Penn's cave wildlife tour.

We started out Friday morning driving to Penn's cave. We went on the wildlife tour first it was a fun thing to do. We rode on a safari bus we saw white-tailed deer (something we see lots of every day in our own yard).
Except in our yard we never see any white ones!


We also saw wolves, wild mustangs, wild burrows, black bears, bison,
Elk,
Texas longhorn cattle and a few other animals. It was a warm day so they had the windows out of the safari bus and we got to be right next to many of the animals. I think if D was sitting on the other side of the bus with her Daddy she would have reached out and pet the Elk that was right outside the window. I wonder if that is why the driver parked in the areas she did. A lot of the adventure was us in the bus and the animal in the open so it was kind of like the people are caged not the animals. LOL! A few of the animals in the park are in cages so we got out of the bus in a few spots to see them.


After the wildlife tour we got something to eat then we went into the cave. I thought it was so fun going into the cave. We rode a boat into the cave and got to see all the formations. We went to Luray Caverns in Virginia a few years ago and I thought that was neat but now comparing the two I have to say I liked Penn's cave a LOT better. The one in Virginia was all paved and you had big rails all over. Penn's Cave is more natural looking. You get on a boat and even have to duck in several places in the cave to keep from hitting your head on the cave. How much closer can you get? KWIM? We didn't stand in long lines with ropes all over like we did in Luray Caverns I didn't see any place to make waiting lines with ropes. This adventure was so much more fun. I should tell you that this still being April we didn't go in the middle of the busy season so that might have been part of why we got to enjoy it so much more than the one we saw in Virginia. I do think that because this park is outside with farm land and wildlife all around adds a more natural feel to the park. The Luray Caverns felt like a huge paved parking lot with a long waiting in lines with ropes all over more than exploring a cave to me. Penn's Cave felt more natural to me. It was easy for me to picture in my head the man walking the land and discovering the cave opening long ago. If you are planning a trip to Penn's Cave or if your child has an interest in caves, bats, pollution, stalactites, stalagmites, rocks, and such you can download a free teachers activity guide

Here are some pictures we took in the cave. The cave has lots more to see than what I am showing in the pictures. I only picked out a few pictures (same with the wildlife park) I don't have time to load a ton of pictures and I doubt anyone other than my children would want to see out 300 pictures of our trip. LOL!

Going into the cave.







In case you are wondering the water looks green because of the minerals in it. It is hard water (I am guessing it picks up the minerals from the rocks as it comes into the cave). The water that drips down inside the cave runs out the end of the cave and it makes Lake Nitanee.
We did one more very fun thing on our trip. I will post that next. I hope to get that up tonight. Please remember I have dial up so this takes a long time to do.