Georgetown, TX

This Labor Day, we decided to take things a little easy.  We had visions of a wild pool party, to end the summer with a blow-out.  However, the temperatures here in Austin mean that summer won't end for quite a while ; )  In addition, there are several devastating wildfires that are near to us.  The closest is only about 15 miles away.  You can smell smoke in the air, and that made us nervous to try anything too risky (I'll have to write another blog about how emergency preparedness can reduce a great deal of fear).  After consulting several news sources, government websites and local friends, we decided to at least venture out today. Our destination?  Georgetown, Texas!

The main reason for heading north to Georgetown (only 30 minutes away), was to visit the Inner Space Caverns.

This is one of only 7 public cave systems in Texas.  We've driven past this area, and always wondered if it was worth bringing visitors to the attraction.  We're always in search of fun things for visitors to do down here (hint, hint).

Inner Space is a series of limestone caves, found back in 1963.  The Texas Highway Department was putting in a new highway, and discovered the caves right where the were planning to pave.  They drilled several holes to test the ground and it didn't take long to figure out what was underground.  The caves are amazing - at a constant temperature of 72 degrees.  This is a welcome relief from the Texas heat.  The astounding thing was the humidity...about 98%!  If only above-ground could have that moisture!

 We started the tour by riding a cable car, down into the caves.  It didn't go very far, but was fun to ride.

The first "room" in the caves gave us a nice photo opportunity (and a revenue-generating opportunity for the company running the show):

We saw an amazing array of formations.  G-Man's favorite were called "soda straws".  These were basically hollow tubes of rock that hung from the ceiling, conducting water:

Lots of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites

I'm really glad that G-Man was old enough to appreciate this wonderful creation of nature.  I'm still blown away by the patterns and hues that have been created over time - just beautiful artwork. Each large "room" we would enter was filled with gorgeous shapes and colors:

 In terms of wildlife, about the only thing really living in the caves were tiny, tiny bats.  They were about the size of a "Chicken McNugget", according to the tour guide.  We saw a couple, but I had to borrow this photo, as they were tiny:

More shots of the rock formations, below.  Some of these caverns stretched right underneath a major Texas highway.  Can you imagine being the first person to enter these caves...and getting a glimpse???

I liked this lonely stalagmite, in the middle of the "room".  Off to the right, on the ceiling, were "ribbons" or rock.  Some looked just like bacon...I'm not kidding:

In another area of the cavern, a rushing river had carved some of the limestone with what appears to be amazing "delicate" strokes of a brush:

Overall, it was a great Labor Day.  We spent time as a family, found a new attraction to take visitors, and enjoyed the mild temperatures underground ; )