Marble doing her best troglodyte imitation.
Jupiter & Saturn. December 28, 2020. The clouds blocked Jupiter’s moons tonight.
Day 7 of the Travel Photo Challenge takes us to Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. These photos were taken in 2004 on our way back from Big Bend in Texas. You can learn about Carlsbad Caverns at https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm.
Speaking of troglodytes, I’m doing two favorite photographers/artists/writers/musicians tonight. Not that they are troglodytes, at least I don’t think they are, but it’s because troglodytes have come up in one form or another over the last couple of days with these two bloggers.
Just today, Dale at https://adelectablelife.com/2020/12/28/weekend-writing-prompt-189-troglodyte/ posted a 95-word weekend writing challenge with “Troglodyte”. Dale is a wonderful photographer, writer, and cook, she’s posted some great looking food. Dale is an Artgown model, she has the Peach Tree, and she also has a great sense of humor.
Marina at https://marinakanavaki.com/ posts music from https://oannes.gr/ as part of her blogging. Oannes posted “Jet Set Junta” by the Eligible Bachelors at https://oannes.gr/the-monochrome-set-jet-set-junta-eligible-bachelors-1982/. I commented that the song reminded me of Loquillo y Los Trogloditas. Marina is a wonderful artist, photographer, writer, and musician. She is also an Artgown model, has the Incognito Pear Tree, an adorable dog, plus she has a great sense of humor.
Carlsbad Caverns
Off Center & Not Even 
Fabulous photos!
Thanks, Victoria.
Great photo of Marble! I really enjoyed the cave photos. I’ve never been to Carlsbad, but have been to Mammoth Caves, Kentucky, more than once, and went on the 6 mile 6 hr underground cave tour. I don’t know if they do those anymore, and I glad I had the opportunity when I did.
I’ve been to Carlsbad Caverns many times over the years, but it’s always been in late fall or early Spring so I never saw the bats fly out of the cave. I’ve done a couple of the wild cave tours once in the late 70s and once in the 80s. We explored some of the undeveloped caves. That was interesting spelunking. We had to descend with ropes and crawl on our bellies in some of the caves, while others opened up into large rooms, but our headlamps and flashlights didn’t do much to illuminate the bigger caves. I don’t know if they still do those kinds of tours or not. I’m sure liability has become a big issue.
The Mammoth Caves wild cave tour didn’t involve ropes, but we all did have miners headlamps and knee pads. Set in small alcoves were emergency telephones we came across every so often. Halfway through the tour, down in the darkness, we started smelling hotdogs and hamburgers, and came up through a crawl hole in large underground dining room, ate lunch, the proceeded down another crawl hole to finish the rest of the tour.
That must of been one hell of a restaurant?
Not one with a lot of amenities or fancy dining, just basics. There was an elevator shaft up to the surface.
Marvelous cave images. The one with the ladder relic is somewhat haunting. And Marble, well, nothing need be said as the photo sez it all.
I like that old ladder from the early days of spelunking. Thanks, Maj & Sher.
Ciao Timothy
Ciao, Simona.
Never ending joy!!
A wow and a sigh… breathtaking shots, my friend.
Marble is a natural! 🤣
Thanks, Marina. She does a great troglodyte.
I hope she doesn’t know you call her that!!! 😉🤣🤣🤣
Everyday you just amaze more and more. Truly. these are gorgeous.
Thanks, Shey. CBC is a fantastic and fascinating place.
Looks wonderful
Very impressive cave images. Never seen one like this before.
Marble is doing a great job 🙂
Thanks, Harry.
Thanks for the shoutout, Tim! How very generous of you 🙂
And each of these photos is a work of art! Wow. I would love to see this in person!
When things are back to normal we’ll have to plan a trip down there. You would love them.
It looks absolutely amazing.
Crazy cool photos of the caverns! I’ve always wanted to go there, even though I am pretty closter phobic, I want to try!
The spaces are so large they are not closterphobic at all. Thanks, Tiffany.
Clever kitten.
And I really like the cave pictures. All these forms and shapes…
Thanks, rabirius. The forms are great.
Tim, you have blown my mind! I’ve never seen anything like these photographs before! I’ve been here a long time staring and just taking everything in. I cannot even begin to imagine what it was like to be there in person. Fantastic shots!! Why did you choose long exposures rather then a fast one? Just curious. As for Marble, I laughed!! What a character that one is!! LOL
Thanks, AmyRose. I had an Olympus higher end point&shoot in 2004. Those are handheld shots in super difficult lighting conditions. The camera did really well considering.
I applaud your efforts!!
Wasn’t that the name of a band once? Cool shots.
There were the Troggs, AKA The Troglodytes, who did “Wild Thing”. Then there is a death metal band called Troglodyte. Thanks, Teri.
🎼 “You make my heart sing” 🎼
The photos are amazing, Tim!
However, I also adore that you share. I am beyond honoured that you credited Dale & Marina with their Art Gowns Models status!
Thanks, Resa. I adore you and your Artgown models. It’s really an honor to be following and collaborating with such a beautiful group of aswome women. Your gowns are magic and you have chosen such talented, lovely, wonderful women to model your gowns.
Wow….you really are amazing with a camera Timothy….breathtaking
Thanks, Ruelha. Do you have any large caves in your area?
Most welcome Timothy….
Oh yes we do…..Mahabalipuram…..
With a lot of stone carvings😃
Cool.
🤩😃
Hey Tim, how far underground did you have to go to see this? Wow! Great shots ..Psst, where’s my tree? 🙂
Hi Julie. We were down about 800 feet. The deepest part of the cave is over 1000 feet deep, but that part is not open to the public. You want a tree?
I bet it’s not open to the public! Hope the lights don’t go out … I think you were going to give me a peach tree, but I never saw it 😂
They turn out the lights while people are in the cave. It’s super pitch black. Your eyes can’t adjust because it’s so dark. It’s pretty unnerving.
Hmmm. Dale got the peach tree. There’s still a little 5 on 1 plum tree, or you can take a tree in the bosque.
Nope I wouldn’t enjoy the lights being turned off. Years ago we went to Atiu Island and there are swiftlets that live in caves .. the guide was great until he turned the torch out! Sure I could hear my heart beating .. Why don’t you pick me a tree? You’ll have to send me a photo of it though 😃
Total darkness is scary and very disorienting. I’ll find you a tree.
Awesome!
wow! Trogdolytes look unreal! I need to get to Carlsbad Caverns – it’s not like I’m that far away.
CBC is well worth the effort. Thanks, Holly.
What amazing pictures these are, Timothy. Your fourth cave picture reminds me of a blue whale with its mouth open. I must learn to take better pictures. My new iphone has a feature where it takes a delayed picture in dark places. The quality is better than what I had before but nothing like yours. Thank you for sharing this link.
Thanks, Roberta. That formation reminded me of a blue whale also. I had a fast lens on the camera I used back then.