Why a dome?

Andrew has wanted to build a monolithic dome for about ten years now. While we were stationed in San Antonio, Andrew took a course called "Drafting with AutoCAD". He decided that he would design his own dome. He designed several hundred dome floor plans, all of which I found something wrong with. I think it was a lesson in patience for him. We finally agreed on the FINAL plans about three weeks ago.

From what I have learned about domes, they are amazing! They are an insulated concrete shell, so they maintain their temperature quite nicely. They are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They are also fire, earthquake, and tornado proof. Andrew and I went to the annual Monolithic Dome Conference March 6th-8th. We toured many different domes. We looked at domes built as school gyms, and they double as the town's emergency shelter.

Here is a picture of the gym at Avalon I.S.D. in Avalon, Texas. Thank you, Coach Davis, for the wonderful impromptu tour!



Other highlights from the weekend were:

meeting Marty Heaton, our dome builder,
meeting other like-minded people,
being stuck in a blizzard in North Texas,
eating Texas-shaped waffles for breakfast,



and visiting with old friends.



It was great to see you, Dean and Jen! Thanks for dinner!
Your children are wonderful!

We also celebrated our anniversary during the weekend.
Thanks to the best Mother-in-Law in the world for staying with our children!