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Welcome to my weekly update for January 14, 2024!
We had a lot of rain this week, which we needed, but not quite so much at one time. There was some flooding but luckily we weren’t affected and it wasn’t widely catastrophic. It did make my normal rounds of errands and chores miserable though.
Needless to say, we didn’t go on any adventures this week so I’m sharing a few pictures from our trip from Idaho to North Carolina in October. We stopped to see Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It wasn’t my favorite national park or cave–I like the weird formations stalactites and stalagmites make and Mammoth Cave really doesn’t have those–but it was still a nice place to visit, especially in fall. The parts of the park that were above ground were my favorite in all honesty. But the cave system is impressive, at 426 mapped miles so far and counting.
Slideshow:
All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2024
- The entry of Mammoth Cave, known as the Rotunda. The equipment is “leaching vats from the early salt petre operation.” I had to look that up and don’t remember what it means!
- One of the trails in the park.
- Our little home away from home! We live in this motorhome while my husband is working at different hospitals around the country.
- The Tennessee side of the Appalachian mountains. I grew up on the North Carolina side but seeing those mountains again for the first time in quite a while felt like the first approach to home!
Posted:
Read:
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson–4.5 Stars
American Christmas Stories, edited by Connie Willis–4 Stars
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, written and read by Issa Rae–4 Stars
Currently Reading:
The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, read by Kate Burton (A re-re-re-re-re-re-read, but my first time on audio)
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World by Peter Wohlleben, translated by Jane Billinghurst
What did your week look like?
Hosts:
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
41 Comments
I’m glad you didn’t have any trouble with flooding. The weather has been crazy this month. We lost power for 52 hours and have spent the past few days reevaluating our emergency equipment and supplies. Thank goodness we had firewood and a fireplace to keep the living room warm. Some of the surrounding commmunities were without power for 6 days. Yuck!
I think the only cave we’ve visited was Crystal Cave in Sequoia NP. Pretty impressive!
Your RV is beautiful. We only have one slide, but it’s roomy enough for an 8-week trip. Not sure about full-time, though!
Beautiful fall colors and those beautiful mountains. I love North Carolina!
I agree with you on Mammoth Caves. The above ground part was really pretty.
Jill
http://www.allthebooksihaventread.com/
Especially in the fall.
Our snow yesterday didn’t amount to anything (Massachusetts). Some areas in Mass. had flooding last week, too, but none really near us. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl looks good to me!
I’m glad you didn’t have significant snow (though our definitions of significant are probably very different since I’m from the South!) or any flooding. Awkward Black Girl was really good! I especially liked it on audio.
Winter finally arrived here. It snowed for five days in a row before the temperature plummeted to below zero windchills. We didn’t end up with much snow – maybe 7 inches total but it was enough to make the roads messy. Nice looking books too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
We’re currently panicking in the mountains of NC because we might get 2″ of snow. 🙂 To be fair, the higher mountains might get 6″ or so. I could never survive a Minnesota winter!
Our weather hasn’t been so great either and now we are in an arctic cold snap.
I don’t think I could ever go into caves. We have a park near us and I can’t get up the nerve to go into the caves!
Looks like some good books are on your list for this week.
Anne is one of my favorites.
Hope you have a good week.
I’m a little claustrophobic so caves aren’t my favorite but I ask rangers what to expect and so far I’ve been just fine following their recommendations. We love national parks so I feel like I have to get in there!
It must be so fun to travel all over, visiting all these different spots! What a great adventure you two are having!
We are so fortunate!
I’m glad you were safe from the flooding.
Your latest reads look good.
Wishing you a wonderful reading week
We are too and we’re glad it wasn’t more widespread. I feel bad for the few people it did affect though.
Love your photos. They are always so fun to look at.
I never thought about listening to AOGG. That would be a neat experience. Hope you have a nice week.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2024/01/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-and_14.html
My classics challenge prompt this month is to re-read a classic. I didn’t feel like working in a print re-read but I did feel like re-visiting Anne so here we are. It’s lovely so far.
I’ve never been to Mammoth Cave. Like you, I love stalactites and stalagmites. I think it would be fun to see how big Mammoth Cave is. The biggest cave I’ve ever been to is Carlsbad Caverns and that was pretty awesome.
https://jennielyse.com/sunday-news-51/
I love all national parks but, to be perfectly honest, Mammoth Cave was a letdown after Carlsbad Caverns. It’s hard to compete with all those formations. But it may have been that our guide at Mammoth was booooring. I’m not saying that I could do better by any means, but I have had much more interesting guides at other caves (You’re not allowed to go into Mammoth Cave unaccompanied).
I’m enjoying your photos. Well I sort of prefer the rain we had this past week, which was limited to a couple days to the cold coming this week. It won’t be that cold but if it is also windy that is the worst.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
I agree that rain is better than cold but the rain and the whims of the NC DOT made my life unnecessarily complicated last week. *sigh* I dislike wind too, especially in the cold. That really is the worst.
Looks like 2024 is off to a good reading start for you! Anne of Green Gables is a fun one; it’s one of the few classics that I enjoy.
Anne was probably the first classic I enjoyed. I always disliked classics we had to read for class so I’m glad I found Anne on my own.
The Hidden Life of Trees looks very good! I’ve been to Mammoth Cave a few times. The above ground side of the park is very beautiful when the leaves change.
I had previously only passed through Kentucky in the summertime so I was pleasantly surprised to see so much fall color!
I’ve been to Mammoth Cave! That was my gift to myself for finishing grad school. I had 1 day to see it, so I only went in the cave and didn’t see many of the above-ground bits.
We only spent one day there too but we decided to do the historic cave tour, which is an hour or two at most, then spend the rest of the day above ground. I hope you had a good time on your visit!
How is the audio for Anne of Green Gables? I keep saying I need to reread it, but never get around to it. I love your pictures. Have a great week!
I never listen to samples of audiobooks before I download them but I love Anne so much, I took the time to listen to a sample of every audio copy that my libraries had. I didn’t want to ruin the book with a bad narrator! One thing I noticed right away is that some narrators say Avonlea with a long a, like the beauty company, and some say it with a short a. I don’t know which way is technically correct but in my opinion it can only be a short a so that narrowed down the list by half. 😀 It’s so nice to revisit a childhood favorite and so far the narration by Kate Burton is excellent.
My husband keeps meaning to take me to Mammoth Caves! He and I just need to find the time to drive over there.
I just finished Sanderson’s Yumi and the Nightmare Painter and really liked it! Tress will probably be my next Sanderson at some point this year!
My Sunday Post
I hope you enjoy Mammoth Cave when you go! Tress was my first Sanderson but definitely not my last.
Thank you for the lovely photos – what beautiful scenery! I haven’t read Anne of Green Gables for the longest time – I can imagine the audiobook is a treat. Have a great week, Jen.
I just got a good start on the audio this morning and it is so nice to revisit Anne!
I need to re-read Anne of Green Gables. I loved that book. The Hidden Life of Trees sounds interesting!
Hidden Life of Trees is fascinating! I keep wanting to share the things I’m learning with my husband but he’s usually asleep by the time I’m reading it so all these random facts are bottled up inside me! 🙂
I can see why you are happy to be home. What a beautiful place to live!
(BTW, I read Jayber Crow this weekend, and I immediately thought of you, Jen. I wonder if you have read Wendell Berry, and, if you have, what you think of this book and his other books.)
I’m adding Tress of the Emerald Sea to my list of books I might like to read.
I meant to mention Wendell Berry when I saw your Sunday Post. I love his work! I’ve only read a little of his poetry but it’s beautiful. I remember that I liked Jayber Crow but my favorite of his books that I’ve read is Hannah Coulter. I’ve read it a few times
Mammoth Cave is very intriguing. I like caves but haven’t been to one in ages.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I’m a little claustrophobic so caves aren’t exactly my thing but we’re trying to see as many national parks as we can so I keep finding myself touring them. Luckily the parks have excellent descriptions of the caves so I know what to expect and which tours I can probably tolerate and which ones to avoid.
Ah, Anne of Green Gables! It’s been a long time since I revisited, but I really want to. Mammoth Cave looks cool. 😀
My weekly roundup.
It’s so nice to visit with Anne again!
I’ve never been to Mammoth Cave! And love the pics- that fourth one is great! Must be nice seeing the hills of home. 🙂
It’s always nice to get the first glimpse of “my” mountains in the distance!