Day 1: Bridal Cave

We had the children's VBS program on Friday night, the 27th.  We came home from that and packed the van with our suitcases and other essentials.  Everyone went to bed, knowing that as soon as they awoke, we would be on the road to Missouri.  The plan was to be leaving by 8am.  I was pretty sure that was do-able considering the fact that all we had to pack would be our food and last minute items.  Everyone was up and ready to go in record time.  One last minute check of the livestock ensured that we were good to go and we were leaving home by 7:40am.  

A couple things about our traveling.  First, we changed seats every two hours or so.  I had cards with all the different combinations for the 4 children and we chose a card every so often.  It didn't quite work out as planned.  Sometimes they wanted to pick where they sat and who they sat with.  

Second, the children all packed their backpacks with small toys, books, etc to play with.  The best thing to pack:  their Etch-A-Sketches.  Another favorite were the printouts from What's in the Bible.  They cut out the characters, added popsicle sticks and we had our own popsicle stick theatre.  

Our first stop:  Camdenton, MO.  We arrived just in time to have a picnic lunch outside of Bridal Cave. The cave was a comfortable 60 degrees.  A nice change from the 100 degree heat that the Midwest has been experiencing.  The tour was about one hour long and enjoyable.  The cave is an active one.  Don't touch the formations or they'll stop growing! 

Lots of "soda straw" formations.  

This was the area where a lot of couples were married.  Before the modern entrance, the bridal party had to crawl through a hole on the left.  

Emmet took a picture of me and Seth.

At one point there was the "Lemon Squeeze".  A tight area that even Seth and I could barely slide through. 

The area of the cave titled "Garden of the Gods."  And in the middle is a formation that "kind of" looked like a guardian angel.

This area was called Niagra Falls.

Up here was a natural bridge.  

There was a deep lake with crystal-clear water.

This was a great cave to visit.  Lots of living formations.  We even experienced complete darkness.  Our tour guide could have been a bit better, but he did alright.  He didn't seem to elaborate much at the stopping points and answered questions with one or two word answers.  As far as the cave's age and discovery, at least he just said "many years" and "a long time" instead of the evolutionary talk of "a billion years ago."

After a visit to the gift shop, it was time to get on the road to Branson where we would be staying the next two nights.  We enjoyed a farmhouse-type supper at the McFarlain's Restraunt before enjoying some swimming at the hotel pool.