Christmas and New Year's, 23 December 2018 - Benson, Arizona
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| Decorating for the Holidays at Cochise Terrace Resort. A few Santas from my collection came with us. The Eskimo girl doll, a gift from Kristen. The plush Christmas tree, a gift from Donna (High School bud) and Bill. Hand-made stockings courtesy of my sister, Cathy. Hand-blown crystal ornaments from Mike Alltop and our Merry Christmas trailer plaque from Donna and Bill also. |
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| Our Fenton glass light-up tree also made the cut but it is hard to decorate. |
Kartchner Caverns State Park, 23 December 2018 - Benson, Arizona
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| Ready for our cave tour. There are two rooms in this "wet" cave. This cave system has an average temperature of 70 degrees (F) and 99 percent humidity all year round. We took the Rotunda/Throne Room Tour which has no open access to the outside. The entrance is kept closed with two double-door-lock panels (like industrial freezer doors) to keep the interior environment from loosing its natural "wetness". The Big Room Tour is only available from mid-October to Mid-April due to the use of that room during the rest of the year by a migrating bat population as a nursery. Each tour is 1/2 mile in length and lasts about 1.5 hours. The trails are paved but some areas can become very narrow. Since some cave formations are very close to the walkways, it is imperative that no direct human contact is made which would damage, possibly destroy the activity of those formations. Each tour guide requests to be notified if contact is made so he can mark the general location with tape. Later a staff member comes through, spraying disinfectant and rinsing off the formations. |
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| We wish to acknowledge these 3 photos were transferred from online. The standard tours do not allow any photography inside the caves. Special lighting is required for cave photography and sufficient time is needed for accurate timing and making camera adjustments. A specialty "Photography Tour" is available but we chose not to participate since one of us would not have anything to do. Above is a "curtain" formation (some call it "bacon". I can see that). This is made by water running down a slope and gradually increasing into a sheet. The different colors represent changes in chemical make-up of the water percolating through the cracks. |
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| This formation is called "Kubla Khan", a large, five-story formation that is still active today. You can see a worker at the bottom of the picture for scale perspective. Workers do enter the formation areas to retrieve dropped items, inspect the formations for structural soundness and make needed repairs to the lighting systems. The lights have been recently upgrades to LED lights which decreases the amount of heat generated during the day. The system has switches in various locations so the guide can turn lights on and off as they enter and exit each room. This also decreases the amount of heat trapped in the cave. |
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| I believe this formation is called a butterscotch drapery, a magnificent vision that has taken thousands of years to develop. There were stalactites that had grown so large they had fallen off the ceiling and stalagmites that are called "fried eggs", a new one for us, that has a concave top holding a little water. There are popcorn, moon milk and soda straws. One soda straw was over 21 feet long. That has to be a record. Some straws had broken off the ceiling and embedded themselves like a spear in the muddy floor. |
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| A really nice specimen of Yucca (foreground) with the cave entrance on the right hand hill. They have a tram from the Visitor's Center up the hill. |
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| Kartchner Caverns was discovered in 1974 through a sinkhole on private property in the Whetstone Mountains and was kept a secret until 1978, even from the property owners, James and Lois Kartchner. The cave and surrounding property was purchased by the State of Arizona in 1988 and is maintained in its mostly pristine beauty. The upper caves were finally opened to the public in 1998, while the lower caves didn't open until 2003. They are so concerned about managing all contaminants that they spray your shoes with alcohol if you have visited another cave or mine in the last year. |
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| There are cabins and camping areas and several hiking trails into the surrounding foothills. |
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| We came back with the dogs for the Foothills Loop Trail, a 2.5 mile walk, rated moderate to difficult. |
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| The trail climbs the limestone hill north of the cave and descends into the wash that follows the fault between the two block hills. The dogs and I declined the additional 1/3 mile hike to the Mountain Top Overlook. We decided to sit (or stand or lay down) in the "shade?" and wait for Bob's return. |
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| Bob at the Overlook. Looks like someone has been adding rocks to the cairn. |
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| This whole area is surrounded by various mountain ranges. |
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| Our evening walk to the front of the resort which was decorated for the season. We had a more traditional dinner with a turkey breast, homemade cranberries, mashed potatoes, and Bob's homemade butterhorn rolls. Similar to today's crescent rolls but with a fluffy instead of flaky dough. Yum and YUM! Damn, he's a great baker. Not good for my keto levels. |
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| Our stay was two weeks at this resort which was divided into short-term or Snowbird rentals and permanent residents. But we met the nicest people, inviting us to camp fires, dinners, breakfasts, dances, card games and exercise classes. |
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| We had increased our elevation to 4100 feet from our previous location in downtown Benson. Getting ready for bed, we checked for lights on outside and were astonished to see this coating of snow. This one melted fairly quickly the next day but we had 3 days of snowfall, the last one amounted to over 6 inches. Bob even had to shovel the slides and roof with our last spring acquired snow shovel. Happy New Year! |
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| Technically it's the New Year, eastern time but it's all good. Eggnog and a few fireworks nearby. |
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| 1 January 2019 - Second snow on truck. This one also melted the same day. |
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| 2 January 2019 - Third snow on truck. This one of 6 inches+ did not melt. The temp only rose to about 34 during the day and went down to 17 over night Brrrr. |
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| Snow out the back window on the bikes, cactus and trees. |
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| This snow on the tree looks so familiar. Weren't we suppose to be getting away from all this by coming out here? Good news, it didn't last very long. And we(Carol) slept through the most below freezing temperatures. (Bob was up at 7:15 to take the dogs out). |
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| 3 January 2019 - Our coldest morning and we are heading north to Apache Junction, AZ just east of Phoenix. Lower elevation but higher temps. Yay! |
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| Let's get moving. Don't be fooled by those long shadows. It's still before noon but we have almost 3 hours of driving and we don't want to hit rush hour traffic. You can't quite see it but just behind the trailer someone build a snowman. |
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