Sunday, October 3, 2010

A day out with the family....

This was a great weekend to take the Saturday off and get out with the family. After getting the girls out of bed (always an adventure) we drove to the Natural Bridge Caverns just north of San Antonio. The caverns were discovered by some students in 1960 and opened to the public in 1964.

Now part of the fun for me was the drive to the location. We took Beth’s car and she drove the way there. I got to help as she like to when I’m driving. Guys out there, you can relate:


“Now slow down, you’re going too fast….now you can drive faster you’re going too slow…now the exit 20 miles down so you better start getting over to the right because it’s a right exit…
After about two hours she said “Michael I’m not that bad!” and I answered “True, but this is payback time!”

After arriving we spend over three hours in two tours. The Illumination Tour takes you lower into the caverns and ends with the experience of total darkness in a makeshift theater. You get there by three passages decorated with “soda straw” stalactites, waves of “cave ribbon” and a profusion of intriguing “welt and turnip shields.” Later we took the Discovery Tour, taking us down another 180 feet and showing us many more incredible features of the caverns, including stalagmites, stalactites, flowstones, chandeliers and soda straws.

One of the great things is you can take pictures (unlike many displays today). Bad thing is my camera’s flash doesn’t do many of the things justice. If you make it to San Antonio take a trip up there…it’s worth the money and time.

Overall, let’s look at it:
Tickets (2 adults, 2 children) 83.40
Gas: 26.78
Lunches: 40.00
Souvenirs: 56.89
Being able to annoy your girlfriend about her driving like she annoys you about your driving: Priceless!
Hope you like the picture and had a great weekend:






One of the original well holes dug that found these caverns






The trail to the Discovery Tour

A plaque for the dedication in 1964








Adele at the beginning of the tour
at

1 comment:

  1. UnknownOctober 9, 2010 at 4:53 PM

    I toured the "Luray Caverns" in Virginia years ago and they were just as spectacular. One of the unique things about these caverns is that one of the early explorers discovered that each stalagmite/stalagtite makes a unique sound when tapped on by an object (say a pen or whatever). So, in this cavern (Luray), they had set up an organ whereas when a key is pressed on the organ - a corresponding stalagtite/stalagmite is "tapped". It took years to set up (having to find just the right stalagmite/stalagtite to match a given key on an organ. The sound was incredible, and, as you noted - the tour was worth the long ride.

    "Drink 'em if you got 'em"

    ReplyDelete