I almost skipped this - after all, I'd done "real" caving in my youth, and had visited Mammouth Cave in Kentucky, but when I found out that my Annual Pass to the National Parks would get me in free, I decided to take the time. And I'm glad I did.

After I got my ticket, I visited the gift shop (on my way to the bathrooms) and got pulled into the baskets of spirit stones. Of course I got a turtle for me, even before I read the little handout that said what wonderful people turtles are :-) And then I had to find something for each of my girls, and Mom and Dad, and Aileen... so that took awhile. I also looked for some lapis lazuli earrings, but they didn't have any. There was a lapis otter that was tempting... but too expensive for something that would just sit there looking happy.

I took lots of photos during the long walk up to, down into and then through the cave. I was surprised that they allowed folks to walk alone - Mammouth Cave required guides - but it sure was nice to go as fast and then as slow as I wanted. There were rangers hanging around to answer questions. The most interesting was the story of the rope that was hanging from the ceiling deep in the cave. In the 1990's, the local Grotto of the National Speleological Society (whose headquarters are in my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama!) - or maybe it was the National Park cavers - decided that there must be access to the middle level of this large cave structure, and that such access might be at the top of this dome. So they made a noose and attached a lot of helium balloons (honest!) and floated it up to hook onto a structure at the top of the dome. Some lucky caver got to be the first to ascend the rope, tie it off more securely and then look around. A passage was found and explored, but the hit a wall with an opening so small that only the smallest caver could get her head through to look around. Being environmentalists, they didn't expand the opening, but were satisfied that they had made the connection. Now, *that* would have been fun to watch - even more fun to do!

As I left, I noted that the cars in the Carlsbad Caverns parking lot were from more different places than I'd seen anywhere else! These were all in a row - and there were more, but people started looking at me funny so I stopped...