Birthday MONTH: Day 14 & 15

Part I:   A CORVETTE WEEKEND GET AWAY...

~through the Texas Wine & Hill Country~

{sigh}

As I sit here and write this, I'm wondering where did the weekend go? It was much too short but I can guarantee you that every second was filled with fun & excitement!

There were about twenty-something Corvettes in our Louisiana group and it grew as we met up with some of the Texas Corvettes.

Our first stop on Friday morning was Natural Bridge Caverns...

The photo above was taken after The Man and I were all "wet" from the humidity of being one hundred+ feet below ground in the damp, slimy, slippery, sticky underworld of the earth. ewwww!

But I must rewind here for a second and show you how beautiful the caverns were, even if it did give me a bad hair day.

This photo below is the 'natural bridge' where Natural Bridge Caverns got it's name from...

After admiring the rock formation, we proceeded to walk deeper and deeper below the earth's surface.

Little did we realize with those silly smiles on our faces that what went down, must come up...

Okay now, we're 45 feet below ground now...not too bad knowing that there are no more "live" bears down here.

And we were still laughing and cutting up and having a grand ole time...

90 feet below ground now and things are getting just a little too slimy and wet for me...ewwww~

Not hearing as much laughing and cutting up anymore, I guess everyone is really enjoying the scenery...

Still going down, down, down...and even though it was dark as hell down there, you could certainly SEE the humidity in the air.

Not a whole lot of laughing anymore. I thought I heard a little grumbling...

I let everybody go down before me so that I could stop and take photos at my own leisure, but I soon started freaking myself out thinking...that I heard some "one" or some "thing" behind me.

Lucky for me there was no "one" or no "thing" behind me...only bat guano (bat poop) above me. ewww!

Wondering why I paid a ticket to sweat AND to be freaked out ran across my head a few (several) times  ;)

But as we walked down lower and lower, this was really a site to behold.

I heard no grumbling, only oooooh's and aaaaaaaah's.

Just to think that only 50 years ago this cavern was discovered by four university students while all the while, it had been creating itself for tens of thousands (probably millions as I wasn't paying attention) of years before! Amazing...

Stalagmites and Stalactites e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

Do you remember which ones are which???

Stalactites grow from the ceiling downward (hang "tight")

Stalagmites grow from ground up ("g" for "ground")

We were now 211 feet below ground.

NEVER was I so happy to be in Purgatory Creek.

That's when I knew there was only one way to go...and that was UP!  :)))

At the bottom, it was really DARK, really WET and believe me when I say this...there was NO air.

I know this is not a good photograph, but you can see how heavy the midst was reflecting from the light...

As we went up, I heard huffing and puffing and lots of laughter again.

The scenery became even more magnificent. (or was I just in a better mood knowing I'd see daylight and could breathe again soon?)

The cavern had it's own Fairy Land...

It's own White Giants...

It's own Watch Tower which was the tallest column in the cave (so tall that I couldn't fit it into the photo!)...

And it even had it's own King's Throne...

And in this photo below (my favorite one of all) I wanted to capture the reflection of the rock formations in the emerald waters below. It was breathtaking!

My imagination ran wild as I walked through.

The photo below reminded me of a dinosaur jaw bone covered in slime, eating on a tree...

The cavern was sort of like sitting and daydreaming under the clouds. I imagined seeing all kinds of things from skeletons to rabbits, from birds to ummm...things I don't want to mention...

I must say that my crazy friend Susie of Vintage Susie and Wings put BAD thoughts in my head when she posted about her visit to Carlsbad Caverns recently. Thoughts SO bad that I was actually 'looking' for these above! haha!

Okay! So do you have enough of the Caverns? I do...

Let's go back out in the sunshine and BREATHE and I'll tell you about the rest of our day!

Being the rebels that we are, we snuck off the tour and drove 2 hours to Llano, Tx just to eat at Cooper's...

They have these massive MASSIVE barbq pits!

Before you actually go into the building, you pass by this pit...

point to the meat you want, the guy cuts it off for you and slaps it on a tray. You then walk into the building, choose your side orders, they weigh your meat, you pay, have a seat and ENJOY!

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Delish!

We headed to Fredericksburg to check in to our hotel. We were full of barbq and all slimy from the caverns so we rested for a while and then headed for Mexican food later that evening.

Harley people live to ride...

But did I tell you that Corvette people live to eat?

yeah...it's amazing how some of us even fit into our car. Seriously! We're always thinking of where our next meal is going to be. I just love my Corvette friends  :)))

Next up in Part II is a visit with a friend, a little shopping, fast cars and some beautiful scenery.

Back to work and washing dirty clothes...oh the life!

but I have to say, there's no place like home  :)