Alabaster Caverns

Last weekend, we went to Alabaster Caverns in Freedom, Oklahoma. It's only a drive of 1.5 hours from home, so it was a fun, quick trip. The only drawback was the snowstorm that blew in that morning...well, that and the wind, but it is March! The Herrons came down and went with us. We all had a great time. When we got to the Caverns, we missed the most recent tour of the cave, so we wandered over to the hiking trails, and the scenic overlook. Miss Kat took this shot while we were hiking.

The caves are a part of a huge canyon and cave system. There are 6 caves in the State Park and 3 hiking trails. And, by canyon....I mean Canyon. Rough terrain. We read about Cowboys roping bears and about wolves that roamed the area through the early years of the 20th century.

Think about that...Bears and Wolves...in Northwest Oklahoma, on the Great Plains in the 20th Century...

The kids found one cave that they ventured into. Well, Kim, Bob, and the kids ventured into it. Kev had to stay a ways back down the trail (because cowboy boots weren't working too well on the wet, slick, rough trail) and I stayed outside the cave (because I'm not completely crazy!) You are allowed to go into all the caves, but I thought that someone should stay outside...just in case.

After playing around in the cave and on the trails, we finally got to tour the main cave. Alabaster Caverns is a gypsum cave. There are several types of Alabaster in the cave. In this shot, you can see the white gypsum sparkling in the roof.

Also a part of the cave is the Bat population. There are 8000-10,000 bats who live in the cave. This was a group of 50 or so bats. Thankfully, they stayed up on the ceiling where they belonged.

We had a great time, and all decided that we want to go back--maybe not for the big cave tour, but we definitely want to hike the entire trail system through the canyon. It was a great ending to our Spring Break...even if the weather was crappy!

Kansas in Winter...or, more photo's from Miss Kat

I'm pretty sure these are some Kat took last night when she was supposed to be taking care of her rabbits. Her philosophy: Pictures first, Rabbits later.

But...if she's waited, the sun would have set and then we wouldn't have these shots...

Aren't drifts cool?

Miss Kat's photos

When Miss Kat and I had to share a camera, I was always asking...no begging her to email me pictures to post on my blog. She always had the camera and the USB cord and never let me have it or the computer, so I resorted to begging.

Then she got her own camera and voluntarily emailed me these pictures.

"What are they of?" I asked. "The sunset." She replied.

"Any particular sunset? Anything special?"

"NO, I just thought they were pretty and I want you to put them on your blog."

I'm a good mother and always obey my daughter....so here they are!

This one is from Friday--right after it quit snowing. We got about 5 inches of snow which is the first significant snow we've gotten all winter. It will be gone by Friday.

Yes, the wind blew, and this is a shot of a drift. I need to ask where exactly this drift is...

On Saturday, we woke up to fog and everything was covered with hoarfrost. Kat took several shots of the frost. But I'm just sharing a couple. Above is frost on our bell and below is frost on one of the bushes. Cool, isn't it!


That's all the pictures I have today. Maybe Miss Kat will share more in the future. I hope so!