Our summer get together group headed to West Liberty, Ohio last week to check out the Ohio Caverns.
Other than Claire getting car sick on the way...thank God for Wet Wipes and friends with extra clothes...the trip was fantastic!
We had a pretty good sized group.
The kids did great walking through the caverns. We took the shorter tour, but we saw some amazing formations. I could never remember if stalactites came down from the top or stalagmites did...someone helped me remember...tites are on top! Thanks Sarah!
The tour is not for the claustrophobic person (sorry Sinda!). There are some tight spots. So tight, that yes, my daughter said, "Mom, I don't think you are going to fit through there." Don't worry...I made it through...and no one had to butter up my sides to get me through!
One of the really neat things we saw was the crystal king. This stalactite is over 200,000 years old! That amazed me!
Here is a picture of what they call Old Time Pump. Claire liked it because it also looks like a horse doing a hand stand.
These helactite formations they call straws because they look just like straws...long and thin.
They kids also liked the mining area. Some of them bought a bag of mining "rough" that contained gems or fossils. It was really fun using the mining sluice to find their treasures.
We were 103 feet under ground. My morbid brain immediately went to "what if the ground collaspes on top of us mode, but once I started through and began to see how beautiful everything was, it went away. And, hey...we all made it out safely...despite the incredibly STEEP stairs on the way up...FEEL THE BURN!
Interested in reading more about the Ohio Caverns, check out this informative page!
While we had a blast, it is sad that this might be our last group outing for the summer. School starts in a couple of weeks and most of us are back in the school getting things ready.
It really has been a fun summer!!
Yesterday a friend told me about her poor loving pooch who was diagnosed with lymphoma. While they said goodbye to their beloved pet, her husband took her to the vet, but just couldn't bring himself to put her down yet. So he came home with medicine in the hopes of helping her and so he could be more ready to let go.
I SO understand this! All of my life I have loved dogs.
We had an amazing dog growing up. His name was Duffy, and he was a gorgeous Yorkie. He was not a puppy when we got him, but still pretty young. We had him for over ten years. Then he got pretty sick. I came home from college to see him when he was so bad off that we knew the end was very near. He wasn't the same boy. I went with my parents to see the vet that day. By this time he was blind, shaking...miserable. They gave him some valium to make him more comfortable for the night and sent him home to rest. The next day my parents brought him to the vet that had cared for him during his life with us. When it came time to put him to sleep, not only were my mom and dad crying, the vet was also in tears. It really gave me comfort to know that a vet who takes care of hundreds of other people's pets would feel that loss for my family. He is still missed.
When my husband and I were looking for a dog, I felt such a strong urge to have another Yorkie. We found our first boy, Fletcher.
He has been such a great dog for the past seven years! He is loving. Everyone who meets him falls in love with him. All he needs is someone to rub him behind the ears, and he is in heaven. He is so smart. We are really lucky to have him!
Then, three years ago, we stopped in a pet store to play with a puppy. We have done this a dozen or so times. There have never been any issues. But then Brian held this little guy. He could not put him back in that cage and walk away. So...we walked away with a five month old Yorkie that Claire named Franklin.
He is a SCAMP! Talk about two completely different dogs! Fletcher will snuggle up to anyone new. Franklin has ADHD. He is an escape artist. We still have him in a crate because his little four pound self scales the gate when we try to keep him in the kitchen. Left to his own devices, he will pull down trash cans that are 5 times his size, jump on the kitchen table and get into ANYTHING he can. But...we love him nonetheless.
Dogs become part of our families. When one goes missing or passes away, we feel it. Hug a pooch today!!!
This blog is in honor of all of the dogs who have brought love into your life!
