When was your last family adventure?
One of my favorite things to do with…well…just about anyone, but especially my family, is “get lost”. You know, it’s when you drive out in the country taking back-road after back-road until no one has any real idea where you are (note: we always do this early enough in the day that we don’t lose light while finding our way back and with GPS to back us up). A couple of weeks ago, Jon & I took the girls up to Squire Boone Caverns & Village in Corydon, Indiana to visit the cave system and learn a little more about the famous Boone Brothers.
Squire Boone and his brother, Daniel, discovered the caverns in 1790, when Squire Boone set out to rescue his brother. Squire later escaped a band of hostile Indians by hiding in the caverns. From that day on, he considered the beautiful valley by the caverns to be holy ground. He eventually settled here with his wife, four sons and their families. Onto one of the foundation stones of his mill he carved this inscription: “My God my life hath much befriended, I’ll praise Him till my days are ended.” Upon his death in 1815, Squire Boone was laid to rest within his beloved cave as he had requested.
Visiting the Caves and Village
The caves we were allowed to venture into were amazing, I can only imagine what the sections look like that are quarantined off from destructive humans. I love caverns, the beautiful fluid shapes of the stalagmites and stalactites – my favorite formation being the cave curtains - and exploring places we’ve never seen before. These caverns were no different. Squire Boone Caverns boasts the largest underground travertine dam, a huge underground waterfall and Squire Boone’s grave (his burial site is off site and inaccessible at this time). The cave does begin and end with a 73 step, very steep, spiral staircase that gets slick at the bottom due to the condensation; this could prove to be a problem for someone with mobility problems or very small children (those who cannot navigate the stairs well will have a hard time and you will end up carrying them most of the way). Not that I know anything about that since my youngest is five.
After our hour long tour where both girls asked good questions, made great observations, and seemed really interested in what they were seeing, we headed straight out for the village and the many wonderous sights that lay before us. Over the course of an afternoon, our family saw the last resting place of one of the true founding fathers of our country, discovered and gawked awkwardly at the cave where he was once buried, bought lavender soap, got warned about copperheads, made candles, and earned a bounty of rock candy. Because really, what’s a good adventure without rock candy?
Getting Lost
Afterwards, Jon, the girls and I wearily, but happily headed back to the car to mosey home. Having expressed to Jon the desire to “get lost” earlier in the day, it was quickly decided that I would handle the driving while Jon held down the sleeping portion of our trip. The girls and I turned on some of our favorite tunes with Spotify and headed left towards the river, you see, it was my theory that if we just followed the river we would eventually meet up with the bridges and thusly, Louisville. Heh. That’s probably exactly what would have happened…had it not been for that dead end. In the middle of no where, with no other road for miles and Jon…asleep.
Another Gorgeous Cave Shot
No, matter. I just flipped on the GPS on the Samsung SIII that I’m testing out with the Verizon Wireless Savvy Moms (I figured now was as good a time as any to try out that fancy 4GLTE & Navigation) and opened my Navigation app; plugged in our home address, and followed the sweet sweet voice of Patricia, the Navigation Lady out of the Indiana cornfields and back into the familiar sights of Louisville. *Jon would like me to mention here that I named her Patricia and that it is not her official name.* YET.
I don’t know if my navigation was really any faster with 4GLTE, but I can tell you that the moment I got in range, while we were still lost in rows of corn, my phone started whistling and the messages started flooding in. Ahh yes, the real world was back. And too soo, so too, were we.
Pretty much the entire way I convince the kids we’re going to eat when we get home and they happily be-bop along to my choice in tunes because Jon…is asleep. An hour later (not an hour since we started home, mind you) we pulled into our driveway, on the verge of starvation..but content with the world. Sometimes, all it takes is a few hours away, the wind in your hair, good tunes on the radio, and enough rock candy to fuel a small army to find true happiness…to find your way back home. It also helps to have Patricia, the Navigation Lady.
Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Moms program and have been
provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product. Which means, I talked about the navigation on my phone, hence the badge and disclosure language…which is all good. Cause this phone is awesome. Note: All of the above images were taken with my Galaxy SIII.
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I've taken school field trips to the Ohio Caverns. So interesting, as long as I don't allow the claustrophobic feelings to creep into my mind. But you may have lost me at copperheads! Eeek. That's when my city girl comes out! Great info here, though!
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