[Tobra]

So the wife and I just took a trip across the southwest, encompassing a visit to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Highly recommend the North Rim, a bit off the beaten path, but it was not crowded or hot on the Fourth of July weekend.

We were about to Abilene, lunch stop at Schlotsky's Deli for the Original, when I started thinking maybe we would not get there. Wife was very excited about seeing the bats. I did not think we would make it. Knew where we were, when sunset was, would be close either way. Right up until the wife says, "The clock on the radio is wrong." Time change, made it easily. Bats smell like ammonia and musty, astounding how many there were. "Bat tornado" is an apt description. Initially there were lots of swallows and no bats. Bird is a graceful flier. Bats look like they just started flying this morning. I see a couple, then the tornado starts. There were big black clouds of bats that moved away in the direction the ranger said they would. Astounding number of bats. People were pretty well behaved. The wife gave some family with a little kid who was better behaved than I was at that age, the stink eye.

Next day we have an 08:30 reservation. They limit the number of entries per hour, it sells out. When we were leaving, there was a family from Nebraska that was going to have to try again tomorrow.

They give you the talk before going in, don't touch stuff, don't throw coins in, the pools down there may take millenia to form, the rock formations are deposits of limestone, that collect on the ceiling, or the floor, or make a column when they connect, etc, geology nerdgasm. Your greasy, grubby hands ruin whatever they touch down there, unless it is the metal railing, which is cool, literally and figuratively.

Anyways, they gave us the talk, prior to going in.

When you walk in the natural entrance, it is pretty steep. There are lots of switchbacks, the effect being that the people behind you are a bit above you. There are a lot of places where they were backlit, and we were in shadow. There was a girl with the two parents, 10 years old, again better behaved than I would have been, but my parents would have had better sense to take my 10 year old ass to a place where "do not put your hands on anything" is part of the instructions.

I had already picked up a paper towel that was stuck in one of the lights, so I was feeling a bit salty. I look up and see the mother reaching over the railing, about to put both her hands on a smooth stalagmite that is temptingly close to the path.

"DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS ON THAT," I say. She jumps back and looks around, uncertain where the reprimand came from. My wife looks at me like she is going to take my pocket knife away from me and stab me to death, "SHUT UP TOBY, she will hear you"

I want her to hear me, she needs to hear me. Why do you think their kid acts like that. The wife looks around, decides not to kill me, but make it clear I best STFU. We continue on to the "bottomless pit" Not actually bottomless, it turns out. On the L side of the path, there is a beautiful pool, maybe 10 x 20 yards, difficult to tell how deep. Just then, I spy, with my little eye, a dime in this otherwise pristine pool, almost 1000 feet underground. That sort of revved me up a little, but the wife poking me in the kidney was enough for me to stay quiet. It is not particularly well lit in parts of this path. I see someone up ahead that is ducking under the railing, right on top of the rock. I walked right up to them, close enough they could feel me standing over them. 3 guys in orange Park Service vests, dusting the rocks with a little 2 inch dry paint brush. "Sorry guys, was just about to yell at you for touching the rocks." They found it very amusing. The wife did not, and thought it was odd that I was picking up trash at the National Parks we visited.

Two things I guess.

Can public shaming be effective still?

and

Is it weird that I was sticking empty water bottles in my pockets at the Grand Canyon?