caverns; caves; wet; route 66; roadside attraction; stalagmites; drips; colorful; stalactites; crayons; melting

These underground caves are beautiful, exotic works of nature. Running water and dripping calcium create columns. Drips from the “ceiling” are the stalactites looking like icicles and growing downwards. The reverse, drips collecting on the floor and “growing” upwards are stalagmites. Occasionally, they meet. Water is running down the walls, as rivers along the floors, pooling in certain areas, flooding others. The more popular caverns are wired electrically to light up the calcium columns. Some caves are entered by walking in, and some by crawling on your stomachs. When you run out of batteries, things turn serious real fast. It is pitch black in those caves. I like the texture and lack of scale. This cave reminds me of a melting crayon factory. Each room has a different look. I liked the height of the 70’ -80’ ceilings in this particular space. The colors come from constantly moving lights aimed at the geological structures, which create unique color combinations.