A truly amazing Saturday!

Sunday, September 22, 2024

 

Good Morning!

 

Wow, we certainly had an amazing day yesterday, and we can’t thank Anna enough!  She had arranged for us to have a PRIVATE photography tour of Natural Bridge Cavern, which is about an hour and 20 minutes away from Horseshoe Bay.  We left about 9 am for our 11:20 am tour, as this was a new place for all three of us, and we definitely didn’t want to be late.  Absolutely lovely drive over very good roads – Texas roads – when you’re not on freeways – are overall excellent (at least the ones in this area) and have lots of passing lanes, which makes them very safe and convenient.  

 

We went through some really lovely small towns – Blanco, in particular, was at its Saturday morning best! Beautiful “historic” courthouse building in the center of town, old-fashioned main street, farmer’s market, and lots of things going on.  It was a really beautiful morning!  At one point we passed a mileage marker indicating we were only 38 miles from San Antonio – where none of us have ever been!  Maybe next visit!!

 

Arrived at the Cavern about 10:30 am, which gave us plenty of time to look around the gift shop, which was loaded with all sorts of goodies!  The interesting thing is that the Cavern is only one part of a larger area – they have a safari park on the other side, and there is a great area for kids with all sorts of climbing apparatus.  So, we checked in for our tour, and were met in the lobby by Celeste, one of the cavern guides – who was absolutely wonderful!  A very, very interesting young woman!  She was an Air Force kid, who was born in Alaska and has lived in my places before her family ended up in Texas.  She (and they) have travel extensively, including Egypt, and she has a wide range of interests and experiences, including acting, professional make-up, design and baking (with an emphasis on cupcakes, my own personal favorite!). She was very knowledgeable about the cavern, and for the questions she couldn’t answer, offered to consult with the cavern’s geologists, who, it turns out are still exploring the cave’s depths!

 

Outside the Natural Bridge Visitor Center

The Natural Bridge after which the cavern is named

Calcite opening; looked like a geode!

Another once of those places I wouldn't like to crawl through...

There was water running through at several places!

With beautiful reflections of the formations.

This one reminded me of jellyfish!

Incredible ceilings and walls!

This place went on forever!

Ceiling in the largest room; note stairway running below

Anna and me with our lovely guide, Celeste!

Pedernales River

At any rate, the cavern was first discovered in 1960 by four college students … sounded rather like Kartchner Caverns in Arizona!  What is it about these college kids and crawling around in the dark?  At any rate, the cavers worked with the family, who developed the cave privately, and it continues to this day to be held in private hands.  The work done was amazing – the lighting is beautifully done, and the walkways – while in some places VERY steep – are well thought out and placed.  It is, indeed, a wet, or living cave – there was water dripping everywhere!  When you’re in a cave, and a drop of water hits you, it is said to be good luck – a “cave kiss” – well, yesterday, at times, it felt like we were in a “cave shower!” there was so much water coming down!  It was amazing – and the cave itself was awe-inspiring – and for the most part, we had the cave to ourselves!  Thank you, Anna, for arranging this!  It was incredible!  

 

You walk down to a depth of about 180 feet below the natural bridge – which, as Robert pointed out, means you have to walk 180 feet back up … which is true!  But there are multiple cave rooms, one of which is absolutely HUGE – about 150 feel long! And the formations are massive!  Lots and lots of soda straws, fried eggs, curtains, cave bacon – and, with so much water, things will hopefully continue to form for hundreds of years more!  

 

Being just the three of us – and only two with cameras, we had plenty of time to stop and take photographs, and our tour – which was supposed to be about an hour and 15 minutes, actually turned out to take almost two hours – which was wonderful!!  So, thank you SO much, Anna, and Celeste, for a truly wonderful and most memorable experience!  (And, unfortunately, it really does put Kartchner Caverns into second place in our experience with caves, I regret to say!  It sounds most disloyal … but unfortunately, it’s true, this place was that spectacular!)

 

By now it was after 1 pm, and being a bit peckish, we headed to Big Daddy’s, one of the food stops at the park.  Anna had a “walking taco” which she said was fine, I had an excellent hot dog, and R had a large slice of pepperoni pizza.  I also had PURPLE lemonade, made purple to celebrate butterfly week at the park!  Then, back into the truck to head back to Anna’s to freshen up before meeting Anna’s lovely daughter, Kristin, and her husband, Chris, at a local winery for a tasting!  (Oh boy!)

 

Out again about 4 to Stone House Vineyards, about half-an-hour away, to taste wine!  Again, nice drive, and it is SO nice NOT having to be the DD for once, as Anna isn’t a wine drinker!  Met Kristin, whom we have met before, and her husband, whom we had not – a delightful man, and they make a really lovely couple!  Chris makes beer, and they are also members of the Stone House wine club – and they obviously have very good taste!  

 

Anna, me, Chris and Kristin!

The wine at Stone House was superb!  We tasted about six wines – and every one was excellent!  We started with “Cuddles” a champagne-type white that actually is grown, bottled and shipped in from Australia.  (Stone House’s founders are Australian, and this is named after their leading lady!)  I have to admit that we did come out with a case … yes, again … mixed, of Cuddles, Sauvignon Blanc, and a fabulous Tempranillo … and one bottle of their Scheming Beagle port!  

 

After our tasting, Chris needed to go back home to take care of their puppy who took on a rattlesnake and lost earlier in the week, (but who seems to be recovering, albeit with a lot of help of Kris and Chris and the vet!) but Kristin was able to join us for dinner.  We went to It’s All Good BBQ, which wasn’t far from the winery – and oh my!  

 

We got there not too long before they were closing, but they still had most offerings … we had baby back ribs, smoked turkey and smoked brisket, with beans, tater tots and baked potatoes.  Absolutely everything was YUMMY and most of it summarily disappeared!  Have to admit that the baby backs were better than Jack Stack’s from KC, which I thought were the best ribs I’d ever had!  Wow!

Our incredible and incredibly messy dinner!

Whew!!

Sunset from the restaurant parking lot!

 

From there, we headed back to Anna’s where, despite protestations that I HAD to produce a blog, I went to bed … it was 8:30 pm and it had been a very, very full and wonderful day!

 

So!  Not sure when this will go out – now or when we hit Van Horn, but lots of love to all!

m

xxx