Caves are cool

We took a trip up to Round Rock to see the Inner Space Caverns yesterday. It's a large cave that they found in 1963 while constructing I-35. For a fee, a guide will take you down into the depths of the Earth - about 75 feet below the surface at the deepest point of the tour.

Here you can see the columns where the deposits growing from the ceiling connect to the deposits that have been growing on the floor of the cave. Technically speaking, where the stalactites meet the stalagmites.

They've found remains of saber-toothed cats, ice-age horses and sloths, along with giant mammoths down here. They also told us that in the rib of one of the saber-tooth cats they found a human tooth. I guess he ate well before falling into the giant dark hole in the ground.







Jessica and myself inside the cave. It's actually quite pleasant, about 73 degrees, but also quite humid since there's a aquifer that runs right next to the cave.










These baby stalactites are called "soda straws" and they take about 50 years to grow one inch. Some of these are over 1000 years old, yet they're so fragile that one sweep of your hand would take them all out.



Jessica's friend Janelle and her fiance (not pictured) came down to visit from Denver. We were in the cave with them.



Jess thought this picture would be cool to put up. It was taken almost 5 years ago. Janelle and her have been friends since 5th grade! It's great!