Luray Caverns, Virginia (Feb. 28)

Here are my photos of the Luray Caverns- I just love the patterns the stalactites and stalagmites made (yeah, I had to look up how to spell those), so here are probably too many photos (but if you like rocks, abstract art or design at all, I think you'll enjoy them too).

 

  

  

The one below is of an underground lake.  It's not very deep, but the reflections were very beautiful.

  

In the Luray caverns you go from "room" to "room" through passages, it's very cool.  It's a one-way passage, over a mile in length I think, guided by roped off areas so you don't get lost.  I liked this tour as it was by an audioguide and not a tour guide, so you could see it at your own pace.  There are also human guides stationed here and there if you want to ask questions.  I went in the morning so it was nice and empty, saw very few other tourists.

  

This is one of the column formations, where a stalactite and stalagmite grow together.

  

  

  

More columns, I think they call these the "totem poles".

  

I think the one below is the formation they call "Tatiana's veil".

  

This is looking up at the ceiling of the cavern... the stalactites form cool patterns!

  

You can see why I just couldn't stop taking photos, right?

  

  

  

These below are the coolest yet!  They call these formations "draperies", and they form when the water drips and deposits the minerals on an angle.

  

  

  

  

This one below is a fallen stalactite, that's why it has a flat edge on the right, that's where it was attached to the cavern ceiling thousands of years ago.  It's grown together with the stalagmite on the left, and they can tell when it fell by how much growth is there (but I can't remember when that was!)  They figure it was an earthquake that made it fall.

  

This is a close-up of the fallen stalactite (on the lower right) growing into the adjacent stalagmite:

  

I think they should call the formation below "cauliflower":

  

Looking up at some draperies from underneath them...

  

This one looks like a column but it isn't, it's a stalagmite (left) and stalactite (right) that grew into each other horizontally as they got wider.

  

This is the room the call "the Cathedral".  It has an organ that uses the stalactites for the notes.  They played an automated song on it while I was there, very beautiful sound.  Supposedly in the early 1900's or so they had dances in this room.  That must have been something in the days of candlelight!  I think they said they still have candlelight events in the caverns once a year.

  

  

  

  

  

This formation below is called the "fried eggs".

  

  

Back out at the surface.  This is the view to the east, towards Luray.

 

I loved these caves, I think they might have been my favourite thing I saw on the trip (considering the Grand Canyon got weathered out.)

Meteor Crater (February 21)

Meteor Crater is about half an hour east of Flagstaff, Arizona.  Here are a couple of shots of as much of the crater as would fit in my lens.  In the middle of the crater is a mine shaft where they went looking for the meteor many years ago.  The meteor wasn't there, it got blasted up on impact, they found a few fragments around the crater though.

 

  

The east side of the crater...

  

... and the west side of the crater...

  

Crater rim...

This is the trail that goes around the crater rim.  Usually they have tours every hour or so on part of the rim trail, but it was very windy that day so this trail was closed.

 

There are several types of sandstone at the crater, here's one:

  

View from the crater rim to the north:

  

From the crater rim to the east:

  

To the north again, closer up ...

  

It was a very interesting place to visit!  I'm glad the weather cleared enough (this was my snowed-out Arizona weekend) to be able to go.  There were rain showers around the crater but luckily none while I was there.

Finally, the Grand Canyon! (From Feb. 19)

OK, here are my photos from the Grand Canyon.  These were taken on Feb. 19, the day I arrived.  Luckily, I zipped over to the canyon to have a look right away, because the next day this happened.

It sure is something to see in person, even if it was just a quick peek.  The Grand Canyon is very high on my list of things to try again, possibly even next fall, since I didn't get to do the hikes I had planned there due to crummy weather.  Now that I have seen the trails I want to hike into the canyon from the rim, I am very keen (if a little more intimidated by them!) to go back and give them a try.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

  

 

  

 

Day 11: Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario... I"m back!

There was a bit of snow on the drive today but never heavy and no accumulation, temps were above zero.  Glad to get off the road after 11 days of travelling!  Here are a couple of photos.

These are from the rest stop on the border of Pennsylvania and New York:

 

 

  

... and here's the familiar landscape of the St. Lawrence Valley, on the New York side of the border:

 

Quite a trip!  It was interesting to see the landscapes change and winter gradually reappear as I made my way east and north.  I think it was around 5500 km, a bit longer this route (it was just short of 5100 in the opposite direction last September), but around 200 or 250 km of that was the side trips I did to the Grand Canyon, and to the caves in Virginia.  So the difference in total between the two routes would be around 200 km or so, which isn't a big deal, especially since the southern route is easier, if a bit longer.