching hundreds of kilometers. Don't get lost without flash light!
A cave path		 There are many interesting smaller cave rooms in the Carlsbad Caverns
Small cave room
These kind of stalactites are called draperies
Draperies		 Walking among draperies. Notice Davids flashlight
Walking among draperies		 There are many interesting smaller cave rooms in the Carlsbad Caverns
Another cave room		 View from the caves. The flat prairie stretches into Texas
View from the caves		 White Sands is an all white desert with large dunes. The Sand is made of Gypsum
White Sands
White Sands is so white it hurts the eyes, it looks like snow. In fact we rented teflon tobogans and sled down the sand dunes
White, White, White		 Jacob is climbing a sand dune
Jacob and sand dune		 David is climbing a sand dune
David and sand dune		 Rachel is playing in a sand dune
Rachel and sand dune		 We visited during a sand storm, but David and Rachel pretended it was a snow storm on the snow planet Hoth. It also happened to be cold, so the sand was a perfect stand in for Snow. Well it does not take several showers to get the snow out your hair and ears
Sand storm
Bandalier Canyon contains an ancient Native American town estimated be at least 700 years old
Ancient Indian Artifacts		 Bandalier Canyons contained hundreds of cave dwellings and rock buidings
Cave dwellings		 The ruins of ancient Indian buildings in Bandalier Canyon
Ancient Indian town		 The ruins of ancient Indian buildings in Bandalier Canyon
Ancient Indian town		 The ruins of ancient Indian buildings in Bandalier Canyon. In this part of New Mexico there was still snow
Ancient Indian town
View over the ancient Indian ruins
A good view		 Rachel and David liked this cave dwelling, a nice home
Kids in Cave dwelling		 To get inside these cave dwellings you had to climb a ladder (they were not natural caves but cut out)
The ladder		 A deer came to visit
Where is Jacobs gun		 To get inside these cave dwellings you had to climb a ladder. Where is the elevators?
Coming down the ladder
Rachel coming down from her cave dwelling visit
Rachel coming down		 Rachel is standing on the roof of this ancient Indian building
Rachel on roof		 Kids are standing on the roof of this ancient Indian building
Kids on roof		 David and funny door
David and funny door		 Rachel and funny door
Rachel and funny door
Coming down from the cave dwellings
Going down		 Afterwords a walk around the neighborhood
A walk in forest		 Rachel on the snow
Rachel on the snow		 A creek in Northern New Mexico (Bandalier Canyon)
A creek		 We stayed in a Hotel on an Indian Reservation that was owned and operated by Indians
Hotel in Indian Reservation