We decided to hit the water again and spend a relaxing day by the river. Check out how the photographer is excited about his photo-shoot technique.
5 years ago
Saturday, May 24, 2008
08 Vacation - Day 3 Guadalupe River
Day 3 - Cooling down at the Guadalupe river.
We decided to hit the water again and spend a relaxing day by the river. Check out how the photographer is excited about his photo-shoot technique.
We decided to hit the water again and spend a relaxing day by the river. Check out how the photographer is excited about his photo-shoot technique.
08 Vacation - Day 2 Part II - Caving Cont....
Day 2 Part II - After a very satisfying lunch at Rudy's we went to Natural Bridge caverns in New Braunfels.
These caves were found by 3 college students who asked permission from the owner of the land to explore the sink hole (entrance of the cave). As they were looking around, they felt cool air coming up from between some of the rocks. They moved some of the rocks aside and found a larger room and a network of caves not seen before.
The land owner didn't believe the students and when they asked to go back a second time she sent her son with the group. But, when her son came back she didn't believe him either. So, when the students went back a third time, she sent a few town folks with them to check out the story. Only then did the owner believe she had something truly amazing and she toured the USA for ideas on how to explore, develop and protect the caves. 
The cave tour went down 18 stories and we walked 3/4 miles of approximately 3 miles of caves. We saw 5 beautiful rooms of "live" caves where formations are still growing.
The humidity inside is always between 95-99% and there is water dripping from the ceiling. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you can see water drops caught by the camera's flash.
The caves were called Natural Bridge because of this rock formation at the entrance. The area where Raquel is standing used to be a cave room that got eroded because of rains and the roof collapsed leaving only the "bridge" as a reminder of what it once was.
These caves were found by 3 college students who asked permission from the owner of the land to explore the sink hole (entrance of the cave). As they were looking around, they felt cool air coming up from between some of the rocks. They moved some of the rocks aside and found a larger room and a network of caves not seen before. 
The land owner didn't believe the students and when they asked to go back a second time she sent her son with the group. But, when her son came back she didn't believe him either. So, when the students went back a third time, she sent a few town folks with them to check out the story. Only then did the owner believe she had something truly amazing and she toured the USA for ideas on how to explore, develop and protect the caves. 
The cave tour went down 18 stories and we walked 3/4 miles of approximately 3 miles of caves. We saw 5 beautiful rooms of "live" caves where formations are still growing.
The humidity inside is always between 95-99% and there is water dripping from the ceiling. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you can see water drops caught by the camera's flash.
08 Vacation - Day 2 Part I - Caving
After all the sun at Schlitterbahn we decided to have a day away from the heat and and visit some local caves.
In addition to the cavern, Wonder world has a small animal park where you can take a tram ride to see and feed the animals. They had a few interesting animals but the peacocks were the coolest.
The caves were discovered by a local farmer in 1893 who got tired of walking several miles to the river for water and decided to drill a water well. After a few feet, the drill bit fell into the Edwards Aquifer but he didn't know why. So, he sent his 10 year old son into the hole to retrieve it.
The caves were formed by an earthquake that shifted the Texas coastal plate away from the continental plate. You can still see cracks in the ceiling of the cave today. 
Day 2 - Part I - We started the day with Wonder World Cavern in San Marcos.
In addition to the cavern, Wonder world has a small animal park where you can take a tram ride to see and feed the animals. They had a few interesting animals but the peacocks were the coolest.
The caves were discovered by a local farmer in 1893 who got tired of walking several miles to the river for water and decided to drill a water well. After a few feet, the drill bit fell into the Edwards Aquifer but he didn't know why. So, he sent his 10 year old son into the hole to retrieve it.
The caves were formed by an earthquake that shifted the Texas coastal plate away from the continental plate. You can still see cracks in the ceiling of the cave today. 
The farmer used the cool temperature of the cave to escape the Texas heat and play poker with his friends. His wife eventually got fed-up with it and asked the sheriff to stop the games. But, the sheriff joined in the fun instead. The county judge finally stopped the action and the owner left the county.
Wonder World also had a tower with great views of the surrounding area and a anti-gravity house.
After all that exploring, Neil developed a cave man appetite and we had to hit our favorite Texas BBQ - Rudy's.
After all that exploring, Neil developed a cave man appetite and we had to hit our favorite Texas BBQ - Rudy's.
08 Vacation - Day 1 Schlitterbahn !!!
We had an opportunity to take some time off while Neil is between Spring and Summer semesters. Neil wanted to spend the entire 2 weeks working on the master bathroom reconstruction but Raquel convinced him to take some time for fun and relaxing first. While we would have loved to go see our families or go to some exotic place, we decided to travel locally and save a little money to work on our master bathroom.
Day 1 - We had a great time at the number 1 water park in the US - Schlitterbahn!
The Park was only 1/2 open but we still got to enjoy the River (Raquel's favorite), the Wolf Pack, the Black Knight (another Raquel favorite) and Master Blaster (fast enough to make Neil sick) - the cool slides on the back. 
We tried to have some other cool pictures for you ... and we even bought a water camera just for that but it got lost in one of the water rides.... oh well... We had a great time. 
Did you know that Neil can surf? Oh yeah baby! Check it out!
We tried to have some other cool pictures for you ... and we even bought a water camera just for that but it got lost in one of the water rides.... oh well... We had a great time. 
Did you know that Neil can surf? Oh yeah baby! Check it out! 
Friday, May 9, 2008
Nice Houston
Lately its been one of the nicest times of year in Houston, with weather in the 70s and low 80s with some clouds and the occasional cool front blowing in from the north to keep things from getting too hot. We're now reaping the rewards of all of the gardening we did last spring. Here's a few shots to enjoy.
Below Neil is admiring some of the climbing roses. Behind the roses are some blueberries. We had to put netting up around them (that's the soccer goal looking things) so that the birds wouldn't eat them. We had them last year and they started growing blueberries but we never got any because the birds got them first. Pretty cool huh? The look on Neil's face that is . . .
Here Neil has just finished posing for the camera and getting a round verbal thrashing from Raquel for looking so silly . . . hence the laughter. Behind him you can see the blueberries again, and the climbing roses. All the way in the back is the orchid house from before.
It took us a year and a half to figure out what kind of flowers to put underneath the pecan tree in the front of the house. Someone finally suggested impatients to us and we figured we'd try that. We planted these ones about a month ago and they're going nuts with pink and red flowers. Really cool. Below is a shot of Neil reflecting on the patience required for flower cultivation.
The life of a photo model is a hard one. 
Here's Neil coming around the corner of house (pay no attention to the goofy look on his face). Here you can see the greenhouse with the orchids, and the back trellis with some carolina jasmine. the orchids haven't started flowering yet, as a matter of fact it was only a few weeks ago that we could keep them outside regularly overnight, because they're not supposed to get too cold. The jasmine is popular around here, growing on pretty much every fence in the neighborhood.
Below Neil is admiring some of the climbing roses. Behind the roses are some blueberries. We had to put netting up around them (that's the soccer goal looking things) so that the birds wouldn't eat them. We had them last year and they started growing blueberries but we never got any because the birds got them first. Pretty cool huh? The look on Neil's face that is . . .
Here Neil has just finished posing for the camera and getting a round verbal thrashing from Raquel for looking so silly . . . hence the laughter. Behind him you can see the blueberries again, and the climbing roses. All the way in the back is the orchid house from before.
This is the Rangoon Creeper. Scary huh? Raquel grew up with this flower in Brazil.
It took us a year and a half to figure out what kind of flowers to put underneath the pecan tree in the front of the house. Someone finally suggested impatients to us and we figured we'd try that. We planted these ones about a month ago and they're going nuts with pink and red flowers. Really cool. Below is a shot of Neil reflecting on the patience required for flower cultivation.
The life of a photo model is a hard one. 
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