Florida Caverns State Park

Have you noticed that I am partial to State Parks yet?

I am.

I couldn't get an RV spot at Florida Caverns State Park, but I still wanted to see it. So I found a nearby park to stay at, and came here for the day. We came to do the cave tour and kayak, but when we got there all boating was shut down due to flooding. 

But that's ok, we can adapt.

So first we went and did the cave tour, which must be every hour...ours was almost right away. The cave tour lasted nearly an hour and it was really a lot of fun. (Aren't caves always fun though?) I feel like every time you go to one it's like you're seeing stalacgtites and stalagmites for the first time...and since I can NEVER remember which is which...it's like learning it new all over.

This time I will remember though, because our tour guide taught us that stalacgtites hold "tight" to the ceiling, and stalagmites just "might" grow up tall. (Anything to help me remember!

We saw different formations, learned about how the CCC dug the whole place out in the 1930s (by hand with pick axes and buckets...for $1 a day!), saw a bat and learned about how oils (from hands) and algae (from lights) destroy the formations. It was just one of those neat fun-ducational tours.

After that we had a picnic, went to check out the visitor center museum (a very cool little museum actually), and went on a hike on the Bluff Trail. This ended up being a huge hit, which is good, cause hiking isn't always a big hit with my kids. BUT, this hike included many sinkholes, partial caves, a tunnel cave you could walk through, and even a cave/overhang that was used by native tribes long before the Spanish came to Florida.

By the end we were hot and a little sweaty...it may be February, but it was warm and the spring flowers were blooming! But we were also muddy, happy and felt like we had really made the right choice by spending the day there.

If you ever get to visit this park, ask about the dinner bowls embedded in the ceiling....those CCC guys were ingenious!