Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lost River Cavern, Root Beer and Dinosaurs

On their way to the farm house on Friday evening L. and Fat T. saw a couple of signs for a cavern in the area. On Saturday the weather was a little undecided. As in, it was forecast to rain but it hadn't yet started to such a thing. But it was damp. So sitting outside in the sun couldn't really be the activity of the day, which meant their dream of going to the caverns could be realized. Off we went to Lost River Caverns. While we were waiting for the tour to start L. and I started a game of checkers. We didn't get to finish it, but I'm certain I would have crushed her. Like a bug or a twig.
A nice young man took us and two other people into the cavern. He told us a lot of things about the cavern and its history. For example, back in the day they held dances in one 'room' of the cave. There was a spot high up where the fiddlers would play and then a brick floored area for dancing. There was also a non-denominational chapel, though it is no longer open for marriages. Why that might be was never explained. Mystery! Here we moved to one side to let the tour before us move by.
He told us what all the different kinds of formations were, but I only remember one, which I'll share with you in a minute.



See that weird strip of stuff in the top right? That's called cave bacon. A regional delicacy.
At one point the guide turned off the light so we could see these different rock samples glow in the dark. I was pretty amazed by this.


Some kind of cave flower. Not a flower at all of course.

The cave is always 52 degrees. It has a small river running through it, but they don't know where it empties out into. At one point in time they tried to figure it out by dumping a bunch of non-toxic red dye into the water, with the goal of seeing the red turn up in a larger river in the area. No dice. Then they put their phone number and request to be called on 100 ping pong balls and sent them down into the dark recesses of the water. Not a single call was ever fielded. Mystery!
The tour guide had a script full of terrible jokes. He had a sense of humor about it; said he was required to say them. I wish I could remember any of them to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. They were the sort of jokes that make you groan.
L. and Fatty in a cave.


At the end we were emptied into the gift store where L. and I got overly interested in the barrel of polished rocks (25 cents a piece). We spent an inordinately long time with our hands in the rocks. My camera fogged up after being in the cooler climate, which makes this photograph look all steamy.
Also there were dinosaurs and a giraffe head. Obviously.
As well as a pirate.
They also had an A-Treat vending machine. I put my 50 cents in and had a birch beer. L. had the cream soda; it was red and delicious.
Then we emerged into the outdoors and took a few photographs as cave men, women and children.


This is my favorite.

1 comment:

louise said...

One of the lame jokes: The fiddle players that would entertain in the dance hall could be considered the first 'Rock' band. Har Har. Fun Times!!!