Carlsbad Caverns

Sometimes not taking a guided tour is better than taking one. At Carlsbad Caverns you have to make reservations before getting there fore a guided tour like you normally would have at a cave. However, there are self guided tours at Carlsbad. You can also rent a tape to listen to but we didn't know about that until too late. I don't think we missed much as there are also some signs along the way. On the self guided tour, you could either take the elevator down, the height of the Eiffel Tower, or walk to the natural entrance and walk in for a mile to where the elevator stopped. We picked the walk in and were glad that we did as you see lots then. These first pictures are of the entrance as we went in. There were lots of cave swallows flying around. You can see the steep switch-backs that we went down.
This is looking back up at the entrance as we were going down in.
This is still going down in. If you look at the center bottom you can see some of the people walking on the path. The 'people' in the center of the picture are stalagmites.
This is looking back towards the entrance, above the blue area. If you look closely you can see people. The green is because of the type of light shinning on that area. You don't see these colors when looking at it, but cameras pick it up.
At one time there were other people who came into the cavern. They left their drawings on the wall. This was in what they call the twilight area as it still gets a little light from outside.
There were pools in the cave also. Here is one.
There is lots of sand stone on the ceiling, sometimes many, many feet over head. I thought this was pretty.
There are some interesting things in this cave. Such as the forest:

The tongue,The whales mouth,
The finger,
The rainbow room,
The lion's tail,
Big daddy and his kids,
Profile of Chibocci from star wars,
Snow White's castle,
Grapes,
And an aerial view of a mountain.
After some of the formations were here, the cave was partially flooded, depositing popcorn formations on the stalagmites up to a height. One of the most interesting things was areas where water had flowed (looking like a mud flow) and then went into a pond. The pond edge would have shapes that resembled mushrooms with the tops cut flat. Then there were popcorn crystals below the water.
Sometimes the water would then flow out of the pond and make more formations. This picture doesn't show it well but is the best I have of it.

Did I mention that after we reached the area that the elevator came to we went through a huge area, sort of shaped like a cross, lying down. It was one mile in to here, then one and a half around this area. The ceiling was at least 100 feet up or more in places. It was hard to tell exactly. The three 'trees' in the bottom left corner are people. I couldn't get a picture of how far it extended.
These are just formations that I liked.
That is B standing by the rail.

Other Things of Interest?

There have been a few things that we have gotten to see that are things that you don't always hear or read about. Here are a few.

De Soto Falls located in Georgia. There is also a great canyon here. But most interesting is the history of this area.
Notice the date on this. That was a FEW years before Columbus. If you double click on this you can read it better.
If you look carefully you will see a red and a yellow kayak going through some rapids on the Little River.
While in Arkansas we stopped by the Roaring River. It has lots of gentle small falls over flat stones. There is also a very large springs which is it's source. There is also a fish hatchery there and some large, about 14 to 16 inch rainbow trout there. That is V and R in the picture. We also went geo-cashing with them.
While traveling down the road on the way to AZ we keep seeing these pretty trees. We finally stopped to take a closer look at them. We still don't know what they are, but they are pretty.
You know those oriental paintings that just show the tops of the mountains and the rest of the mountain is in the clouds? Well, we thought these clouds looked like those mountain tops.

The Vanderbilts

While we were in New York we took a day trip up to Hyde Park to see one of Frederick Vanderbilt's homes. It is also called Hyde Park. It has a fire place in every room, but some were never used as it had central heating. Unusual for that time. It also had electricity and it's own generating plant for it. It was built of steel and stone, to help make it fire proof. No pictures could be taken inside, so just believe me when I say it was NICE. This home, one of three, was used in the spring and in the fall. It was a working farm.
An interesting fact of this house is that it was built in two years and that all the outside stone carving was done after it was in place.

On our way from New York to Tenn. we stopped in at Biltmore House in South Carolina. It was built by George, younger brother to Frederick. It is way more elaborate and much larger.
Unlike the other one, which is owned by the government now, this one is still owned by his descendants. He only had one daughter. It is four floors with a basement, about 4 acres inside.

Some of the rooms weren't finished when they moved in. It is also a working farm and at one time owned land as far as 19 miles away to the distant peak.

The grounds were designed by the same person who designed Central Park in NY. There is always something blooming in the summer. There are also several green houses that we went through as well as down to a pond. The plants are all labeled. There were just a few starting to bloom. In another two weeks, or now, it would be beautiful. If you lived in the area it would be good to have a season pass and go see the grounds often.

They were just starting to put some flowers in the formal gardens.
I enjoyed the orchids in the green houses.

I also enjoyed the other flowers too. We ate our lunch in what had been the stable but you can get a picnic lunch from there and eat it on the grounds or in the green house area.
There was a some huge holly trees with their berries still on.

There was also and interesting tree called a baldcypress. It was in a very moist area and there were roots sprouting around it. Some were a foot or more high.

Eat your heart out

This is for all you up north. It may have snowed here on the first, but it has been steadily warming all week. Yesterday it was 80 degrees in town and 65 plus here in the country. This is of the flowering pear trees that G & M have by the ponds. There are lots of them in bloom in the area.

Valley Forge, Philadelphia

In Dec. of 1777 George Washington and his soldiers went to Valley Forge. In Feb. of 2009 B and E went to Valley Forge and it didn't feel any warmer than in 1777. There wasn't any snow but the wind was blowing and it started out being overcast. Since it has valley in it's name, I always thought that they were camped in a valley. NOT SO! Their cabins outlined the ridge that circled around the area. We rented a tape and drove the area. There are some monument marking the different areas and where different regiments were located.
Would you believe that these housed twelve people?
After being there it was easy to see why they chose this area.
The next morning we went into Philadelphia. It took us a little doing, but we found Independence Hall. We say the Liberty Bell and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It was one published at the time to be read in another area. The signed one is in DC. We were able to go into Independence Hall and some of it's rooms.
The court room was interesting. It was to the right of the mail hall with no door, just a rail
like is in our court rooms today. The proceedings were very open to the public. Note the cage in the rt. for ground where the accused stood.

We also saw where the Senate and House met as this was the capital until the District of Columbia was formed.

The following is of the room in which the signers of the Declaration of Independence met and hashed it out. The next is of the chair at the front of the room. Ben Franklin said that he didn't know if it was a setting or a rising sun. When the Declaration was signed he said he decided that it was a rising sun.

Knit Knit

While we were in Tenn. my sister-in-law was crocheting scarfs and caps for her grand daughters. I did a set to help her out and to pass the time. That led to me doing scarfs for B, By, and L for Christmas. By wanted a cap too so I did one for him while we were there. Since I did not bring along a winter cap for me I knitted one for me. Then when we got to West Point C wanted a poncho and P needed a cap. So the crochet hook and knitting needles came out. Here are C and P in theirs.
It has been a number of years since I have done any of this, but I did remember how.

Hanging Out

I guess that I had better get this updated. We have been hanging out at West Point.

Not long after we got here we had a good snow storm. School got canceled two days because of snow one day and ice the next. The kids had fun playing in it.

The weather now has changed. We have had a few days above freezing, one in the fifties, and most of the snow is gone. Funny thing, there were three robins who showed up two days before it first got warm. We thought they were lost but maybe they knew something we didn't.

C has done quit well with her art. Last year her picture won her category locally and then won regionally, and went to the national level. She has won again this year locally. We got to see this years before it went on to the next level.

We have been to two more music performances. One of those was a steel band, which of course, our son-in-law is in. You just can't sit still listening to Calypso music. They were playing in an old church just off post.
Since we have never taken the official tour, B and I decided that we would do that. It took about an hour and we learned a few things that we didn't yet know about the area.

Last week-end the other set of grandparents came. C turned eight on Friday. She had a party at school, one at the bowling alley after school, and then one at home that evening with family. Do you think she had enough parties?

Then Saturday morning was her baptism. We were glad that we could be here for that.

Thanks to the other grandparents and all their points, B and I stayed in a motel while they were here. That gave them more time with the kids and the kids a chance to get some pool time. Of course B loved that too.
The weather here has changed. We have had a few days above freezing and most of the snow is gone.