Notes from Underground

Okay, the title is probably more clever than the rest of the post is going to be, since I'm describing one of the older tourist destinations on the East Coast, Luray Caverns. As I noted in yesterday's post, after her descent into an old gold mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Sarah could no longer plead claustrophobia on caves, and she herself decided she wanted to see one on this trip to the Valley. And being a well-brainwashed product of advertising campaigns, she decided it had to be Luray Caverns, the most famous of the Eastern Seaboard caves, and one promoted with the ferocity that used to be devoted to "See Rock City" in the American South, except instead of painting barns they just have incessant billboards and TV commercials on kids' channels.

As it happens, neither Tam nor I had been to Luray, so we were fine with that. I grew up in the Ozarks, which like the Shenandoah Valley is full of limestone karst formations and therefore really neat calcite caves with lots of stalactites, stalagmites, and such, but because I had seen plenty as a kid I never got into the ones around here, which tend to be a tad pricey. Then once I had a kid (the obvious reason to go), she long said she didn't want to because it would be too creepy. She no longer thinks so.

I think I've mentioned that Sarah is really fond of her new camera, and that I put an 8 gigabyte memory card in it. (Actually, I see I only mentioned the 4 gigs I put in originally. I bought her 8 gigs on sale at the Harrisonburg Wal-Mart, so she'd have all the memory she could hope to need. For now.)

She took 417 pictures in the cave. Yes, that says 417. I have not edited them all yet, or even looked at them all yet, not to mention the videos and stills I took (a mere 147 for the day, but many of them video, of which probably a bit over 100 were in the cave). So, don't expect a Flickr or YouTube upload imminently: tomorrow's a work and school day. How things have changed since the days of film. Just take everything you see, and cull the duds later.

So the above shot is just a random one, I think one of reflected stalactites in water.

Anyhow, Luray is every bit the touristy place you expect, but it's a great and impressive cave, and worth the visit. Sarah loved it, and so did we.

Earlier in the day we met over breakfast with Moira Gallagher, daughter of Tam's old friends Tom and Cyndi Gallagher (who are also Sarah's godparents). Moira's a senior at James Madison University, in Harrisonburg where we made our base camp for this Valley trip. She hadn't seen Sarah in several years so was of course impressed.

The cave made the return trip a bit more than just a return trip, as coming down via Skyline Drive helped the first day. We try to make a three-day weekend not just two days of travel and one day of visit, but three days of stuff.

Fact I didn't know: there are no bats in Luray. It has no natural openngs to the outside, only the commercial entrance discovered in the 1870s, so there is no natural fauna, there being no food sources or uncontrolled access, though salamanders and other marine life are sometimes found, but not year-round. So it's a batless cave.

Trying to Blog More

I'm sorry I've been so bad about blogging lately; in particular I wish I'd done a better job on the Colorado Springs vacation. Now, a month after it began, the memories are fading, and I wish I'd done more than the bullet-point notes I made at the time. That's why I've tried to be more careful here.

Now, let me note that eventually much of the Colorado material will go up on YouTube. The trouble is that since my father-in-law doesn't have broadband, but a dialup connection, YouTube isn't really practical for him, and so I burned him a DVD on the last day of the trip of everything we'd taken. But that video is an hour and 15 minutes long, and since YouTube limits (non-commercial folks who don't have big followings online) to 10 minutes each, I'll have to split it into eight segments, reallocate the audio, etc. That will take time. And I haven't had time.

The YouTube videos plus stills interspersed as slide shows with commentary give you the closest thing to contemporary blogging, since it's what we were saying and thinking at the time rather than now. So it will probably have to be the historical artifact of the trip.

Anyway, I'm trying to blog the Labor Day weekend while it's fresh and get back to doing more frequent blogging here. Once I started the work blog I gave less time here.

Quiet Day, With Ducks

Photo at left by Sarah.
A quiet second day of the three days in the Valley. We all slept late. We went to the local visitor's center to gather brochures, and it's collocated with a little (one room basically) Valley Turnpike Museum, but I'm an old Shenandoah Valley addict and enjoyed that. Then a good country buffet lunch at Rowe's Country Buffet between here and Mount Crawford, VA, and an offshoot of the long-established Mrs. Rowe's restaurant in Staunton. After that we headed to the small town of Dayton, a nice old valley town where there are many buggy-driving Old Order Mennonites. Though both the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society in Dayton (where I've done a lot of genealogical reserch on two lines that came through Rockingham County, one German and one Scotch-Irish), and the Dayton Farmer's Market, a favorite of Tam's, we checked out an old mill (also closed Sunday) but did stop at a playground near the Historical Society where Sarah used to play when smaller and when I'd be in the library. She remembered it, and fed the dugs in the nearby stream, and took pictures, including the duck one above.

Because the video I took there isn't clear enough to show Sarah's face, I'm posting a video of it here:



We stopped at Wal-Mart to get swim goggles (yesterday we bought a swim suit because we'd left without them) but the outdoor pool would prove too cold for Sarah. But we'd done our best to remedy the situation. A brief stop at Jess' Lunch, the local dive/greasy spoon for our collection. Now I'm blogging and Sarah and Tam are watching a DVD of a Beethoven movie (the Saint Bernard, not the Composer). More later if there is more.

Tomorrow, en route home, we plan to do Luray Caverns. The Valley is full of caves, of which Luray is probably by far the most famous, but until fairly recently Sarah has said she'd find caves too spooky, and since they tend to be pricey we've held off. But during the Colorado trip she managed to convince us to take her on a tour of the Mollie Kathleen Mine in Cripple Creek, which is 1000 feet underground, has narrow tunnels and a cramped elevator: by comparison a cave should be roomy. So now that she's ready for claustrophobic underground adventures, we're going to do Luray.

Labor Day Weekend

More on this image of the deer and the video below tomorrow.

Okay, here's more: for Labor Day, we're in the Shenandoah Valley, staying in Harrisonburg, but we came down via Skyline Drive. Sarah's still enjoying her new camera, so she was thrilled to get the still (through the car window) closeup of a deer. The video is mine. Anyway, more later today.



It was a good day but exhausted everyone. It's now Sunday morning, or rather midmorning, as we've all slept in. I hope we don't lose too much of the day. More later.

Last Day Before School in a Two-Camera Family

Today was the last day of summer vacation for Sarah: fourth grade starts tomorrow. It was a great, mild, low-humidity day so we went to Great Falls, on the Virginia side of the river this time. But first, we became a two-camera family.

I haven't abandoned the idea of writing more about the Colorado trip, and will at some point, perhaps even later tonight, but let me cover today first.

During the Colorado trip Sarah really began to be avid about taking pictures, so much so that she took a huge number going up Pike's Peak. The nice thing about digital, of course, is that you can take all you want, since you don't have film and don't have to print them, and I always carry large stocks of memory and rechargeable batteries, so you really don't run out of media. The only problem is fighting over the camera.

Well, we had a lot of award points saved up at Best Buy from the last computer purchase, a washer and dryer, etc., and combined with a sale I was able to buy Sarah another camera similar to the one I bought last October at about half its price. Actually the new one is a little more advanced, being a successor model and having more megapixels and some added features, but she didn't like the idea of me taking the new one and giving her the old one as a hand-me-down, even though it's only 10 months old; anyway the outcome is she gets the new one, though agrees to let us use the slightly higher resolution for key family events. I saw no reason to get her a "kid's" camera: she had a Barbie camera a couple of years ago which would take about 10 or 12 pictures. I prefer to give her the real thing now that she's really interested. I put a 4-gigabyte memory card in it which should take about 1200 pictures or a whole bunch of video. It will hold up to 16 gigs.

Hers is red; mine is blue; otherwise they're externally the same. I got her a red camera case matching my blue camera case, too. So we're a two camera family.

Not surprisingly, Sarah, who was absolutely prodigal taking pictures with my camera, is downright cautious about hers. "I'm turning it off; I want to save the power." "But Sarah; I have six extra recharged batteries with us: enough power to run all day, and we'll recharge them tonight." Nothing doing.

Anyway, above, Sarah taking my picture, and me taking hers, and below, photographing the falls. Actually she spent more of her time petting dogs, of which there were many, than enjoying the falls. Two miniature longhaired dachshunds in particular, but many others besides.

The Horseback Ride

I'd hoped to use this weekend to try to flesh out the memories of the Colorado vacation before they fade, but didn't succeed, so I'll post some pics instead. At left, our horseback ride on Friday a week ago. I don't normally show Sarah's face on this blog, but in the shot at left, the helmet and the shadows keep it hard to recognize her, and I've reduced the resolution so it can't be blown up.

More about all this eventually.

Sunday in Colorado

I'm continuing to post very brief summaries for now as I'm working on the videos of the trip in the evenings. I'll flesh out the memories later.

Today we went to brunch with Tam's Dad and Marge at the Garden of the Gods Club, a very elegant place.

After that we went to Seven Falls. Another place I visited on my first trip 51 years ago. Sarah petted some dogs before getting distracted by the large number of chipmunks scampering about. After much photography of chipmunks, she finally agreed to actually look at Seven Falls.

We showed her the Broadmoor on the way back to the hotel.

I'll flesh these out either before leaving or after we get home. Sorry to be so terse at this point.

A Quick Summary of Days Three and Four

I want to post a few notes before I forget, and hope to be able to fully blog on this tomorrow. It's been a very busy week, attempting as we are to balance family duties to Tam's dad with showing Sarah a good time. So far, generally, a success of sorts.

On the other hand, blogging opportunities are limited. I've been also continuing to post to my work blog despite being on vacation, not because I was told to, but because I feel an obligation of sorts to my readership. And I don't want them wandering off because I'm not close at hand.

So here's the basic outline summary:

Friday:

1. Started with a horeseback ride; Sarah on "Rosebud," Tam on "Undertaker" (!), and me on "Wrangler." Horseback riding was easier the last time I did it, when I had no hernia, no hemorrhoids, and no extra 60 pounds or so.
2. Lunch at a great Mexican place in Manitou Springs.
3. The ever-tacky and marvelously American Garden of the Gods Trading Post.
4. Sarah exploring Balanced Rock, Steamship Rock, and the neighborhood.
5. A piano concert at my father-in-law's retirement home.
6. Dinner: Italian.

Saturday:

1. Tam began the day by a father-daughter meeting, while Sarah and I stayed at the hotel, me doing a laundry to get clean undies and shirts, and Sarah watching Saturday morning cartoon shows.
2. Then a trip to Cripple Creek. Lunch. Then a stroll around town during a salute to the military day, petting a couple of boxers (one of which gave Sarah a big slurpy greeting), visiting a candy shop for fudge, then:
3. A visit to the Mollie Kathleen Mine, a gold mine that worked from the 1890s to the 1960s in Cripple Creek and now gives tours 1000 feet below ground. Sarah insisted on it; I was pushing for the Cripple Creek-Victor train ride. Sarah, as usual, got it right. Extremely interesting and informative tour. Have most of it on video. (Also we've now been at the top of Pike's Peak, 14,000 plus feet above sea level, and 1000 feet below ground, within a couple of days. Not bad.)
   
4. Visited Tam's Dad and Marge in Colorado Springs.
5. Dinner at an Outback Steakhouse across from out hotel.

There are multiple stories behind all of these. I hope to get them down, but wanted to at least do an outline before I forget.

Up Pike's Peak

The main goal of day 2 was the cog train up Pike's Peak. Sarah loved the ascent and went berserk taking photos: over 300 before reaching the top. She was a bit wobbly in the thin oxygen on top, as were we all, so she didn't like the summit as much as the ascent. By the descent she was tired.

Because we had 374 images by the end of the day a normal Flickr or YouTube upload is impractical until I have time to edit out any duds. Stand by on that. We joined grandpa and Marge for dinner at their retirement compound, and then spent some time in Old Colorado City before returning to the hotel. Tomorrow: horseback riding.

Colorado Day One

A storm in the mountains . . .

The actual colors were more dramatic, but low light and the fact that I was getting wet made better composition impossible.

However, a rather nicer view of the mountains from earlier in the day is below it.

Okay, the story so far. Yesterday was the travel day, and given the joys of travel these days, the fact that I was exhausted (worked Monday in fact) and had sore feet, plus the usual exactions of the TSA and others, meant that we were pretty tired by the time we made it to Colorado Springs, via, of course, Houston. (Not quite as bad as last time, when the connection was Phoenix, which is not only far south of any DC-Colorado direct line, but also well West of Colorado.)

Anyway, it took a while to get the rental car, etc., then we got lost trying to find our hotel, but Tam had promised her Dad we'd drop in before we went to bed, so we then had to go find their place, which had a locked gate, and so on until we finally dragged back to the hotel, very late and very tired. And as fate sometimes has it, though physically exhausted, I couldn't get to sleep.

The blog thinks in eastern time, and I'm not going to mess with its internal structure by messing with it. I may try to backpost to the proper Mountain time so these posts don't show up at 2 am or some such, but if it doesn't work, just ignore the time stamp.

Anyway, today we began by arranging to meet Tam's Dad and partner Marge for lunch, then decided on the way there to introduce Sarah — who was last here at age 4 and a half, just half her present nine — by hitting her over the head by main force with the scenery, so we drove her through the Garden of the Gods. She took lots of pictures.

We spent lunch and the early afternoon with Bud and Marge, then came back to the hotel and crashed; after a rest, Tam and Sarah spent time in the pool and jacuzzi, and I got the day's photos and videos organized (though nothing will go up on YouTube tonight; maybe tomorrow). Then we made quick runs to a Border's (I lost my one book I brought for reading at the airport), and a grocery to stock up on stuff for the room, which has a refrigerator, microwave, wi-fi and a King bed for us and sofabed for Sarah: the combination that keeps us coming to Hampton Inns.

We at at a Carrabas' Italian restaurant, a chain, but one we'd heard of but not tried, and then returned to the hotel. After considerable effort and using Daddy's magic bag of miracle computer cables, I managed to wire Sarah's portable DVD player into the nice flat-screen TV in the room, so Sarah could watch just-released-on-DVD Race to Witch Mountain on the widescreen. Earlier the magic bag-o'-cables had produced enough USB extension cables to put a GPS on the window without having to move the laptop. (The reason was actually to find out the altitude of our hotel. Never mind. It made sense at the time.)

Tomorrow: the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak. Stay tuned.

The Trip

I was going to call this "I guess we'd rather be in Colorado," playing on an old John Denver song, but Sarah wanted to call it "The Trip," and you can see who won. I'll use mine on my work blog. We'll be leaving tomorrow for Colorado Springs, to see Tam's Dad, and it will be the first time Sarah's been in Colorado since she was four and a half, half her present age, so much of it will be like showing her a new place. We already have a horseback ride in the Garden of the Gods scheduled, and hope to take the cog train up Pike's Peak.

While I've been to Colorado Springs a number of times since Tam and I got engaged, then married, then parents, I still fondly remember my first visit in 1958. I blogged about the whole 1958 trip adventure last year on the 50th anniversary of it; the post dealing with Colorado Springs is here.

I'll post more once we get there.

Weekend Catching Up

I've been terribly lax about posting to the family blog, mostly but not exclusively because I've been involved with my work blog, which has hit some high traffic days and seems to be getting noticed, at least by some of the other Middle East blogs.

Last weekend we went to Winchester, somewhat old hat admittedly. The day got off to a bad start as we couldn't find some membership cards for the Mueseum of the Shenandoah Valley and I got into a grumpy mood and we got bogtge3de down. Finally we visited the gardens at the Museum, then took Sarah to the Harry Potter movie (at least a little cheaper out there than in DC), had a decent dinner and the next day went back to the Museum and did some other fun things before coming home.

Now we're at another weekend. Today we saw G-Force, which okay as talking guinea pig spy movies goes, if you like that sort of thing.

On August 4 we'll be going to Colorado. Hopefully I'll blog more before then and regularly out there. I never even posted on the moon landing anniversary although Tam, who rarely posts here, did (see below).

A Memory of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Before the evening passes, I want to set down a strong family memory I have of the wonderful Moon landing, and the first two men to walk on it: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Michael Collins was the command pilot, orbiting above the lunar surface.

It was July 20, 1969. My family and I were gathered in our TV room at the back of the house in Ralston, Nebraska, watching the drama with my grandmother. She later died in 1975, at 93 years of age. So she would have been 86 that night of 1969. It was most incredible for her to watch the two men land on the surface, then slowly walk down the ladder and jump off onto the lunar surface. We all watched the whole thing, it was truly amazing.

But the most amazing thing that struck me then, was the realization that my grandmother, like Julius Caesar, read by candlelight in an earlier time. And then my grandmother, in her lifetime, watched men walk on the surface of the moon. The memory is still strong with me today, forty years after the event.

Road Trip!

We're doing a weekend overnight. Just Winchester, where we've been way too many times. But maybe I can get some posts up. I've been lax lately, I know.

Remembering Walter Cronkite: A Cross-Posting

I don't normally cross-post from my work-blog, but this will be of interest to family and friends of my generation at least. The original post is here and the original title is "Walter Cronkite and the Middle East."

Oh my. Ask and it shall be answered. In my immediately previous post I noted that everybody I've posted under the "obituaries" label so far has been pretty ambiguous in their historical legacy but that perhaps I'll have a chance to offer some unreserved praise. Then I heard from my wife, who was watching TV while I blogged, that Walter Cronkite had died. And he had a major role in one particular event in Middle Eastern history. And if you've got something bad to say about him, please say it somewhere else.

My generation needs no introduction to Uncle Walter. Before I got here he was dropping with the paratroops in Market Garden, the disastrous Arnhem operation of World War II. He was the newsman of my youth, and his You Are There introduced me to the history of my parents' generation. And that moment in November 1963 when he took off those black horn-rims, looked up at the clock, and announced that John F. Kennedy was dead, with a catch in his voice, will live forever. He helped us through it. And he got us to the moon. And when Uncle Walter turned against the Vietnam war, it was the beginning of the endgame. Even Lyndon Johnson famously said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America." (Google it. It's Friday night. I don't want to take the time. It'll be in all the morning papers, anyway.)

And he died in the midst of the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a day after the anniversary of the launch, three days before the anniversary of the landing. (Historical irony? Synchronicity? Interesting anyway.) We could not have gone to the moon without Walter Cronkite, could we have? When he retired, the space program got boring. He made things official, somehow. When he said "That's the way it is," we knew that that was the way it was.

There will be a lot of memories of Walter Cronkite over the next few days (though it won't match Michael Jackson), so I'll limit myself to remembering why Uncle Walter was important to the Middle East: in 1977 he cornered first Sadat, then Begin, in TV interviews to agree to a direct meeting. Oh, sure, the Egyptians had been working through Moroccan back-channels for a long time, but the fact that Cronkite asked Sadat directly, on US TV, if he would actually go to Israel, and he said yes, and then Cronkite asked Begin, who didn't have much of an out . . . the point is, the process was already afoot, but Cronkite pushed the leaders in public, and Sadat's native showmanship was such that he accepted the challenge. It would have happened anyway, but Cronkite made it happen sooner. (Be patient, when I can find a YouTube of it I'll link.)

I'm not immediately remembering other major Cronkite involvement in Middle Eastern history, but what more do you need? He pushed Sadat and Begin together. And my generation hasn't really watched network news that much since Uncle Walter retired. No one in the Internet era has that authority, that solid grandfatherly reassurance.

Any young folk who don't understand my signoff, ask your elders:

And that's the way it is, Friday, July 17, 2009.

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