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Friday, October 27, 2023

Lehman Caves

We've been to Lehman Caves before but it's been years! It's three hours away from here and not on the way to anything, so it's a whole-day trip it's hard to find time for. But it seemed like it would be a worthwhile field trip for this unit, so we found a way to make it work. Sam came with us (I'd been prepared for him not to, but was really glad he did!) and even Sebastian said he was up for it! Malachi had to work, sadly. But I rustled up a passable picnic and the rest of us set out early in the morning!
Along the way we were stopped by a police car (driving straight toward us, against traffic, in the wrong lane, which was unnerving!) who had us pull off the road to let a few oversize load trucks go by. They were carrying dump truck beds for the copper mine dump trucks, I think! This picture doesn't even show how big it was.
These two cuties! They love each other.
Clementine looked so cute in her bunny coat.
The cave was great, as always. One of the prettiest caves I've ever been to. It puts Timpanogos Cave to shame! (Sorry, Timp Cave.) We were hoping to see bats, and there were some bats there, but I didn't personally see them. I think Daisy saw one!
Afterward we stopped for our usual picnic at our usual place…the cute little school in Baker, Nevada.
What a lovely and beautiful fall day!

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Timpanogos Cave Field Trip

We hiked to Timpanogos Cave! I hadn't been here since I was a little girl. It was fun to take the school kids, and we were glad to leave the littlest ones at home because the hike is pretty steep (with sheer drops on the sides! A little girl fell off and died on this trail when Abe was a baby, and I have been scared to take kids here ever since!)

This turned out to be a sad day for me (I started miscarrying a baby on the drive home, though I was grateful the bleeding hadn't started as we were hikingšŸ˜„) so I look at these pictures and feel sad. But we did have a fun time, and the cave is cool to see!
Some baby stalactites and stalagmites
Flowstone
Weird octopus-y hand things
Ziggy took a liking to the ranger who was our guide (I had told him that Park Rangers are kind of like policemen) and chatted to him companionably, asking lots of questions that the ranger didn't seem to quite want to engage with. To be fair, many were questions like "What if someone does touch part of the cave? Would they go to jail?" So maybe it's just as well.
Cool little helictites
Junie hugging her juniper friend