Seriously, how cute is this bunch!
Normally, I say..okay be silly after the serious picture so I can give them a change to be third graders. This time though I said.."hey look at the bat above you" knowing that they were kind of freaked out from the bats in the cave. This is the reaction I got.
Our tour started by meeting our tour guide..
On the way to the cave we stopped on the bridge to learn that the water coming out of the cave is heated in the winter and cooled in the summer making it really attractive to fish.
They have a bank vault door on the cave. This is not to keep out people. It is to keep out logs and things when the river floods.
Then it was into the cave..
Can you see the bats by the pointer?
The ripples on the ceiling were from waves when this cave was filled with water thousands of years ago.
There are tons of fossils that are found in the cave. Here is one of them.
These are straws that are formed from the dripping water. They eventually clog and from Stalactites.
Even the smallest drip of water can effect the cave over the years.
These two holes in the ceiling are from rock falling from the water pressure in the cave thousands of years ago.
Here is another fossil. This one is related to a squid.
Does this look like bacon? This is called cave bacon!
Another fossil. This is the tail of the squid like creature.
As we were almost done we saw this little bat just about a foot above our heads.
Passing another group was kind of tricky..
Water is always dripping down from the ceiling no matter what time of year or how dry it is outside the cave.
Can you find the heart??? A mom in our group spotted it in the mud.
This large pool was very pretty. When the water is high during a flood the water can be up to the high mark where the light is shining.
Then it was time for lunch...
What is better than a picnic lunch in a beautiful state park on a nice day???
After lunch the kids got to have recess...
Kickball in a state park!
Then it was our turn to go inside for a scavenger fact hunt about Mystery Cave!
And as always...Here are a few bus shots taken by our young photographers!!! They are getting quite good at using my camera. Maybe next year they can be the photographers:-)
Here is a short video from inside the cave if you want to see what it was like inside
Untitled from Monica Willits on Vimeo.
