In my new novel, Roads and Revelations, one of the places my girls visit during their road trip is a cave just outside of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I pulled details of this specific cave from a recent experience in the summer of 2015. Here are a few snapshots I took while I was down in that fascinating little pocket of the world:
Ever since I went on my first cave tour a kid, I have been fascinated by them. They're almost otherworldly, yet they're right under our feet. The temperature drop and the pitch-black darkness are creepy, yes, but when I look at the formations and realize how long it takes for stalagtites and stalagmites to form, the creepiness factor turns into one of scientific wonder for me.
In my early teen years, I was lucky enough to visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, and that was an awe-inspiring treat. There was one point where we were exactly a mile beneath the surface of the Earth, and we could make phone calls from a special phone booth to tell people where we were. There were also chasms next to the man-made path that our tour guide said could be miles deep, as they'd thrown things down them and never heard them hit bottom.
Other people find caves as frightening as they do fascinating. For example, I have seen the movie The Descent, which scared the hell out of me.
But I can assure you, in Roads, the cave scene is much more fun and romantic. ;)
XoXo
Scarlett
Ever since I went on my first cave tour a kid, I have been fascinated by them. They're almost otherworldly, yet they're right under our feet. The temperature drop and the pitch-black darkness are creepy, yes, but when I look at the formations and realize how long it takes for stalagtites and stalagmites to form, the creepiness factor turns into one of scientific wonder for me.
In my early teen years, I was lucky enough to visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, and that was an awe-inspiring treat. There was one point where we were exactly a mile beneath the surface of the Earth, and we could make phone calls from a special phone booth to tell people where we were. There were also chasms next to the man-made path that our tour guide said could be miles deep, as they'd thrown things down them and never heard them hit bottom.
Other people find caves as frightening as they do fascinating. For example, I have seen the movie The Descent, which scared the hell out of me.
But I can assure you, in Roads, the cave scene is much more fun and romantic. ;)
XoXo
Scarlett
**************
There will be a cave (for cave people) naturally, in The Lust World! Personally, being claustrophobic and not liking pitch black I don't go into caves any more (as they always seem to think it is amusing to turn the lights off part way through a tour. But I love the look of large caves with stalactites and stalagmites. The most impressive I have visited (30 years ago!) were Lake, Mammoth and Jewel caves in Margaret River, Western Australia. Never going in one again, though!
ReplyDeleteI watched a programme about archaeologists excavating some skeletons of ancient man in South Africa and they had to look all over the world for skinny, little lady archaeolgists who could crawl through the narrow passages to get there. It made me feel quite sick!
Agent Triple P
Wow! I am not a big fan of going into unexplored caves, down through tiny openings. But it sounds like you are very claustrophobic and in that case, might do best to stay aboveground! But yes, Lust World must have a cave! ;)
DeleteThinking about it I am now going to put some more in, based on a documentary I saw on the Tepuis in Venezuela which inspired the original plateau.
DeleteTriple P