The Cave Without a Name

Brad and I relished and benefited from our hours away from the children, but every morning it was very sweet being reunited. Well, it was nice for us. The kids, in all honesty, could have lived weeks at my parents' home without a look back.

We visited "Cave Without a Name". It was a bit of a drive, but what a beautiful drive it was. There were John Deere tractors parked in green fields and Main Streets and white gabled houses tucked in small towns. My heart yearned.

While we waited for our tour to start the children began jumping from rock to rock. And yes, someone fell. I was waiting for Simon to have an accident, but it was Alynna. She landed on her little naked thigh and scraped it. Now it was a scrape and I was compassionate while I wiped away her tears and dotted away the blood and scrounged band-aids that would fit. The next day, however, when she would comment about really understanding how Nathan had felt when he was in urgent care with a gaping hole in his shin that require stitches my compassion waned.

Nathan found a cricket in the courtyard and had absolutely no problem chasing it into the women's bathroom.

Ms. Lisa was our personal tour guide. She was lovely. My younger children, who would go home with any stranger that made eye contact with them, always make friends with our guides and Ms. Lisa was no different. That sweet woman held hands with Alynna and Nathan and answered questions and took extra time to look for cave critters on behalf of Nathan. I would have taken Ms. Lisa home with me had I had a chance.

No picture taken in the cave could do justice with what we saw in person.

The cave was found first by moonshiners who needed a place to hide their outlawed concoction. Later two teenagers and a younger sibling discovered the sink hole and without telling their parents they squeezed themselves into the crevices with a lantern. Oh, it gives me the willies! They made it out and did end up telling their parents and later the cave was bought and named "Cave Without a Name" (because it was "too beautiful to have a name"). Now the cave hosts concerts, tours, and educational programs. Much of the cave has yet to be explored. I couldn't decide if the overall "weird" feeling I had was of wonder and the challenge of discovery, or claustrophobia evenly mixed with a fear of being stuck in the cave for a long, slow, dark death.

Here Ms. Lisa took extra time helping the kids find cave frogs and cave critters.

Ms. Lisa gave the children bags of dirt that hid fossils and geodes which they panned in the back fountain. Brad can correct me on my bad use of vocabulary later as it was not "panning" nor a "back fountain". However, the correct terms were too close to the word "sleuth", so now I always want to say the kids went "sleuthing" and then Brad laughs at me. 

When we all got home my mom decided she wanted to eat at the Luxary, so we packed up and headed out for a late dinner.

This was yet another time in my parenting history that I said yes while crossing my fingers. Kaeley and my dad did indeed arrive at the Luxury safely.

The Luxury are two storage containers turned bar and restaurant down by the River Walk. It's one of my parents' favorite spots to eat. It's very casual and has great food.

The wait was longer than we were expecting, so my mom and I took those antsy boys on a walk to pass the time. Simon, who was already rather tired, took a good run and I had to jog to keep up with him.

Nathan protects the ducks from his three year old brother.

We had a very lovely dinner that evening. It was a great location for our loud and active (and sometimes moody, as you can see from the look on Alynna's face) brood. Thanks, Mom and Dad!