Diet And Travel

  I am linking up with Linses Cotton's  Scenic Weekend 

A few weekends ago hubby and I took a tour of the Grand Caverns in Grottoes, Virginia. The Grand Caverns were discovered in 1804 by trapper Bernard Weyer. The Caverns were declared a National Natural landmark in 1973. It is the oldest opened show cave in North America.

These photos are much nicer to see on a larger image, so please click on the photo to see the scene enlarged.  I have to say I am sorry for posting so many photos, but I took so many and it was hard choosing which ones to use.


I believe some of the shapes like above are called draperies.




The various shapes and colors are kind of neat. My hubby is the spleunker in the family, he is a member of the Baltimore Grotto Club. I do not mind going into the commercial caves but I have some awful experiences going into the private caves with my hubby.  

It is hard to believe but these caverns were opened to the public in the 1800's and one room in the cavern is called the Grand Ballroom. They actually held dances with bands and refreshments by candlelight back in the early 1800's . Electric lighting was not added until 1889.



The tour is approximately 1 mile of walking and around 70 minutes long.



This round disc shape was really cool. This cavern has over 200 rare shield formations.


The shapes were amazing, it was a shame to see some pieces were broken off.


It is hard to photograph some of these shapes...but they are thin and disc like in shape. These were the shield formations.


This shot shows just how big some of the shapes were compared to the people on the tour. I would highly recommend visiting the Grand Caverns if you are in the area. It is not too far off from the Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park.

Some of the other posts I did from our cave visits in other areas: this was in Curacao More scenes from Curacao and another cave visit in Bermuda here Bermuda's Crystal cave


I hope you enjoyed my scenic weekend.  I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.  

 Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your comments. Thanks for stopping by to see my post and thanks to Linses Cotton for hosting Scenic Weekends.

I am linking up with Scenic Sunday

I have some more scenic shots from my vacation trip to Cucacao.
These are various shots from around the island during our jeep tour. You can click on the photos for a larger image.


Local Curacao artist Yubi Kirindongo uses junk parts to create contemporary art. A very cool way to recycle. The crates look like they create a nice shaded spot in the yard.


Above the artist used broken clay pieces to create animal shapes on this cliff wall.

Here is another creation a cute smiley face. The artist has pieces all around the island.

We also visited just one of the many island caves, using flashlights we went inside the cave called Kueba di Brua.


Besides the usual stalagmites and the stalactites there was a green color on various formations.

Curacao has a semiarid climate and the flora differs from the usual tropical island vegetation. Xeric shrublands are common along with various forms of cacti.


Above the a blowhole Suplado is considered a natural jacuzzi. Above you can see one of the other jeep drivers cooling off in the wave driven spray.




I hope you enjoyed my Curacao scenery and photos.

To see more beautiful scenes from around the world please visit Scenic Sunday
Thanks to the Holleys for hosting Scenic Sunday and thank you for stopping by to see my post. Have a great weekend!

I am linking my Bermuda's Crystal Cave with Scenic Sunday. I have not shown all my Bermuda photos and I thought our visit to the Crystal Caves would be a great post. After our three hour tour of the island we asked to be dropped off at the Crystal Caves. Hubby loves spleunking so I thought a tour of these caves would be perfect for him. We had time to get a quick bite to eat while we waited for the next tour. I was happy sitting at the tables outside watching the birds we waited. 


We had a nice tour guide during our visit to the caves, he told us the story about how the caves were originally found. The story goes two 12 year old boys looking for their lost cricket ball that fell down into a hole. The boys follow the ball down into the hole and discovered the cave. Crystal Cave got its name from the deep crystal pools in the cave.