Tucson, Feb. 18, 2014

Saguaro National Park was huge & of course Lois wanted to see the 50 foot cactus. This is the only place in the world where they are this size.

 There are very few trees here (which we are used to seeing in a forest), just lots of cactus everywhere. Doesn't Lois look tiny?

The area is quite rugged & the cactus seem to grow out of the sides of rock with just a tiny bit of nutrition.

We then went to Benson to visit the Kartchner Caverns State Park. This was an incredible site where 2 fellas (called cavers) went into the mountain to look for caves & discovered this cavern in 1974.  They didn't tell anyone for 4 years because they were trying to preserve it. They then told the people who owned the land & they didn't tell anyone for another 10 years while they were trying to get a bill passed to turn the area into a state park so the cave would be protected.

The intrepretor or guide that took us through told us a couple of examples of what would happen if you dropped something in the cavern. If you drop gum or candy into the cavern anywhere, it would grow into the size of a baseball within 2 days. If you touch the surface of any of the rocks, black mold will grow within a couple of days. It was and incredible journey under the mountain & we will never look at a mountain the same way ever again without wondering of there are caverns in it.

There was lots of information before we went in about the various rock formations as well as a video clip. A journey well worth taking. It was open to the public in 2002 to educate people about the rock formations & how water transforms & crystallizes these wondrous creations of nature. We were not allowed to take pictures but here is a website of this area. Enjoy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ISewwO38xs0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uF75q4vzbAY