Hocking Hills Region, Ohio

Fall is the perfect time to explore you own backyard and the state of Ohio has some beautiful areas to visit. Recently a friend and I decided to spend the day in the Hocking Hills exploring Old Man's Cave in Logan, OH and taking the Hocking Hills Canopy (Zip Line) Tour in Rockville, OH. Unfortunately the leaves had pretty much already fallen and it was kind-of rainy earlier in the day but sometimes the barren, leafless trees make more interesting pictures.

This is one of the zip lines that we took along the river which let us enjoy the natural beauty of the area.

Mysterious Egypt

Giza, Egypt- How did they build the Great Pyramid of Khafre?  This architectural marvel is just one of the amazing structures that the ancient Egyptians built over 3000 years ago.  This pyramid, which I was able to go inside to the Kings Chamber, is so tall that if one stood on the pinnacle, and threw a baseball, the ball would not clear the base of the structure.  There are several theories as to how the pyramids of Giza (built for the pharohs Khufu, Khafre, Menchare) were built but I cannot believe that aliens or slaves were involved.  As anyone who does any study of ancient Egyptian culture know, the people of Egypt revered their pharoh and would do anything to help him travel thru the Underworld.  Great insight, inginuity, and human hands built the pyramids which still stand today as a testament to the power of ancient Egypt. 

Giza, Egypt- Who was the Sphynx built for and for what purpose?  Is it the guardian for the pyramids, was it to guard the ancient harbor, we will never know.  The head of a man with the headpiece of a pharoah, and the body of a lion- what does it stand for?  Another unexplained phenomenal architectural structure that the ancient Egyptians created. 

Aswan, Egypt- The temple complex of Abu Simbel.  This is one structure of ancient Egypt that the purpose of building it is known.  Built by pharoh Rameses II in what was known at the time as Upper Egypt (remember Egypt is backwards and Upper Egypt is in the south and the Nile River flows south to north) to show Egyptian dominance to Nubia.  The temple on the left is for Rameses II and the temple on the right is for his favorite wife, Nefertari, and is built directly into the cliff.  With the construction of the Aswan Dam and the subsequent filling of Lake Nasser the original location of Abu Simbel is now under water- so to save such a national treasure the Egyptian government re-located the temple complex by moving every piece just as it was (fallen head and all) up and back. 

Ancient Egypt, land of sun, sand, and human inginuity.  I am in total amazement of what these people did to protect their dead in the afterlife and to show their dominance to the outside world- leaving behind a land of mysteries that are still being uncovered and explored.

Iceland, land of contradictions

Never have I seen a land more full of contradictions than Iceland.  For a small island there are so many natural wonders contained within that ones mind is boggled at how they can all exist in harmony- sometimes. 

In one area of Iceland there are the sulfur fields (pictured above) that contain hissing mounds that continually let off steam from underground.  Think of a natural pressure cooker.  In another area there is geothermally heated water bubbling from the ground that range in size from a boiling pot (pictured below) to a shooting geyser.  Amazingly, all of this heat is generated from the active volcanos that make up Icelands landscape.  (The Iceland volcanos produce such heat that all of the water for public use is heated geothermally.)

In another area of Iceland you encounter the total opposite- you find the cold, the glaciers.  There are two massive, living, moving main glaciers that carve out the landscape of  Iceland.   The land of Iceland is made up of the solidified volcanic lava and to demonstrate the power of a glacier, just think, the glaciers are what have carved out the "liveable" space (which there is not much of).  Looking at a mountain and seeing this large white expanse peeking over the top, or sliding down the side, just makes one wonder at this amazing creation.  A photo just does not express the expanse of space that these glaciers cover. 

The melting glaciers are also responsible for the many beautiful waterfalls that dot the Iceland landscape.  The most amazing waterfalls, in my opinion, are the single step waterfalls- these are the ones where the water just falls off the side of the cliff and plumets to the ground with a deafening roar. 

In a land that is composed of two total opposites, hot and cold, there is a harmony that exists.  Time has produced a hard landscape (lava) that has been carved and shaped by the glaciers- therefore contradictions existing together, creating a beautiful landscape that must be experienced.