Exploring close to home..

Since we aren't exploring an exotic island for spring break, we thought it would be fun to do something close to home that we've never done before... The road led us to the "Olentangy Indian Caverns" today. Since Jack, Maddie or myself had never been, we were all imagining what these "indian caverns" would be like. It was truly amazing. Nothing at all like I imagined & Jack said to me; "it was so different than I thought it would be." Both him & Maddie were pleasantly surprised.

The cavern's opening is under a modest brick building that sometimes serves as a museum. We were lucky enough to get a look inside today, and a worker there told us about the history of the caves. Once used as a hideout & safe haven for Wynadotte Indians, the caverns have lots of interesting history. She said that supposedly, a man named, J.M. Adam's was camping somewhere nearby in 1821 & his ox wandered off & fell into the entrance of the cave & died. This is supposedly how the "white man" discovered it.

Not knowing what to expect, we slowly climbed down two very steep staircases to find a maze of limestone rock dripping with water. It was hard to look up for more than a few seconds without a pelt to the eye! As we wondered around with our map, it was nice to have electric lights & an audio tour guides. Our imaginations were going wild at all the possible scenarios of "council rock" & "fat man's misery." I loved watching the kids faces as they slowly moved from room to room.

The moisture wasnt too pleasant for my sinus infection & allergies, but once we were above ground again, it felt like summer. I forgot to mention the temperature in the cavern was much cooler than outside. It had a natural air conditioner from the cracks in the rocks.

After exploring or "spelunking," we headed up to the gift shop area to buy bags of dirt to pan for minerals....hoping for a ruby or two..maybe even a nice gold nugget! This was so much fun!! Jack spent alot of time inspecting his treasures, sorting them all out. Maddie loved digging for her diamonds & emeralds:) We left with lots of loot! Hoping to return sometime soon for more exploring.