President and Mrs. Obama are taking their daughters to Carlsbad Caverns, N.M., as part of a commemoration of the National Park Service’s centennial celebration.
The park service turns 100 and the Obamas are going to mark the occasion by touring the caverns, along with Yosemite National Park in California.
Take it from my wife and me, Mr. President and your lovely family: You need to have comfortable shoes if you’re going to go deep into the cavern.
We just went there ourselves.
I’ve got some good news and some bad news for the first family.
The good news is that they’ll be amazed at what they see once they start hiking down the path into the cavern. It’s about 750 feet down vertically from the main entrance. Sure, they’ll have plenty of company with them as they make the journey.
The bad news?
The elevator is broken. We heard some park officials say it’s going to take many months, perhaps a year or two, to repair the elevator that’s supposed to haul tourists back to the top if they don’t want to make the hike. Now you have no choice. It’s a haul.
I get that the president and first lady are quite fit. Mrs. Obama has made nutrition and exercise a hallmark of her first ladyship. She has a chance now to show she practices what she has preached.
As for Malia and Sasha, well, they’re young. Enjoy yourselves, girls.
If a couple of older folks can make the invigorating climb out of the cavern, so can you.