Day 3: Sunday, July 17th: Horseshoe Lake to Onondaga Cave State Park

  • Jul 17, 2011
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Horseshoe Lake sunset around eight o’clock Saturday night. 

Raccoon in the garbage can

This was our raccoon neighbor in the garbage can last night, even Cody’s really dirty diaper did not deter this guy.  He was our only neighbor.  The ninety plus degree temperature might have deterred others from camping last night.  Brooke cried on and off most of the night because she was so hot.  I finally put a small battery operated fan Scott brought at  her feet and she slept without crying.

Horseshoe Lake canoeing this morning.  The kids were eager to use their paddles and get moving.

Brooke dancing while waiting for us to pack up the canoe, life vests, and paddles.

 

The Mississippi River was so high that the sidewalk along the river was completely covered.  The stairs led right into the water.

The kids were very excited to see the barges go up and down the river.

Brooke had a harder time walking today.  It was very hot and very sunny.  She was ready for a rest break at the top of the stairs even though she rode horsey-back.  Cody decided he didn’t really want to sit on the steps by us.  Scott was determined Cody would come back to us.  Cody found another nice family to stand in line with at the Visitor’s Center. They had a cute son Cody’s size and they hugged.  Cody would probably still be smiling with them if I hadn’t decided to follow him.  He is a lot more mobile on this trip. It is fun to see him enjoy his independence. His mobility has aided in everyone getting their daily exercise while we continually try to steer him from danger.

After the arch we headed southwest down I-44 towards Onondaga Cave State Park.  We arrived in the parking lot ten minutes before the last tour of the day.  Cody was still napping, and in our rush to grab him and the backpack the camera memory stick was accidentally left in the computer.  Luckily Scott is an outgoing person and asked if anyone would be willing to take pictures for us and e-mail them to us.  An incredibly friendly grandma and grandpa with their two grandkids volunteered.  Thanks to them we have some pictures of our very cool cave adventure.

The picture on the right is of one of the giant stalagmites called the twins that this cave is famous for.  Brooke was initially very scared being in the dark 50 degree cave. Thanks to a very gifted tour guide that didn’t last long.  He offered her his special flashlight and just asked that she give it back when she wasn’t scared anymore.  That only took five minutes.

Brooke seemed very intrigued by the tour after we saw the boats that visitors used to ride in to get to the cave.  She spent the first five minutes being afraid and the rest of the hour and a half being way to far ahead of the guide in the dark.

This is the kind family that helped us out.

Millions of stalactites. The picture on the right illustrates what Cody did to occupy his time most of the tour.  He was beating me on the head and pulling my hair out.  He wanted to run free, but with slippery wet slopes in a mostly dark cave his time roaming free was very short.  My favorite Cody moment during the tour was shortly after the guide told us about the wooden bridges that used to span the cave.  He explained that wood is not a very good building material for a wet environment.  Cody began to sing, “London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.”

We had to climb many stairs to get up to the Lily Pad Room, but it was well worth the climb.  On the climb is where I found out that the grandma and grandpa who helped us take these pictures were in a very serious car accident on Christmas night.  She wound up with only a broken ankle, but he wound up with a collapsed lung.  A young man was fleeing police in a stolen vehicle.  Apparently he came out of nowhere, they thought they had hit a deer.  The grandma quit her job the next week deciding life is too short to work it away.

It was during our descent down from the Lily Pad Room that we learned that a gentleman who owned a farm in the area had gone on the very tour we were on and realized that the cave seemed to extend under his property.  He went back home and worked for years to try to find an entrance to the cave.  He was successful and brought down fencing with him.  Without telling the current cave owner, the farmer fenced off the cave portion that he believed was on his property.  The case was in the court system for years and the courts finally ruled in favor of the farmer.  There was only one problem: the farmer had died a year before the final ruling.  His portion somehow wound up in the hands of a hospital who then leased it back to the original owner.

We learned that the cave ecosystem is very delicate and that most of the natural creatures who inhabit the caves leave once it has been tainted by chemicals from humans.  For example, the walkways we walked upon were poured concrete and remnants of previous walkways littered portions of the Lost River that flowed through.  It was a great experience and a welcome break from the heat.

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