After we got done with our canoeing, we showered and got beautified and cleaned up camp, then we headed to the Longhorn Cavern SP, which is right down the road from Inks Lake.
You have to have a tour guide to take you in the cavern, so while we waited for our tour to start, we explored Little Boy Heaven, also known as the gift shop.
Jed loved the bin with the tumbled rocks that are 12 times as expensive as they should be, squeezed all the animals to find out what noise they would make, and told us the colors of all the hard hats.
I think orange may be Jed's favorite color--he usually gravitates to it in whatever he's doing (except for popsicles--or "pockice"--which must be green).
Once the tour started, we went down into the entrance of the cavern. It was so cool--lots of big holes and arches before getting into the actual cavern.
Unlike the caves we're familiar with, this cavern is made of limestone and was created by water erosion. Before coming under the ownership of the state of Texas in the late 1930's, the cavern was used by a bootlegger/itinerant preacher as an underground bar, dance hall and church, by Confederate soldiers as a storage facility for gunpowder, by the outlaw Sam Bass as a hideout and supposed stash of $60,000 in gold coins (which were never found!) and first used by the Comanche Indians. It stays an amazing 68 degrees year-round--it was absolute bliss!
When the state took over ownership of the cavern, only part of it was open enough to walk into. The CCC was used to clean out the cavern of dirt and debris, and they used the rocks they hauled out to make some gorgeous buildings at the park. They also strung over 2 miles of electric cables for the lights in the cavern that are still in use today.
The tour was about an hour and a half long and we walked a little over a mile, round trip. Most of the cavern was very big and open, but there was one section where the "ceiling" was only about 4 feet high. I was really glad I wasn't carrying Jed at that point!
There were a lot of calcite crystals through the cave. They were huge--individual crystals as big as your hand!
The CCC found this little dog formation when they were excavating. A geologist was brought in to find out who carved him, and he found no carving marks. So he was formed by water.
When we started the tour, we were told that we probably wouldn't see any bats. But we got lucky and found this little guy! He's an Eastern Pipistrelle bat and they are typically loners.
As I mentioned, at one point during Prohibition, the cave served as a speakeasy. This is a reconstruction of the stage where the band played. It's used now when weddings (!) are held in the cave.
When you come around the corner at one point in the cave, a grizzly bear is there to greet you. I love how Jed's poking it in the nose with his stick.
I loved visiting the cavern! I think hands down, this was our favorite part of the trip. Probably because we weren't sweltering to death. It was so much fun.
We saw so many cool formations, and Jed really enjoyed himself with the echoes. He was so well behaved and all the college students on our tour thought he was the cat's pajamas.
I think the thing that was the most amazing to me was all the work the CCC did. Not only did they excavate the cavern, they built all the stairs and buildings. So beautiful!
This was used as the administration building for many years.
We climbed to the top of the building--Jed loved looking over.
Such a fun place to visit! Our tour guide was friendly and made it really interesting. He had lots of good stories. At one point during the tour, he paused to say something and Jed was talking. We told him to quiet down, and he must have thought we were saying a prayer, because once the guide got done speaking, Jed said "Christ, amen!" We've got to have a little discussion about that. I am so glad we decided to explore this part of the state and take a little vacation. We definitely needed it.
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