Home, Bridges and Caves

Can you believe it's already November?!? If time flies when you're having fun... then I must be having lots of fun! Wondering what's been so fun? Well, it all started early last weekend when I spent an evening traveling from Idaho, to Utah, to Arizona, to Michigan, and finally, to New York! While I don't mind the extra frequent flier miles, flying 800 miles South to go due East seemed a bit excessive. However, I was very thankful to make all the connections and even spend some time with my sisters and brother-in-law, all before the Youth Rally! It's always exciting to see the young people and swarm the local McDonald's for a chance to catch up with the kids. From there, it was off to sleep... and lots of it!

While rain thwarted our plans to hike Buck Mountain, Joy seized the opportunity to put together a desk for her house.
Lots of pieces and parts, a few tools, and yup... those are the directions right in the middle. After being distracted by some delicious broccoli and cheese soup, I failed to get a picture of the final product.
After cleaning off another round of dinner, it's Pictionary time. (Clockwise: Mom, Joy, Josh, Faith)
Yeah - better pick different teams next time...
...granted, I have no idea how to draw "Rio Grande", but this definitely didn't help! (The "Rio Grande" and "FL" were added later for clarity.) After a great Sunday back at the home Church and a few hours on Monday to see friends, I was back in the air to finish out the work week in Idaho.
You can tell I'm back out West by the lack of color, and if you look close, you'll see a natural bridge in the middle of the picture. A coworker told me about this natural bridge near Arco, and knew that you'd need 4-wheel drive to get to it. So, Ryan and Troy were game and we headed out to find it. After a short but steep hike, we found it.
I guess we didn't need the snowshoes, although the brisk morning air was tough on my sick lungs.
Eyeing the bridge from below...
...and from the backside looking across the desert...
...while Ryan and Troy scaled new heights in an attempt to get out over it.
Feeling light-headed and unsteady already, I opted to man the camera's this time...
...getting some good views of the 80 foot high span...
...until Ryan and Troy made it out over the arch, crumbling rocks as they went (and yes, the are crazy).
That's a long ways up...
...and being 6'7" had to help here.
One last look at the mountains before we headed off to another adventure.
Have you ever read over a familiar passage of Scripture, only to see something totally new? Have you ever gone by something on the road over 400 times, only to discover something that has been there the whole time? I'm not going to compare a cave to the Living Word, but right on the side of the road, behind a big historical sign for "Elephant Hunters" on my way to work, is an entrance to a cave! Since we were headed that way anyways, we decided to check it out. As you can see, the entrance (and entire cave) has been well decorated over the years.
Looking back at the cave entrance, waiting for the others to round up a working light (we hadn't planned on caving).
Some more artwork in the cave. The cave was probably at least 1/4 mile long with a solid dirt floor and well rounded, high ceilings. With a few lights it'd be a great spot for indoor ultimate frisbee, football or even a few basketball hoops. The best part - the building is free!
At the end were a few pools of icky, sticky mud and the remnants from a party, marking the end of another adventurous weekend!