I know that I have said it 80 Bazillion times, but there is nothing more delightful to me than enjoying an adventure in nature. I am constantly in awe of the things God placed on our green and blue rock for our enjoyment. There are sights on this earth that are truly breathtaking. So often, our family loads up the boys and drives for miles and miles across other states to find such rare beauty.
But this adventure was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. On Sunday, we carried the boys to Cathedral Caverns, which is in Grant, Alabama. It only took us about an hour to get there and we had such a wonderful time!
As we were entering the cave, Sawyer grinned and said, "I'm so excited! I've never been in a cave before!" (He really has. We carried the boys to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. But apparently, it was so long ago that he doesn't remember.)
The photo above shows what 100% humidity looks like in the pitch dark with a flash to light up the droplets.
Besides the amazing cave formations, the highlight of the cave tour was a moment in absolute darkness. When we got to the farthest point in the cave, the guide asked our group if we would like to experience total darkness.
If you have never experienced total darkenss, you should find a cave and do it. At least once.
It was an unusual sensation.
Eerie maybe?
After our cave adventure, we picked up a trail map and drove to the trail head of a hike that we picked. We chose one that was a mile and a half, because we were pressed for time. Tucker had basketball practice, which was a total buzzkill to the whole afternoon.
We found the trailhead and started off on the path that was so creatively named....
Blue Trail.
You can probably deduce the reasoning behind the name.
We walked about half a mile on Blue Trail enjoying the fall colors and the leaves carpeting the trail path. We joked at how loud our feet were crunching the leaves and that we had absolutely no hope of seeing any form of wildlife because of our leaf crunching stomps.
We all tried....very unsuccessfully.....to tiptoe through the leaves without making noise. This attempt just made us all erupt with laughter and be even louder.
The sign for Blue Trail indicated that we turn left through the woods. We followed the signs which led us out onto the highway. The remainder of the "hike" was basically just walking down the road. Not an immersion into nature. Not cool.
Some other highlights from this little hidden Alabama gem were.....
This little bridge.....
Taking about 6 other photos before settling on this one because the other five made me look like I had double chins. Bradley found the whole ordeal slightly amusing. He thought the first snap was perfectly satisfactory. (You gotta be a chick to understand.)
The boys exploring this little footpath while Bradley and I stood above them on a bridge......taking 6 photos of ourselves.
The massive opening of this cavern. Holy Mackrell!
This view!
I know I sound like a commercial for Outdoor Alabama...or for Mother Nature....but seriously.....if you are sitting in front of the telelvison or computer all day....you are missing the good stuff.
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