HOWE CAVERN'S

I have always wanted to check out Howe Cavern's. Although my wife, Lesya, has visited them before, it was 10 years ago. So we decided to take a family trip on Labor Day 2014. It's a 2 hr drive from our house so instead of taking the Thruway we decided to check out Route 20. It turned out to be a very scenic drive with many hills and little towns along the way. I noticed at least a dozen antique shops along the way. My wife's sister, Oksana and her daughter Karina also came along with us. 

I was quite impressed at how long these caves were. The tour took 90 minutes and was worth the $25/person. We were a little hesitant on taking the trip because of Adrian's age but it turned out fine. 

Mr. Howe himself had a presentation on how he found the caves. He had cow's that roamed the pasture and during very hot days they hung around a certain location. Mr. Howe wanted to find out why they were there so he went to check it out and it turned out that he found one of the entrances to the caves. The cool 52 degree temperature created a very nice relaxing spot. The depth of the caves is 15 stories deep. The entrance was actually on his neighbors property so he purchased the land for $100. Most recently the cavern's were sold for over $3 million. 

Underground stream

Calcium deposits

This is my favorite picture of a stalagmite. The colors are amazing.

This is a stalactite which was deposited here when washed down by strong waters. The tour guide said that there have been several floods that rose to the several feet about the walking path seen in the picture above.

The ceiling was very impressive at times because it had many fissures in it but it held well and there was no falling rock. We also saw a fault line in the wall.

The camera had a difficult time focusing on faces so most of the faces are not in focus.

This was called the Majestic Wall, simply because it was really beautiful. Apparently this is where Mr. Howe used to hang out a lot. 

This rock wall was called the Pipe Organ because of the beautiful design of the mineral deposits.

There was a boat ride 45 minutes into the tour on the underground river. It was 3-6 feet deep and a cold 40 degrees. At the turn around point the tour guide demonstrated how dark it was in the cave when all the lights were turned off. It was so dark you could feel the darkness. You could put your hand in front of your face and you couldn't see it. It was a very unique experience. 

Who would have know that people actually go married underground, right in the caves? The first weddings that took place was when Howe's daughters got married. Since then they had 600 plus weddings. Karina and Alexis stood on the heart that glowed in the dark where the ceremony part of the wedding took place. 

At the end of the tour we had to go through a very narrow passage way, called the Winding Way. It was only wide enough for one person to pass. The ceiling was some times only 8 foot high and at times it was 45 feet. It was very unique. It reminded me of something that you would find out west in the Grand Canyon.