July 5
We drove about an hour and what seemed like out in the
middle of nowhere to find Cave of the Mounds. It was pretty countryside with lots of
rolling hills. The cave was discovered in 1939 and It’s a constant 50* year-round
and is small but very pretty.
ticket office
gift shop, rock display & cave entrance
We took the 1 hour tour which was very
interesting. No animals or insects live in the cave as the only entry/exit is
through the gift shop. Since it’s a wet cave it featured many typical
crystallized rock formations and there were several very clear pools of water.
entry to the cave
fossil - Cephalopod 5 or 6 feet long
a broken Cephalopod that was gifted to them (not found in the cave)
pool of water
"cave coral" & small pond
The "parrot" with the flashlight shining through it
some areas were very narrow
another pool of water
all the lights are out and you can see them glow until the room gradually goes black - Phosphorescence
Surprise cave - very small cave found inside of the larger cave
another pool of water
There is no restaurant, so we grabbed a snack to tide us
over until we had a very late lunch. They have a couple of short walking trails
and we walked them both. There are also a lot of things for kids to do there
such as Gemstone mining and a fossil dig. It was a nice easy stop to give my
knee a rest.
House Finch
Chipping Sparrows
House Wren
Black-capped Chickadee
sinkhole on the Karst Trail
it was in no mood to have its picture taken
Robin
We then went to the Brat House for lunch around 3:00. It is
rated the best, but so far it was my least favorite meal. Greg got the
traditional brat and I got a smoky red. Mine was over-cooked, but tasty. I
though Greg’s was kind of boring. They came with hand-made potato chips that
should have been good, but were a bit grease logged. We couldn’t leave the
cheese state without trying fried cheeses curds. Meh…. They were good, but they
needed a good dipping sauce. The one they served tasted a bit like a skunk
smell.
All in all, a good day.
Tomorrow, we are going to hike some different trails in
Devil’s Lake State Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment