Fairy Land

I've decided to let Mum take over Justus5Journey. I felt like I was getting repetitive in what I was saying and I thought you all might want to hear her point of view as well. Therefore, I will still be writing Lovely Insanity but all posts on Justus5Journey (including today's) will be written by Mum.

Today we went to Carlsbad Caverns. (which happen to be back in New Mexico) So we drove BACK to New Mexico from Texas (although we'll be going BACK to Texas tomorrow) On the way there I took a lovely nap and supposedly missed out on some horrid fog; the likes of which severly decreased visibility. We got to Carlsbad at around 12 in the afternoon and swiftly proceeded to the caves. The natural entrance to the caves is this massive hole in the gound and although there is a nice zig-zagged foot path down into the caverns, you can almost imagine what it was like for the first explorers. The caverns first modern day exploration was executed by Jim White, a 16 year old cowboy working on a local cattle ranch. After treking down to the bottom of the cave, we took the self guided tour of the Big Room (a part of which is called Fairy Land) this took an hour and a half or so. Then we took a guided tour of the King's Palace. All of the 'decorations', as they are called in the caves, were absolutely phenomenal. The stalactites and stalagmites were HUGE!! However, my favorite part of the tour was the draperies. They are big sheets pf rock hanging from the ceiling that look just like drapes, hanging from the roof. Thw whole experience was amazing. This evening we went back to the cave entrance to watch the nightly exit of the bats. Although we didn't see any on our tours, we found out that there are over 100,00 Mexican Ring-tail bats living in the Carlsbad Caverns. That is A LOT of bats! When they come out of the cavern mouth at around 7 o' clock, they all spiral skyward. We assumed that they would all fly out and that would be the end of it, ut instead we found that it takes somewhere around 10minutes for all of the bats to leave the cave. They spiral out in a great, screaching worl-wind and flap off into the night sky. It was awesome. We weren't able to take pictures because the electrical disturbance of cameras and phones throws off the bats but, we did get some great shots of the inside of the caves. Once again, pictures will be up soon but we are still encountering some techinical difficulties. In the meantime, we're going back to Texas tomorrow to visit the McDonald Observatory, the darkest place in the western hemisphere. Anyways, I'd like to apologize to you all for such a lengthy and incredibly dull (and informational sounding) post. Tomorrow should be more interesting!

New Mexico in a Nut-shell

Basically, I was roused this morning at 5:30am from a lovely, peaceful slumber, to sit around asking "Are we there yet?" for another several hours. Last night we stayed in a camp-ground outside Phoenix, Arizona. Although it had a pool, the water was just as hot as the air; which, I can assure you, was hot. When we left the furnace-like spot this morning, we were on our way to New Mexico. So.... after driving through miles, and miles, and miles, of desert scrub (which is all that Arizona seems to be) we finally reached New Mexico... and drived through more scrub. Like Arizona, New Mexico IS scrub. We were headed to Steins Railroad Ghost Town only to find that it was that- a ghost town. We drove all the way there only to realize a hundred or so mile sto late that it was closed. After lunching outside, we set off again. This time to Wet-n-Wild Waterworld. The waterpark is in El Paso, Texas, a lovely little city located right on the banks of the Rio Grande. After gettin forced into the park, Mum and I were quick to discover that our family was not only the seemingly only one not fluent is Español (as stated in my other blog) but we were also the whitest ones there. (which isn't uncommon, I know) Anyways, after being soaked in the nasty, recycled water (similar to Raging Waters with a worse water-pump) we found to 'rides' that were actually somewhat enjoyable. The first being one comparable to Dropout at Raging Waters, an almost vertical, extremely high, water slide. The second was merely fun due to the novelty of it. It was called the Alien Vortex or something of the sort and ended in your being 'flushed' like the Men in Black from the movie Men in Black II. Afterwards it was all we could do to stop from repetitivcely reciting the phrades, "Flush me Jay! Flush me!" Pictures from Arizona and New Mexico will be up soon. (more connection problems) But until then, Adíos!

The Open Road

This morning we finally left our humble abode on the hill for the perilous open road. After more than a bit of squabling we have all settled down to our seperate areas and seem to be coexisting healthily for the time-being. At the moment, Jess and Zach are watching 'Madeline' on the back bed, Mum is reading 'The Three Cups of Tea' on the couch, Father is manning the controls, and I have two laptops turned on and am trying to hook up a network connection. (yes, we brought along 4 laptops) After setting up our Verizon Aircard on my computer (mine and Father's are the only ones that work with it) we uploaded our digital camera's XD card to Mum's. (hers and Jess' are the only ones that work with that) Unfortuantely, we can't seem to figure out how to tap into the interenet connection on my computer from Mum's. Therefore, l pictures will be coming soon; they just aren't here quite yet. Anyways, we're driving through Palm Springs right now. And it is HOT here! I'll keep you posted when we reach Arizona. Bye for now!

The Day Before Tomorrow

So today is the day before THE DAY. That's right, the day that we leave for the Trip to End All Trips. (goodness, it sounds like we're going off to war... anyways...) My mum happens to be a firm believer that you should never go on a trip and leave a messy house. She dosen't like to come home to a slobby, dusty, mess. Therefore, we all (minus Father who was off at work) spent the better part of the day scrubbing the house until it was spick n' span. After that, we all had to dig through our drawers and scrounge up approximately 2 weeks worth of clothing to stuff into one drawer each. Surprisingly, it was accomplished! Yes that's right, I was able to fit a good portion of my wardrobe into ONE DRAWER! *gasp* Fortunately, we shall be bringing along an iron to chase away the nasty wrinkles that are sure to develop on trips such as these. We are planning to stop at a local laundromat every 2 weeks or so to do laundry because any less would be a bit of a nuisance. But besides the cleaning tangent, today was incredibly relaxed for being our last day before we leave everything we hold dear to begin our frightful journey across this fair land. *melodramatic music* So, to everyone reading this, Adieu!

Ello Lovelies

Ello all! This is going to be my blog to let you all know how life is really going. Primarily it shall be used for my version of our trip this summer. You see, my family's blog (which I happen to be writting also) is more of where we are and what we're going. I want you all to know what's else, besides the bare-boned facts, are going on! So anyways, I'm Kaitlyn, and this is my new blog- Lovely Insanity.