Today we went to Indian Echo Caverns.

I remember a class trip to Indian Echo Caverns, maybe circa elementary school. This shabby chic spider gym was definitely there back then.

One item I did not recall from the 1980s spiel was the guide being super careful to point out that we have no proof any Indians ever set foot inside this cave... despite the name. The only human evidence inside amounts to plenty of smoke/burn marks and some two hundred year old graffiti (including a pretzel advertisement!)

This is a severely civilized cave these days. The entrance is decidedly not authentic.

The cave was "commercialized" (their word) in the 1920s, including a crushed rock path to level it out. Not everybody can be a pro spelunker, and this cave serves that purpose nicely. It is vastly impressive inside. There's million year old things in there.

The tour goes some 90-100 feet below the surface. During some portions of the path, even Clark had to duck.

Mr. Pink: "You know what this is? It's the world's smallest violin playing for the Indian cave tour guides."

There's a main room that has two dead-end paths that branch off into darkness... until they hit the lights. It's a fun walk.

Deep inside one of the dead-ends (people get married in here! including one "two days ago" which struck me as more spiel than accurate statement, but what do I know). There's a small natural pond with crystal-clear water.

Two fun legends about the place... one about a hermit who lived in the cave for almost twenty years. When he died (right THERE!), he left behind a journal.

Then there's the Mystery Box, found in (and stolen from) the cave by three local kids in the early 1900s. In the 1960s, one of the three returned the box and its contents... an astonishing collection of old coins (like, 1200-1600 old) and what has to be prank instructions on making diamonds... involving putting coal into the box, covering it with mercury, and then holding it up so it gets struck by lightning.

After the cave tour (so nice in there: 52 degrees year round), we did a gem-mining activity... for both rocks and small fossils. Clark has been playing with them for hours since we got home, organizing them, displaying them and creating pictures with them.

We had lunch at an odd little ice cream shop up the street from the cave, the Willowood Cafe & Creamery. It has an unexpected heap of token-sucking games, plus a batting cage and miniature bowling lane. Most notably, not one but two Hanna-Barbera themed coin-op kiddie rides.