Huntsville and Cathedral Cavern Expedition.

So this weekend, I visited Huntsville. The drive from Montgomery was a little less than 3 hours (it was supposed to take me over 3 hours... I drove really fast. ;). Huntsville is known for its rocket scientists! There is actually a Space and Rocket Center that I didn't get to visit, and NASA developed rockets for space program here. Huntsville was also the first capital of Alabama.

I visited the Twickenham District, which has lots and lots of houses from pre-Civil War era. The architecture varies from Greek, Gothic, Federal, and others. They are private houses where people still reside in them. Only one is a museum that is available for public viewing but it was closed when I went. One of the biggest one (I took a photo but didn't upload because it wasn't very good) was turned into an apartment complex! Kinda weird to know 1800's buildings are still being used today.

Then I went to Cathedral Cavern, a little away from Huntsville. My sister says I've been to a cave before but I don't remember it. So I say this is my first cave experience. And according to folks I went with, all other caves I visit will be downhill from this one. It was HUGE!!! It supposedly holds 4 world record -- biggest opening for commercial cave (25 feet tall, 125 feet wide), biggest stalagmite (45 feet tall, 243 feet circumference), biggest frozen water formation, and largest stalagmite forest. Who knows if they are true, but it certainly seems true. They named the biggest stalagmite, Goliath. Just so you know, stalagmites are rock formations that grow from the floor. Stalactites are rock formations that grow from the ceiling. I'm sure there are other differences, but that's the gist that I got. The tour took close to 2 hours. Mystery River flows inside the cave, and we had to cross a bridge. I took a picture, and it came out all BLACK! So no picture here.

The temperature inside the cave was 60 degrees, supposedly constant year round. Our tour ended before the cave ended because they didn't develop it to the end. Although it's a state park now, it was privately owned before by Mr. Gurley (forgot the first name). He unfortunately went bankrupt. But his wife inspired him to name the cave Cathedral Cavern because one room with stalagmite forest reminded her of a cathedral. I thought the name was quite apt.

We were not allowed to touch the formations because oil from our body would rub off on the formations and would stop them from depositing minerals and grow. But it was very very tempting because they looked very tactile.

The guide also turned off all lights at one point to make a point. There are only 3 places where you can get complete darkness -- (1) deep inside a cave, (2) deep under water, and (3) space. It was pretty unreal; you couldn't even see your own hand in front of you! Some of the kids got scared and asked for the lights to be turned back on. One flashlight in that total darkness had enough light for us to see everybody in the group (over 60 folks in that tour).

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience up north, and I'm sure I'll be back up to see other things I missed. Well, that's all for this weekend!