Carlsgood

The Guadalupe Mountains on the Texas-New Mexico border reach heights of almost 9,000 feet. Not far away, deep beneath the surface, are hundreds of caverns formed when sulfuric acid dissolved surrounding limestone. The limestone is what remains of a coral reef of an inland sea from around 250 million years ago. There are over 113 caves within Carlsbad National Park but only two are open to the public. The temperature in the caves is always about 56 degrees F. There's a very good, detailed article by the NPS HERE.

We entered through the Natural Entrance and descended a gradual mile along the traditional explorer's route to a depth of around 750 feet. The caves were used in the early 1900s to harvest bat guano, a rich fertilizer. It was open to tourists as early as the 1920s. From May to October over 400,000 (down from 8 million once) Mexican free-tailed bats live in one of the passageways of the caves. They leave at dusk and return to rest during the day. They migrate to Mexico for the winter. Native Americans knew about the caves long before, and artifacts including an ice scraper of an Ice-Age hunter and two spear points dating from about 10,000 years ago have been found nearby.

The "Big Room" at the bottom is over 8 acres (the size of 114 football fields). Among the many amazing features is Iceberg Rock, a single 200,000 ton boulder that fell from the ceiling thousands of years ago. There was also an overwhelming array of cave formations: stalactites, stalagmites, flow stone, soda straws, lily pads, draperies, columns, popcorn, cave pearls and mirror pools.

Click HERE for some photos, and PLEASE leave a comment here on the blog from time to time. It makes our day, and lets us know someone is actually checking it out.

Desert Blooms

If some of you having been following our blog since last year, you would have already seen some photos from the Franklin Mountains outside El Paso. Well, we were back in the area and decided to go for a hike in a different part of the Texas State Park. We had a four and a half mile hike winding up switchbacks and finally reaching Mundy's Gap. At that point you can see three different states in two countries (Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico). In addition to the views, we took the time to stop and smell the flowers, literally, as you can see in these pictures. Click here.

Puro Sabor de Juarez

Our last visits to El Paso focused primarily on history and nature (see entries from the Mission Trail, Hueco Tanks, Franklin Mountains, White Sands Natl. Monument). We had never really seen much of downtown, never mind crossed the border. El Paso's downtown has lots of interesting gunslinger history, some neat old buildings, museums and cultural spots. Later, we walked over the Santa Fe Street Bridge into Juárez, Mexico. In some ways similar to another pair of border cities, Tijuana-San Diego, Ciudad Juárez-El Paso creates a binational, bilingual megalopolis. This one is the biggest in North America (twice as many people live on the Juárez side). Juárez is a major player in international business, with plants owned by Lear Corporation, Proctor-Silex and Siemans, among others. The two cities were one until the 1840s, with people being separated only by the Rio Grande. They were separated finally under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. These days, most tourists cross the border here for inexpensive shopping, legendary nightlife and cheap authentic eats. We took a walk, had a look at the Cathedral of the Virgen of Guadalupe and some other buildings, and eventually moseyed on back across the border.

Click HERE for a few photos.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Storm Watchers in TX

A few shots on the drive from Topeka to El Paso. We took a shorter route on a slightly smaller highway, avoiding passing through Albuquerque and seeing a few new sites along the way.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

"Whatever else prairie is – grass, sky, wind – it is most of all a paradigm of infinity, a clearing full of many things except boundaries, and its power comes from its apparent limitlessness..."

— William Least Heat-Moon, PrairyErth

Hoping to use our new National Parks Pass for the first time, we set off into the Flint Hills region of Kansas, home to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. It was established in 1996 and extends almost 11,000 acres. (These prairies once covered as much as 400,000 square miles in North America.) It's also the first national park dedicated exclusively to protecting America's prairie heritage, and the only park devoted to grasslands. The prairies are a subtle but amazing ecosystem of sweeping vistas, rolling hills and an endless sky. In the spring, they conduct controlled burns to get rid of encroaching trees and expose the earth below to rain and sun, enabling grasses to return. The grasses used to nourish herds of bison, which may be re-introduced sometime in the future.

Along the way, we also passed through Cottonwood Falls (Chase County Courthouse, est. 1873, the oldest still in use in KS, made of native limestone and walnut), Strong City (see photo of Main Street), and Council Grove (where we ate at Hays House, built in 1857 by Daniel Boone's great grandson, and the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi).

Some links:

Our pictures from the day's trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/heathertamara/KansasTallgrassArea

This slide show is definitely worth a look. The photography is beautiful! http://www.nature.org/magazine/spring2006/files/tallgrassprairie.swf

The Preserve is featured in this month's (April 2007) National Geographic. Check it out here: http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0704/feature5/index.html

For a good, detailed history of the area: http://www.parktrust.org/tpnp/education/history.htm

Kansas Highlights

On a hike through the Herbert Reinhard Green Memorial Wildlife area, just outside Topeka, the photo above is some old farm equipment that would have been drawn by horses. The house in the photos on the link is was built by the Green family from the native stone remnants of Uniontown in 1877. The whole area is located where Uniontown once served as a trading post for the Pottawatomie tribe, and later as a crossroads of every major trail in the area. On one of the trails, the Oregon Trail is clearly visible because of the depression left by so many feet and hooves passing along it. The most interesting natural feature of the area: pink quartzite carried along by glaciers from Minnesota. This is the southernmost area these rocks can be found. Click here for some photos.

Donny tries to steal Lewis and Clark's chest.

In 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark on an expedition to explore this area of the Missouri River. The sculpture portrays the two of them, as well as Sacagawea, York (Clark's servant), and even Seaman, Lewis's Newfoundland dog. Here's how Clark described the area the sculpture now stands, and their activities there.

Clark’s JournalMonday, the 15th of September 1806

we set out early with a Stiff Breeze a head saw Several deer Swimming the river soon after we Set out. At 11 A.M. passed the entereance of the Kanzas river which was very low, about a mile below we landed and Capt Lewis and my Self assended a hill which appeared to have a Commanding Situation for a fort, the Shore is bold and rocky imediately at the foot of the hill, from the top of the hill you have a perfect Command of the river, this hill fronts the Kanzas and has a view of the Missouri a Short distance above that river. We landed one time only to let the men geather Papaws or the Custard apple of which this Country abounds, and the men are very fond of. we discovered a Buck Elk on a Small Island, and sent the 2 fields and Shannon in pursute of it they Soon Came up with and killed the Elk, he was large and in fine order we had his flesh Secured and divided... We passd Some of the most Charming bottom lands to day and the uplands by no means bad, all well timberd...”

(http://www.lewisandclark.mo.gov/sculpture.asp)

Lunch at Arthur Bryant's, a KC institution. This BBQ legend was founded in the early 1920's, by Charlie Bryant, Arthur's older brother. The tradition lives on, and we feasted on plates of slow-cooked pork on Wonder bread with greasy fries (d3), beans (HT) and lots of messy sauce, made, of course, strictly according to the secret Bryant recipe.

Poor Pete

In the few days since we arrived in Topeka, Kansas, a sad situation has arisen. An industrious bird (I think it's a house sparrow.) has started building a nest under the front of our trailer. Kate in our office has named him Pete. Donny has had to disassemble Pete's nest twice now, but he keeps putting it back together. The most pitiful addition so far is the decorative flower in the nest. He was trying so hard to make things pretty. We're just hoping we don't come out some morning and find eggs. (Update: after taking the nest apart for a third and final time, Donny spit on the site, confirming what he believed about birds not liking the human scent. Remember what they say about touching a baby bird? It worked! Hopefully Pete has found a better location for his nest-building activities.)

Texas Motor Speedway

Thanks to Maura in our TSMGI home office, for getting us to the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the Texas Motor Speedway! We had a blast, especially during the last few laps when Kenseth was in the lead. If he had to be passed by someone (in the last half-lap, no less), at least it was Jeff Burton, who seems like a pretty nice guy. Maybe we have some residual allegiance to Cingular as well. Donny also got to invite an old friend (from as far back as kindergarten) and his wife, which made the day even more enjoyable. Here are a few pics.

Not Just Oil and Football

We finally made the time to explore downtown Dallas! The Arts District was great, with all the museums within walking distance of one another. Supposedly, it's the largest urban arts district in the country. Our favorite was the Crow Collection of Asian Art. We did a drive-by of Dealey Plaza and the Dallas County Administration Building (formerly the Texas School Book Depository). Here are a few photos.

Happy Easter!

With snow in the forecast, Easter this year in Dallas won't be balmy (like last year). We'll be thinking of all of you tomorrow. Have a beautiful day. Thanks to Mom-Greta for supplying our long-distance Easter basket filled with not just candy, but some healthy snacks as well. Yeah Trader Joes!

Never "Board"

It had been much too long since we'd seen friends Teeg and Amy. After trying Teeg's favorite beer in Omaha, we head home for an amazing home-grilled meal across the bridge in Council Bluffs, IA. There was steak, sweet and yellow potatoes, salmon, asparagus, peppers, squash, and portabello mushrooms the size of your face.

Everything was beyond delicious, and we thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely meal. After dinner, we broke out the board games and played a rousing round of Wavelength. It was wonderful to be able to visit, and we hope to be able to do it again soon!