My girlfriend Jen and I are back home, but our hearts are still in Turkey.

As I sit at my computer post-processing photos from Cappadocia, I still can’t quite get my head around the magic and immense beauty from that region surrounding the town of Goreme. Not only was there natural beauty, but also signs of ancient history everywhere we looked. On our first morning there, we saw Cappadocia from the air – a glorious early-morning balloon ride.

In the afternoon, we hiked through the region following what was called the “Rose Valley Trial.” Some of the exotic rock structures looked like animals and even human faces. Many other rock structures contained caves where early people—including early Christians—hid and lived. These were not easily accessible—many of these caves, and there were hundreds of them–required difficult climbs. Jen and I clambered up to about a dozen of these caves on our long hike. Many of the caves were so high up that we didn’t even try to gain entry. It was a challenge to even imagine how the inhabitants lived. How did they raise their families in such inaccessible housing? How did they stock and cook their food? How in the hell did they raise children in such dangerous places? How badly were they threatened by outsiders that they chose to live in such extreme circumstances?

Today, back in St. Louis, these photos are bringing back feelings almost as intense as I experienced in Cappadocia.