I mean, how could we not stop? It's the longest known cave system in the world! A mammoth 390 explored miles, in fact.
As I tend to be claustrophobic, (a result of our visit to the Lewis and Clark Caverns a few years ago and some Cuban caves many moons ago), I told John to do the FROZEN NIAGARA guided tour on his own. I said I'd find something to do above ground. At the last minute, however, I realized this wasn't the smartest thing to do--so I took a deep breath and bought a ticket.
All was well until the guide, Steve, stopped to show us some of the cave's wild life. Okay. For the record I know bats live in caves. I'm not squeamish when it comes to bats. (John, however, freaks. FREAKS!) So I was all smiles until Steve pointed out the CAVE CRICKETS.
Cave crickets. Above. My. Head. UGH!
It took every ounce of resolve and fortitude I could muster not to scream at the top of my lungs and run for the exit. I'd swear on a stack of Bibles their 6 legs would stretch from one side of my hand to the other, but John would argue they were much (much) smaller.
He wouldn't be saying that if we'd seen bats. If we had he would've screamed like a little girl and run for the exit. (Our daughter will verify to that. Just ask her.)
From there we continued on to Fultondale, Alabama, and arrived in Panama City Beach Thursday afternoon. More about that later. In closing, the photo below of our van is a perfect example of what John saw versus what I saw in that cave. See the big rig? The crickets were that big. HONEST!
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