There are considerably less pictures for day three. We had plans to do at least one other thing, but those plans were changed at 3:30 am. (Seriously. I couldn’t make this stuff up. When I checked my watch, I cursed.) At 3:30 am, we thought our lives were in danger. Lying there in the woods in our 8 person tent, we listened to the most serious thunderstorm I have experienced in a long time roar over our heads. The rain was pouring. The wind (oh the wind!) was so scary. (Our tent, might I say, is awesome! We had minimal water inside the tent even though the rain was being blown sideways at times.) The thunder and lightening were right on top of us. Wade and I woke up to a particularly loud thunderclap. We were certain that we would end up with three boys in bed with us. We heard Avery whimpering and tucked him in with us. The three of us listened to the storm for a couple of hours and marveled at the fact that Tyler and Benji slept through the whole thing. I think the worst of the storm tapered off around 5:30, but the rain continued for an hour or so after that. When we were finally able to emerge from the tent, we had to begin the clean up. Our camp chairs had been blown over and rivers of mud had washed over them. Everybody’s tennis shoes were outside the tent and soaked. The towels we had hanging up to dry…wet and muddy. All of our firewood…soaked through. What a mess.

We managed to get everything cleaned up in time to make our 1pm appointment for a tour through Jewel cave. (Don’t ask me why I agreed to this after the last one…) Outside the visitor’s center there is this little cement box. On top of the box is the explanation for the box. This box is 24 inches wide and 8 1/2 inches high, and you have to be able to fit through it if you want to go on the spelunking tour. I had never been so glad *not* to be going on a tour in my life! Of course the boys had to try the box…

Our tour for this cave started with an elevator descent and continued with a whole lot of stairs. 723 to be exact. Up and down. Mostly down though, thank goodness. The difference between this cave and the last…the moisture. This cave was much more damp, and therefore much more decorated. So many different and interesting formations on this tour!

So drippy! (I actually got hit four different times by cave drips. It’s supposed to be good luck!)

Stalactites!

This one is an amazingly long “straw”. It is actually hollow inside.

This one looked like a waterfall, but it is all solid rock. Amazing.

The white “lines” in the rock are where chunks of rock broke off and exposed all of the different layers.

Can you see the “bacon” in this picture?

Despite all of the rain, I managed to have a really great hair day! Oh yeah…the boys are totally cute in this pic too. *smile*

After the cave tour, we found a little picnic spot for a late, light lunch. I could not resist taking some pics of the wildflowers.

Stay tuned for Day Four: A ‘Fort’uitous find.