Quick, to the bat cave!

Yesterday, my family and I took a road trip out to the Alabaster Caverns State Park.

Took the guided tour (as opposed to the wild "crawing-on-your-belly" tour). My in-laws came along to hold the girls hands while S and I held hands. Caves are romantic, what can I say.

Some interesting factoids:

Alabaster Cavern is a 3/4-mile cavern formed of alabaster, a rare form of gypsum, making it the largest natural gypsum cave in the world open to the public.

Drinking the water that flows through the gypsum cavern is equivalent to drinking a double dose of exlax. They call it gyp water, it tastes terrible, but can keep you flowing and regular.

Bats only winter in this cave. They apparently summer in cooler climates. Didn't realize bats could be snowbirds.

Speaking of bats, we did get to see two of them while spelunkering around inside the cave. C was more excited than scared as she traversed the sometimes narrow, often tight, and always slippery walkways. Not having to bend and stoop over when the rest of us had to duck walk through some low lying alabaster crevice, made her journey much to her liking.

Meanwhile, her barrage of questions to the Park Ranger/Tour Guide were typical of a 5-year old, but provided audible entertainment to the few who were on the tour with us. Some questions I recall her asking follow:
Where do caves come from?
How are they made?
Do you live down here?
How come people are afaid of bats? I mean, I'm afraid of them, but that's only because they're kinda scary. Don't you think they're scary?
What is that writing on the wall?
Can I take some cave home with me?And everyones favorite C question for our twenty-something, young, robust, blonde female Park Ranger/Tour Guide: "Do you have any babies?"
Hey, not everyone can get a Park Ranger to blush.