4 Wheels 4 Girls

On Wednesday, March 23rd, we went to Carlsbad Caverns national park. It was the most amazing natural wonder I had ever seen. Mammoth Cave and Ruby Falls were both super cool, but this one really blew them both out of the water. When we walked down into the cave, I just couldn’t stop taking pictures even though the light was bad. There was just so much to see, and I would like to share some of it with you. Here is a great picture I took of a cool jellyfish-looking rock formation:

A naturally made sculpture

After we walked around the big room and finished our walk, my sisters were exhausted, but I wouldn’t have minded walking all the way back up just to see everything again. It is definitely my favorite national park so far. I know I’ve said this before, but if you’re ever in the area, check it out!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

March 23rd, I went to a national park. I did a junior ranger booklet. Then we went to a talk given by a ranger. He was nice. He talked about bats and the cactus-thingy. He show us a dead bat and a knife made out of a rock and an animal horn. The ranger told us there was a guy, long ago, and he saw a black cloud. He went to discover where it came from and he realized they were bats and he found the cave.

We hiked down into the cave. I felt sort of like a bat going down into the cave. The cave opening was very cool. There were loop-de-loops down through the cave.

Going down into Carlsbad Caverns

There was a big room in the cave. It was very big and the path was twisty. We went in a circle around the big room. We went to part of the big room called Fairyland. It was very small. There was a big stone in the big room. My mom told me it looks like a fat cat and my dad said it looks like a guy. I thought it looks like a rock.

We went up to the top in an elevator.

A tank in New Mexico

I took a picture of this tank just for you, Granddad. Hope you like it! 🙂

After the memorials in Oklahoma City, we drove all day out of Oklahoma and we finally made it to Texas around dinnertime. We ate at a Texas steakhouse and, while the rest of my family had barbequed beef, I had a chicken sandwich. It was SO good. We kept driving all night until I woke up the next morning And there was huge mesa out my window! We had made it to New Mexico! I took a picture of it:

A mesa on a New Mexico morning

My parents had totally missed the mesas as they were driving by, so it was a nice surprise to see them there. The drive was beautiful after that and I took countless videos of the road trying to see a tumbleweed for my friend Zoe. I did actually see a few but I’m not sure if i caught any on camera. I’ll try again.

It was fun!

We continued to travel across Tornado Alley on our way to the southwest. We stopped at a campground along historic Route 66 near Stroud, OK for a couple of days, where we caught up on laundry, work, and home-schooling. On March 21 we rolled through Oklahoma City. We stopped off at the Memorial for the Bombing of the Federal Building. The memorial was unexpectedly simple and powerful. The foundation of the building is still in place, but the building itself has been replaced with a park. Fences along the perimeter are still being decorated with flowers, photos, and mementos to those who were lost. It was a vivid reminder of how everything changed that one day in 1995.

This is where the Federal Building used to be.

We got up bright and early on Saturday, March 19, and took what for many of us was a long-overdue shower, and got ready to head to the Springfield home of my cousin Dan, his wife Carol and their daughter Nichole (we missed their son Hank who is away at college). Due to a series of miscommunications between Van and I, and between the two of us and our GPS, our early start became a late one and our breakfast turned into a brunch but our hosts took it all in stride and, in the tradition of a true Hafkemeyer family, served us a wonderful meal. We really enjoyed seeing Dan and Carol’s beautiful home (and hearing about the work they did to make it so) and learning about Nichole’s plans for the future (college and a career as a zookeeper). . . and the girls had a great time playing outside. We drove away feeling grateful that our change in itinerary made a stopover in Springfield possible.

Visiting our favorite relatives in Springfield

To get to the top of the arch you rode in a tram. It was small, round, white, and there were five little seats in a circle. We climbed in a tiny door and it shut. Suddenly it lurched forward. It seemed like it was going sideways, and it was. Then we started to go up and up and up. Through the tram’s little window you could see spiral staircases and regular staircases.

When me and my family got to the top of the arch, there were stairs leading up to the room where you could look out. The room was like a plane, except bigger, and there were no seats. I was frozen with fear in the middle of the room and did not want to go look out. I was high-sick. My Mom finally got me to look out a window. When I looked down, I saw cars, roads, skyscrapers, builds, people, and a stadium. I was looking down at St. Louis. I ran back to the middle of the room and I asked Mom, “How tall is the arch?” She said it is 630 feet tall.

At the very top of the arch

I loved being at the very top of the arch even though I was scared of being so high. I hope we can come back another time.

Here is a picture of Ellie and me imitating the cardboard people while waiting in line to go up in the Gateway Arch

Me and Ellie imitating the cardboard people while waiting in line

On March 18th, we went to the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis. It was so cool and it really made me think about how people worked so hard to build this massive monument. It amazed me.

We had to wake up super early to get in line. Once we got there we got in line on the north tram side. After a few minutes they announced people could get in line on the south side, so our family and a few other families started to run toward the south end. Stella, Ellie, and me started to race these three other boys and Ellie outran them. (We were proud of her!) Luckily, we beat the rush and got in line pretty quickly.

Being at the top of the arch was SO beast. I don’t have any other words to describe it. That pretty much sums it up.

Back down in the visitor center, we saw an awesome video on how the arch was made. Then, in the museum, Dad gave us an incredibly brief tour of Louis & Clark’s expedition. Then we left and took this really cool picture of the Gateway Arch:

An interesting view of the arch

It was a really cool experience!!! 🙂

The City Museum was fun. I loved climbing in the tunnels. It was a great experience for me and my family.