When the mites go up, the tites come down

I came across the Carlsbad Caverns during my first visit to the USA in 1982.

The place sure made an impression... and still does.

You can walk or take a lift 750 feet down into the 'the big room': an underground cathedral the size of an outdoor stadium, and full of the most intricate and astonishing formations. Some of the stalactites are pointy icicles like these, others hang like great curtains 20 metres above your head. Stalacmites rise from the floor as giant sculpted buddhas, or as thousands of tiny fairy towers.

Awesome - and not in the surfie sense of the word.

We did the drive up to Carlsbad from Sonora via Pecos , home I suppose of Pecos Bill..

... and another US town which seems to be suffering a downturn. The American propensity to abandon real estate is truly remarkable ..abandoned houses, abandoned towns, even abandoned suburbs we saw on TV tonight... abandoned in 1992 that is.

And y'know, we've stayed in some rough places...