Monday, August 9, 2010

Ohio Caverns

Our summer get together group headed to West Liberty, Ohio last week to check out the Ohio Caverns.


Other than Claire getting car sick on the way...thank God for Wet Wipes and friends with extra clothes...the trip was fantastic!

We had a pretty good sized group.


The kids did great walking through the caverns. We took the shorter tour, but we saw some amazing formations. I could never remember if stalactites came down from the top or stalagmites did...someone helped me remember...tites are on top! Thanks Sarah!

The tour is not for the claustrophobic person (sorry Sinda!). There are some tight spots. So tight, that yes, my daughter said, "Mom, I don't think you are going to fit through there." Don't worry...I made it through...and no one had to butter up my sides to get me through!

One of the really neat things we saw was the crystal king. This stalactite is over 200,000 years old! That amazed me!



Here is a picture of what they call Old Time Pump. Claire liked it because it also looks like a horse doing a hand stand.



These helactite formations they call straws because they look just like straws...long and thin.



They kids also liked the mining area. Some of them bought a bag of mining "rough" that contained gems or fossils. It was really fun using the mining sluice to find their treasures.















We were 103 feet under ground. My morbid brain immediately went to "what if the ground collaspes on top of us mode, but once I started through and began to see how beautiful everything was, it went away. And, hey...we all made it out safely...despite the incredibly STEEP stairs on the way up...FEEL THE BURN!

Interested in reading more about the Ohio Caverns, check out this informative page!

While we had a blast, it is sad that this might be our last group outing for the summer. School starts in a couple of weeks and most of us are back in the school getting things ready.

It really has been a fun summer!!



3 comments:

Evelyn J Tranter said...

Love your blogs. They are interesting and informative. Great pics attached. Kids look they are having a great time.Summer went by too fast.

Unknown said...

Jen, love reading about you, Claire and your outings! What a lucky little gal to have an adventurous Mom like you!

Mamarazzi said...

wow...super cool adventure.