‘How cool is this?’
First family celebrates National Park Service with visit to Carlsbad Caverns
CARLSBAD CAVERNS — The deep underground caves that have enchanted vacationing families for decades similarly wowed the Obama clan during the first family’s visit here Friday.
It was Father’s Day weekend: an opportunity for a quick family vacation during President Barack Obama’s last summer in office. The president, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia — who just graduated from high school — and her younger sister, Sasha, took an hourlong tour of the caverns.
As the first family passed through the area known as the Big Room, Obama turned to a gaggle of reporters and said, “How cool is this?” A White House correspondent heard him say, “You guys have been here before? Spectacular!”
The Obamas visited Carlsbad Caverns, one of the nation’s oldest national parks, designated in 1930, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and bring attention to Obama’s land conservation efforts.
The caverns were closed to the public Friday afternoon and park rangers cleared the last, straggling visitors out at 1 p.m.
Secret Service agents swarmed above and below ground. New Mexico State Police and Eddy County sheriff’s deputies boosted the security detail indoors, while U.S. Border Patrol agents watched the desert hills outside.
Air Force One landed at Roswell International Air Center after 1 p.m., and Gov. Susana Martinez greeted the president and his family as they disembarked.
Before heading down into the caverns, Obama stopped to visit with the kitchen staff of the visitor center cafe and huddled with workers to take a group photo.
The president and his family began their tour of the caverns
around 3 p.m., led by National Park Service public affairs specialist Valerie Gohlke.
The president, first lady, Malia and Sasha were dressed warmly in the cool, damp cave. The underground temperature averages 56 degrees. Outside on the surface, it was baking at 100-plus degrees.
As the family wound around the narrow path, Obama stared up at the cave ceiling as Gohlke pointed out specific features.
The family stopped for a photo op and then continued on its tour without the news media.
Secret Service agents followed a park ranger through the dark caves, where rock formations are lit intermittently. The first family followed Gohlke and “asked intelligent questions,” she said.
The White House used the president’s visit to Carlsbad Caverns — and, today, to Yosemite National Park in California — to highlight the coming 100th birthday of the National Park Service, Aug. 25.
Before the president left the caverns, he stopped to shake the hands of its park rangers, thanking them for their service. His motorcade departed at 4:30 p.m.
Obama also greeted Eddy County Sheriff Scott London’s young daughter, May London, with a fist bump.
The hubbub quickly died down, but the president’s visit left several of the rangers and park staffers visibly emotional.
Gohlke, who led the tour, wiped her eyes and fanned her face as “the reality hit.”
“They were personable and interesting and interested,” she said. “They are a beautiful family. They were extremely awed by the cave. It was just an absolute delight. They were just like being with a normal family.”
“I got to take pictures of him and shake his hand,” said Maryanna Balderrama, a cafe cashier. “I can’t wait to tell my kids about it.”
The tours of Carlsbad and Yosemite were also a chance to showcase the fact that Obama has moved more land and sea, 265 million acres, into federally protected status than any previous administration. That tops pioneering conservationist Theodore Roosevelt, who placed about 230 million acres in federal protection.
Obama has designated 22 national monuments, including two in New Mexico.
The 242,500-acre Rio Grande del Norte National Monument near Taos features steep canyons cut by the river for which the monument is named and sprawling high plains on the mesa. The 496,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument encompasses five mountainous areas around Las Cruces.