Spelunking

A stop in the world's longest known cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park of Kentucky.

The caves here are football field-sized rooms of hard rock which seal out moisture from above.  As a result cave formations such as stalactites and stalagmites are rare.

Photography-wise: when you're walking along in a large group with one light every 50 meters, things get a bit sticky. OOF(out of focus), and camera shake, two of my personal pet peeves find their way into the majority of shots.  Every now and then you can pause and stick the camera on a railing or rock for a bit more stability and a chance to manually focus, but on a walking tour that barely stops, time, your best friend in low light, has few chances to help.  Eh well, set a medium-slow shutter speed, wide open aperture, and high ISO, hold your breath and look through them later

What better way to showcase snapshots than a picasa slideshow?






Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Downhill

ain't always bad

Straaaaaange

The aforementioned plant life:

Not-so-strange

Is that a tongue?

Inside out!

These look like gremlins, don't they?

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

Gettin' buzzy

Hahahahaa

'cause they're bees? and they're pollinating? get it? hahahaha.

Ok, i'm done.

Saw some of the strangest flora in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  Every single one of these we passed were buzzing with bees.

and a fake close-up (crop a la cute overload)

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN