We pulled our fleece jackets tight around us and struggled up the enormous hill to Notre Dame de la Guarde, fighting the biting wind off of the Mediterranean the whole way.
The view from the courtyard is stunning, with Chateau d’If holding her own against the buffeting waves as she has for centuries and the old port of Marseille glittering far below. It was a relief to enter the stone walls of the old cathedral and breathe in the scent of hot wax and old incense. It was a very different church than any other we’d seen and I enjoyed the details, like the boat prow wall sconces and the strings of model ships hanging from the center of each gothic arch. Ezra appeared like a little ghost at my side and stage whispered up to me, “Meh, it’s okay. But it’s no Sistine Chapel.” I could help but roll my eyes and laugh right out loud. Travel makes snobs of us all, it seems.
850 feet below the surface of the earth, quietly making our way through the King’s chamber of Carlsbad Caverns yesterday it happened again. I overheard Jordan say to one of the other children, “This is my first cave!” “Your first cave?! Really?!!” Came the incredulous reply. “Yep!” He announced proudly. “Well then you’re ruined for life,” I smiled at him, “Because it’s not going to get much better than this!” We all laughed and he agreed. They’re now cave snobs, one and all.
Our legs were plenty tired by the end of the two tours we took, deep into the bowels of the earth. Gabe and I whispered, pretending we were in Farthen Dur, the dwarf kingdom in one of his favourite books, Eragon. We wondered at the cave popcorn, and stalactites that looked like they’d exploded into multiple armed starfish covering the high arches of the cave in the Queen’s Chamber. We marveled at the tiniest stalactites forming in the tunnel that had been blasted by hand just 80 years ago. They were half of the length of your pinky fingernail. How old must the ones that were ten and fifteen feet long be?
These caverns were formed relatively quickly, by an acidic wash of sulphuric acid, hollowing out amazingly enormous rooms over a 20 mile span with 30 natural entrances. Then began the long slow work of dripping water, depositing minuscule layers of calcite that slowly harden and form the icicle like rocks that are stalactites and stalagmites, pearls, snow, popcorn and more. The rangers reminded us that stalactites are the formations that “hang on tight” to the ceilings and stalagmites are are the ones on the floor that “reach up with all of their might”.
Lois and the littlest travelers stayed on the surface, watching a movie and enjoying a special ice cream treat, while the big kids and I dug down like moles on a special tour of the deeper parts of the cave. The darkness when the Ranger turned out that lights was overwhelming. There’s no other darkness like that on the planet, except, perhaps, in the deepest parts of the ocean.
We tried to imagine what it would have been like for 16 year old Jim White, who’s credited with finding the cave, and was certainly the first to explore it thoroughly. Armed with an oil lantern that was little more than a coffee pot with a wick as he moved through the darkness… alone. He lived to see the caves become a National Monument and was even employed for a while as a guide before he died. What a satisfying thing that must have been for him.
Today we’re rolling across the long, wide open that is northern Texas. We’ve paid out quarter bounties for the sightings of an oil refinery, long horned cattle and there is currently money on the heads of the first armadillo and a brahma cow. We’re about two hours out from the home of our dear friends, the Habeggars, and all is well on the Mama Bus.
The pictures came out GREAT!