Our final stop in Indiana was Marengo Cave. This was my favorite attraction on our trip. The kids really enjoyed it too!
We have been to other caves around the US but this cave is by far the most beautiful of any we have visited. It is the most highly decorated cavern in the interior lowlands of the US. We went on both the The Crystal Palace Tour and The Dripstone Tour. If you have the time I recommend both! I could talk all about the science behind the caves and technical details, but the photos show it well!
This is called mirror lake.
See that blue light in the middle right of the photo? (This is my favorite part of the technical stuff!!!) It is the original entrance to the cave. In 1883 a 15 yr old girl overheard some boys talking about a hole they found and their plan to see if there was a cave inside. This girl, Blanche, rushed home to get her 11 year old brother, Orvis and some candles. They found the small opening in the rocks were cool air was streaming out and climbed in. After quickly looking around and discovering the cave they climbed back out and waited a few days before letting the land owner know of their discovery. I love that two inquisitive kids discovered this now national landmark!
In between tours we did some gem mining!
We also had lunch shopped at the gift shop and the kids and some adventures Dad’s explored the Marengo Maze crawl cave simulator. This was a huge hit as you could watch the brave few who twisted and wiggled around in those tiny spaces!!
Jake would really like to return to do a trip into the undeveloped sections of the cavern. It is a long wet crawling experience for the brave…not me! The walking guided tours are perfect for visitors like me. But how great that they also offer something for the more adventurous crowd! Hopefully we will be able to do that soon.
