Crystal Onyx Cave

     When Travis and I first drove up to Crystal Onyx Cave I thought it looked kind of cheesy and silly. There were tons of random statues everywhere, including alicorns, animals of all kinds, and aliens. And not well done stuff, but sort of cheesy stuff, kind of like giant toys. This was our second Tuesday cave, which we went to after Diamond Caverns, and I was not sure if I would be disappointed in the cave or not. 

     I was not disappointed in the cave. Even though it was presented in sort of a silly way, at times, it was another beautiful, living cave. Our guide, Heather, was very knowledgeable on both the history of the cave, and caves in general. Travis also made friends with Heather immediately (and I told her that Travis really likes Heathers).

     Most of the rooms at the beginning of the tour were not very large, but they were very beautiful. 

     I have seen similar cave formations on different scales. Some caves that look like this are very large and open. And some are smaller, where you are a lot closer to the cave and you really have to pay attention to make sure you don't touch it. Crystal Onyx Cave is another living cave. 

      There were bridges over some VERY deep places. The fact that you can see through the bridges had me looking at the ceiling quite a lot and guiding myself by sliding my fingers along the railing. I am extremely afraid of heights, though most caves are worth dealing with it so I can see them. We will never go to Hidden River Cave, in Horse Cave, KY, because it has a suspension bridge. That will scare the crap out of me! It's sad that there is a cave I can definitely not go to, but there are lots of caves that don't have swinging things for you to walk on. 

     There were somewhat tighter places to get through, but nothing super small. 

     There was a lot of water. 

    And some higher places where you go down stairs to get to the lower areas. 

     Sometimes when we are on a bridge or set of stairs, I think about what seeing the cave was like before walkways and stairs. Would I even like caves if they were climbing and crawling? I really don't know. Even the wild cave tours (I can take one at Howe Caverns if I want) is not exploring, it's just not a curated bit of cave. 

    Travis likes caves, and really liked Heather. He spent a lot of time with her on the tour. And she was especially nice to him, and the very little boy on our tour (9 people total on the tour). 

     Heather took photos for anyone that wanted them. I don't pass up a chance to get cave photos!

    This bit of the cave reminded me a bit of the pipe organ in Howe Caverns

     Heather told our group that anyone that wanted a really cool photo should bring our phones into a particular area, switch it to selfie mode, pop our heads into the picture and use the ceiling (way up) as the background. My phone decided to get stuck on portrait mode and I haven't yet been able to figure out how to turn it off. But we sort of got a cool photo.

   There were more explored places that we passed that were not on the tour, but might be on the second tour. Crystal Onyx Cave has 2 levels that are used for tours, and you are welcome to take a second tour ( for a slight discount, even) to see the other part of the cave. 

     Every once in a while I will inch close to the edge of a bridge to get a photo of the deep places. Not too close, so these photos usually don't end up being great. 

     I mentioned that Heather was very nice to Travis, and they actually spent a lot of the tour holding hands. She offered, and he accepted. And then she told him to lead the way, often. And he dragged her through the cave! He likes to do most things very quickly. 

     These formations are called cave straws, and they are all hollow, which I tried to get a decent photo of. 

     A whole collection of cave straws!

    I believe this room was called the room of imagination. We were asked to look at the formations and find things that reminded us of other things. This reminded me of a castle on a hill. 

     This reminded a lot of us of a T-Rex!

     This formation, on the way back out of the cave, reminded me of a lizard. Apparently, they have decided it's Bowser, from Super Mario. 

     More scary high places. 

 More secret dark places. 

     Travis had such a good time in this cave, a lot of it likely because he became immediate friends with our guide, Heather. This was a fun experience and I am glad I tried it, even though I was a little put off and unsure when I first pulled up to the place. 

      We liked the cave, and our tour guide, so much that we decided to stick around and take the second tour. Especially after I found out that Heather would again be our guide. No one else was there for that tour, so Travis and I got a private tour of the second cave! There was one part that was very (very) low, that Heather said opened up into a tube where you could stand up. She gave Travis a flashlight and said he could go in and check it out. He chose not to. I tried, but my body didn't want to cooperate with me. Heather said it IS possible to duck-walk in to get to the tube, but my knee and my hip were locking up after 6 feet and I didn't think I would make it. The floor was also gravel, and muddy, and since I had nothing to change into (and a bad knee that hurts to kneel on it) I didn't chance going in. And I am BUMMED I didn't get a chance to go places that usually only guides get to see. But we had a great double tour. What a great day of caving!