Baptist Spirituality

Hello, my name is Rocket, and I’m traveling with Joe on his sabbatical adventure.

Our first few few weeks on sabbatical have been a grand time! We ventured into the woods to camp for a few days, where we hiked through a huge cave. The Luray Cavern, as one set of caves is called, is filled with some of God’s subterranean wonders, including stalactites and stalagmites.

These snow-cone like formations hang from the ceilings and rise from the floor. They form by water and carbon dioxide dripping very slowly, but they only grow one inch every 1,000 years. It takes thousands of years for these incredible formations to grow. Some are the size of a bus standing on its front end!

Here is a video showing one of the cavern “rooms”…

When we left our campsite, we traveled north to Pennsylvania. At one point, we ran out of M & Ms, and what better way to stock up on chocolate then stopping in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the home of Hershey’s Chocolate Factory?

Finally, we arrived at New York to spend three weeks studying, resting, and praying. We’ll also spend time with family. Here are some pictures when Joe and I walked on the Staten Island South Beach boardwalk with his sister.

Pictured is the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The bridge was constructed between 1959 and 1964 and is one of the largest suspension bridges in the world. It connects Staten Island (where Joe’s mother was born) with Brooklyn (where Joe’s father was born). The other structure is an old Civil War-era fort.

When you walk on the boardwalk, you can also see the skyline of the city of Manhattan. The tallest tower is the Freedom Tower, which sits at the site of the Twin Towers Memorial and Museum. If you ever travel to New York, take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to see bridges like the Verrazzano, the city of Manhattan, and the Statue of Liberty all in one trip!