The Visitors Center/Gift Shop
Three-and-a-half hours later, with minimal speeding and sing-a-longs, we had arrived! We decided to start at Penn’s Cave—one of the SEVENTY-EIGHT caves in the Centre County Area. As we passed Penn’s Cave Farm, we squealed over bison, goats and a plethora of farm animals. After purchasing our tickets and waiting patiently at the gift shop we readied ourselves for the journey through the watery caverns (spooky, no?).
It smelled bad! (Rick, our guide, is behind Nicole)Our tour guide, Rick led us and 12 others through the boats. We started at a small dock where huge fish jumped out of the murky green water.
The creaky motor boat slowly glided on the lake (11 million gallons of water!), while Rick pointed out various stalactites (point down), stalagmites (point up), and towers. We found out all sorts of interesting facts: that tours had been in operations for 123 years, Americans Indians had used the caves as a hiding place during Indian wars (evidence of arrowheads/tools), from 1885-1965 people used to strike the stalactites as chimes (not allowed anymore), the lowest part is 100 ft. beneath the ground, people broke off stalactites for souvenirs, the largest pillar is 13 feet—very interesting tidbits for dinner table conversation.
The Chimes
A prairie dog stalagmite! (I think, they all tend to look the same...)
Some nice special effects.
I see the light!
My fab photography skills.
Nicole doesn't want to go back into the caves... There are bats!We also found that the shapes Rick pointed out in the rocks were like cloud formations: you can’t tell the rocks apart really! After 50 minutes of 52 degree chilliness, Michelle and I were ready for the next leg of our tour!
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