Jiang, Siqing, and I went to Blanchard Springs a while back and took the “Wild Cave Tour”. It was a 3 1/2 hr. crawling, squeezing, and off-the-beaten-path unique tour. I’m sure Jiang will kill me for showing this picture, but I need a good beating.

Have you ever seen a happier miner?

Siqing, Jiang Bian, and myself went on a northern Arkansas adventure this last weekend. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it an adventure, it was mostly driving around aimlessly looking for a place to camp.

As you can imagine it is a nightmare trying to find a spot on Memorial Day weekend without a reservation. We were able to do a few things though. We finally ended up at Tyler Bend at the Buffalo River Saturday night, where we swam, hiked a trail to the Collister Homestead (where there were some really great overlooks), and enjoyed an interpretive disscussion from a national park ranger.

The next day we drove to Eureka Springs, which is basically a tourist trap disguised as a historial landmark. Later that day we drove back to Lost Valley near Ponca, to see the waterfall in the cave they have there. I had been there before, but Jiang had not. You must take a flashlight, be willing to crawl almost on your bellow 200 feet and not be claustrophobic. It is well worth the effort to see and plus it is like an air-conditioner in the cave, which is great on a hot summer day like it was.

Lastly, we went and swam at Pruitt on the Buffalo River before heading home, because we couldn’t find a suitable camping spot. All in all it was a good time, but way to much driving and wondering around looking for a camping spot.

One photo of Jiang at the Collister Homestead: (click here for all the photos)

We have a new house guest! Well, kind of new, actually he has been here since Jan. His name is Jiang Bian, he is Siqing’s nephew from China. He is staying with us while he is attending UALR’s (The University of Arkansas at Little Rock) Computer Science Master’s program.

Of course, at first you are always uneasy thinking about someone new coming into your home. But, Jiang has been a really great guy to have around. We have gone hiking several times and even went on a 14-mile two day hiking trip at Devil’s Den State Park. Pictures soon to come… Here are just a few pics, goto Flickr to see all of em’.