The alarm clock buzzed at 6am on Day 3 to the tune of "Rise & Shine you sleepyheads". Ha. I will rise but I refuse to shine! Today we had the Natural Bridge Caverns and our first cave tour was at 9am. We had to be there 30 minutes early, it was about a 30 minute drive from the hotel, and we had to feed the munchkin breakfast and all that jazz so an early start to the day we had!
We did the "Illuminations" cave tour first. It was 185 feet below ground and 3/4 mile each way. Inside the cave it was 70 degrees but with 99% humidity. It was HOT and a bad bad bad idea to wear jeans. But, guess who was the ONLY one who wore jeans that day? Yep, you guessed it, ME. ugh...The cave tour was definitely a workout! Going down 185 feet had its moments but going back UP 185 feet of steep rows and steps was definitely an out of breath experience. But, we loved it!!! the cave stays pretty dark for the most part with just dim lighting as you go so the flash would only reach so far for pictures and most of the walking areas are very narrow. This particular cave didn't open until 2007 so it is fairly new. At the end of the tour before making our way back to the front we got to sit on these benches and the guide turned out all the lights for 90 seconds so we could experience the cave in "complete darkness and silence" for a couple of minutes. You could hear every drip of water, it was so cool! Here are a few shots of "Illuminations"...
The caverns were my favorite part of this trip. It was the COOLEST thing to experience and I would love to go back! Cristian really enjoyed being a cave explorer!
On the walking path back to the lobby I took a couple shots of little man...
We did the "Illuminations" cave tour first. It was 185 feet below ground and 3/4 mile each way. Inside the cave it was 70 degrees but with 99% humidity. It was HOT and a bad bad bad idea to wear jeans. But, guess who was the ONLY one who wore jeans that day? Yep, you guessed it, ME. ugh...The cave tour was definitely a workout! Going down 185 feet had its moments but going back UP 185 feet of steep rows and steps was definitely an out of breath experience. But, we loved it!!! the cave stays pretty dark for the most part with just dim lighting as you go so the flash would only reach so far for pictures and most of the walking areas are very narrow. This particular cave didn't open until 2007 so it is fairly new. At the end of the tour before making our way back to the front we got to sit on these benches and the guide turned out all the lights for 90 seconds so we could experience the cave in "complete darkness and silence" for a couple of minutes. You could hear every drip of water, it was so cool! Here are a few shots of "Illuminations"...
(Click on pictures for larger image)
This is a picture I snapped of Lara outside of the Illuminations Cavern while she "rested" and watched the birds...it is such a great shot of her. I love it...
Next up was the "Discovery Cave". This one has 2 of the largest columns in it, one soaring to 50 feet. We also learned that 1 cubic inch of formation in the cave takes an entire decade to form. It really puts what you are looking at into perspective...wow. We are talking millions and millions of years for these formations to form. Amazing...This cave was also 185 feet underground and 3/4 of a mile but this one had much steeper climbs in it and much narrower paths. There were also little holes in areas where people can do a crawl/on knees type tour through the cave. Yeah for them, definitely not for me! LOL!
Here is a picture of the Natural Bridge...
Here are a few shots from the Discovery Cave tour...
(Click on pictures for larger image)
On the walking path back to the lobby I took a couple shots of little man...
This is another shot of the Natural Bridge from a more scenic overlook...
On our way out of the lobby we saw the line of people waiting to buy tickets and it swung around the building. Cristian, who was a monster getting up early in the morning, saw the line and quickly decided that it was much better to get up early before the "sun was awake" then to come later and have to wait in a long line like that. I guess I know what I am doing sometimes, eh? :) Cristian had so much fun exploring the caves that he slept the whole ride in the car on our way to lunch at Green.
We tried different items this time at Green for lunch. Lara had the Buffalo Fingers which are breaded and fried tofu covered in buffalo sauce. Lara said that they were better than the real deal and after she let me (hesitantly I might add) try a piece I have to agree. They were SOO good! I had the special of the day which was Fajita Tacos and I could have licked the plate they were so yummy...LOL! We also tried the Coconut Choc. Chip cookie this time and all I can say is I now know why they were sold out of these when we came here the first time.
We headed down to Alamo Plaza to a place called "Guinness Records/Hands of Wax" where we made wax hands to take home! While stopped at the crosswalk to cross the street to the Hands of Wax we were standing next to this little boy that looked about the same age as Cristian and his parents. He was sporting a serious mohawk. Cristian told him, "Hey, I love your mohawk". This little boy with a completely serious face replies, "Thanks. It has hair semen in it". His mom was mortified and quickly corrected him, "hair CEMENT it has hair CEMENT in it". I haven't laughed so hard in a long time...LOL!!
Lara and I interlocked our hands for our wax hands and Cristian did his own, after about 3 times of trying to get him to keep his hand still enough for the wax to dry! Here are pics of what they look like - I LOVE them!! It is so cool and so cheap. 9.99 a hand and then 1.00 for each additional color or item (flower, heart, initials, etc..)
For dinner we ate at this place called "Twin Sisters" which was very good! Cristian had a PB&J half sandwich and a bowl of black bean soup. Lara had a veggie quiche with squash, carrots, mushrooms, and spinach in it and we had a tofu veggie stir fry made with natural brown rice that was pretty good! It was definitely a cool place to have dinner.
After a very long and exhausting day I was happy to see my hotel bed and pillow and call it a night!
Cheers,
M E
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