Blanchard Springs Caverns

On Thursday, we got to spend several hours at Blanchard Springs Caverns. If you've never been, I'd say it is worth going, at least once. I know that many caverns say the are "the best" at this thing or the other. I would say that this one (and I've only been to a few) is one of the nicest inside. There is enough light as you walk in to be able to take some nice pictures with a good camera and once they turn lights up, you can get good pics with your phone. The images below are from iPhones. 

There are multiple tours from which one can choose. I opted for the easier walk (Dripstone tour), while many of our group decided to go on the Discovery Tour. They are about an hour and an hour and a half, respectively. Our tour had a few steps, but the Discovery had around 700 steps, hence my decision to choose Dripstone (chronic back pain). 

http://www.blanchardsprings.org

Anyway, we enjoyed the tours. Additionally, this cave is owned by the US Forest Service, so it isn't a ridiculous price for entry into the cave. As I recall, it was about $12.50 for adults, with a reduced price for children. 

I'd recommend this as a nice way to spend a few hours of the day with your family. Your ticket also allows you to use any of the day use areas in the park. We took a picnic lunch and ate at a nice pavilion without an additional fee. We also took a family picture under a huge rock overhang. 

In the Cathedral Room by Jody Bowie

Photo credit: Jeff Wright

By the Fire

We spent some time last night around the fire. The owner had a huge pile of brush down by the pond and we told him we'd be happy to burn it form him. While we did that, we got some camera fun in. Here are a few of the results. We spent some time doing some long exposure and even got to do a bit of "double exposure."

A long exposure of the fire, fire tenders, and the moon.

A long exposure with some of the family in a flash picture.

There was some dancing that went on, too.

Sliding

The Golf Cart Roller Coaster

Jeff and I were going to head up the hill toward the road. No reason, just because. In this family, there's no way anyone can get on a golf cart alone. Therefore, it became Jeff, me, and 6 of the kids (one of them another adult!).

Pretty sure we are at max capacity for this golf cart.

We go up the hill and get all the way to the road. As we begin to come back, I notice that the cart will coast quite nicely on the way down. So I decided to see if we could go without touching the brakes. While I wasn't able to do that (almost) we did have a good time all the way back down.

Epic Catch Phrase

Last night, we played an epic game of Catch Phrase and I am not one to throw the word "epic" around very often. We did modify the rules of this game. There was no keeping score. You just got a super loud, "Awwwwwww!" when time ran out on you. The other rule was that if you had a word or gave a hint that related in any way to 'Murica, we began to chant, "USA, USA!"

Finally, one of the nieces looked at the word, hesitated, and then began to give clues. The clue was, "when you cut up chicken..." and I guess "Salmonella!" She pointed to me and said, "Yes!" and then passed off the game to Papa. We were then informed that the word was actually "Somalia." Meh, whatever. Salmonella is close enough, right?

Salmonella

Somalia

Convergence of Friday the 13th and the Full Moon

We've been sitting out on our front porch talking about scary stuff this week (we are in the boonies of Arkansas, after all.) It started out as us talking about the stain they've used on the cabins being splattered on the white doors. It looks a little like blood splatter. We talked about how we could easily write a story about some murders here and include the giant spider that lives under our cabin.

Anyway, we have just discovered that this Friday is going to be the 13th. AND it is going to be a full moon. So maybe we really do have a chance to write a good story.

Yes. We are scared.

Spiders

There's a lot of this going on during this vacation.