Today David, Mackenzie, Josiah, and me all enjoyed a guided tour of Cherokee Caverns. This was the kids very first time to ever enter a cave. Needless to say, they were awed! 
They had lots of questions about caves recently, so what better way to answer those questions than to take them on a tour of a cave. We were delighted to discover one in our area that is only open to the public a few times per year. It was open today from 10 to 4 and we headed that way.
The kids complained that the flash on the camera was too bright, so this picture is the best one I got of them. :) I thought it was kinda cute anyways, since you can see them standing near David during the tour.
Here is the "Capitol Dome" in one of the great rooms of the cave. Pretty amazing.
The black fuzzy thing in the middle of the above picture is a bat in hibernation. This particular kind of bat sleeps alone rather than in groups like some other kinds of bats. There are 14 kinds of bats in our area. Only 7 of these kinds live in caves. One bat can eat up to 2,000 mosquitoes in one night! That's insane. That's about 1/2 of the bat's body weight. I'm impressed. We have bats that fly around our neighborhood in the summertime. I like them as I know they help control our mosquito population!
When asked what their favorite thing or most surprising thing about the cave, both kids said their favorite part was seeing the bat! Mackenzie mentioned that she was surprised at how big the cave was inside. Both kids really seemed to enjoy it. We did, too!
They had lots of questions about caves recently, so what better way to answer those questions than to take them on a tour of a cave. We were delighted to discover one in our area that is only open to the public a few times per year. It was open today from 10 to 4 and we headed that way. 
The kids complained that the flash on the camera was too bright, so this picture is the best one I got of them. :) I thought it was kinda cute anyways, since you can see them standing near David during the tour.
Here is the "Capitol Dome" in one of the great rooms of the cave. Pretty amazing.
The black fuzzy thing in the middle of the above picture is a bat in hibernation. This particular kind of bat sleeps alone rather than in groups like some other kinds of bats. There are 14 kinds of bats in our area. Only 7 of these kinds live in caves. One bat can eat up to 2,000 mosquitoes in one night! That's insane. That's about 1/2 of the bat's body weight. I'm impressed. We have bats that fly around our neighborhood in the summertime. I like them as I know they help control our mosquito population!
When asked what their favorite thing or most surprising thing about the cave, both kids said their favorite part was seeing the bat! Mackenzie mentioned that she was surprised at how big the cave was inside. Both kids really seemed to enjoy it. We did, too! We also got to meet the man who owns the cave and the property it is situation on. He talked to the four of us at length and seemed happy to have a captive audience to hear all about the cave's history and the bats. He was a neat man, full of information. One other random tidbit: The Christy Series has a scene in a cave. That was filmed in this cave! We really enjoyed that part as I love the Christy series.
4 comments:
Looks like a great place to take the kids. How neat that you had an "expert" to give you all the history and bat information.
I have done a bit of spelunking in the past. Fun times!
How fun! This reminds me of our field trips to Blanchard Springs Caverns! Brings back memories.
Cool trip! Where exactly is it? I loved the Christy series, too, but I don't remember the cave scene. It's been a while. Have you ever been to the Lost Sea in Sweetwater? It's an underground lake...also very cool to see.
What a fun trip! And I totally remember the cave bit in the Christy series. How cool. :)
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