The Next Day - Part 2

 So this is Lester Howe - technically the second owner of Howe's Caverns.  We listened to a brief history of how the caves came to be discovered etc - he was one cool mechanical dude!

 And some more "cave" pictures.  I'll be upfront - it's hard to take pictures in a dark cave!  And really - pictures don't do justice to actually seeing it with your own eyes.

 Again, some very interesting formations

 This stalagmite actually fell on the ground and they decided to prop it up on the path so it could be touched (they ask you to withhold from touching any other parts of the cave the chemicals/dirt on your skin reacts with the natural minerals in the cave).

 Alvar and I at the "altar" - guess we have to get married now!

 Water running through out the cave

 Some more moss growing here - although not wanted in the cave, it does add a little colour!

 One thing that was repeated over and over was the millions and millions of years it took for these formations to come about - I just see God's amazing handiwork instead!!

Even though it didn't quite show up on this picture - the water is still and reflects the wall/ceiling around it, making it look like a deep chasm instead of just a small area of water. 

 Same water, different angle

 I did like how they used different light colours to accentuate the formations as well - added a bit more depth to the caves!

At the end of the tunnel we took a boat ride - and once that was over we were handed our "lanterns" - and all the lights were turned off.  This was the tour that we choose because we thought it might give an interesting spin on the "plain Jane tour".  We certainly enjoyed wandering back to the beginning without all the major lighting! 

Alvar's looking a little stunned here - I think it was partly the flash that scared his eyes open!!  Alvar is holding our lantern, aka - a candle in a can.  I realized as we were walking back, that I don't really like the dark all that much.  I'm not talking about the "dark" your room gets at night when you turn the lights off - you're eyes adjust to this after a couple minutes.  This kind of cave dark your eyes never adjust to - it's just completely black.  I'm glad I had Alvar by my side (I felt way more confident with him there!) - I certainly wouldn't want to get stuck down in the cave without my hubby - or the lanterns for that matter!