To celebrate the anniversary and our new-found freedom, we went to Mtn. View! We figured it was probably one of the cooler spots in Arkansas on August 16, and was it ever! A mild "cold front" pushed through the state a day prior, and temps that had soared to 109 the previous week only got to upper 80's on the 16th. We started our day with a breakfast at Joshua's, a popular Mtn. View diner, then headed for Blanchard Caverns, some 15 miles north of Mtn. View.
We discovered that the cave tour we wanted to take was a couple of ours away, so we toured the visitor center, visited the springs below, and drove around Sylamore Campground nearby. The water that springs from Blanchard Caverns is very cold, and the path to the opening where the spring emerges is shaded to the point of being almost dark... you truly are deep in forest. It is cool, serene, and very inviting on a hot summer day! Greg is sitting on a rock out in the creek just below the spring.
Then... and now... here we are in 1974, and 2006!
Here we are leaving the church after our wedding in 1974... and sitting near the spring at Blanchard Caverns in 2006!!!
This is the bride on the bluffs near the Robus family home in 1974 (and about a block from where we now reside), and at the Springs in 2006!
The cave tour was amazing... having taken the first-level Dripstone tour several times, we opted for the 2nd-level Discovery tour. It doesn't have quite as many stalactites and stalagmites as the first level, because it is farther into the cave and younger, but what is there is truly awesome.
And... we got to see evidence of early cavers... many from the 1960's and 70's, who helped to discover this section and the 3rd level, which is a "crawl-on-your belly" tour by reservation only, and not for me!! We also saw the only natural opening to the cave (other than the spring entrance, which is not navigable) -- a 70 foot drop that is slick and treacherous, but for early cavers the only way in and out! I had seen it from the outside as a child, but certainly not from the inside! We polished off our 2-hour cave tour with some relaxing time in Sylamore creek, wading in the cool water and relaxing on the rocky beach, made up of limestone and sandstone deposits, mostly.
I love to sit and look for fossils... and I am never disappointed. After our creek visit and a brief stop at a natural cave in the campground's group camping area, we went downtown to the soda fountain (still in a drugstore, just like when we were kids), and then toured some antique malls/flea markets before heading home.
