July 27, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie
Yesterday morning we began our day at a small local restaurant for breakfast.
The Amsden House Restaurant on Main Street in Bellevue was a super nice and clean establishment. The kids were given coloring sheets, and the food was good. The meals were large portions for a reasonable price. We always try to support the small town businesses, especially restaurants. If you are ever in the area, we highly recommend this one for a good family breakfast.
On to the main event for the day – Seneca Caverns. Rich and I have lived in Ohio most of our lives and have never been to this one. This was one event the grandkids will never forget.
Seneca Caverns was discovered in 1872 by two young boys who were out hunting with their dog. The dog fell into a sinkhole, and the boys followed him down into a cave. Interesting fact about this caverns is that it is actually a bunch of fractures in the earth. It was not formed by water movement, but rather cracks in the earth. There are places where you can see how the floor you are standing on simply broke away from the ceiling and fell down.
It is one of the largest underground caverns and is definitely a trek underground you will not soon forget. It is important to note that this climb down to the Ole Mistry River on level 7 is not easy. I would label it as moderately difficult. I did it, but every muscle in my body felt it afterwards.
We were fortunate to catch it on a drought year when the water level was low and were able to go all the way down to level 7 – 110 feet underground – where the water table was. The problem is then you have to climb back up out of the cave. Some of the crevices are tight and narrow, but if I can do it, most anyone can.
I did not take very many photos because both of my hands were busy hanging on to the rocks and walls.
**********
After making it back out of the cavern alive, we headed to the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum. The grandkids did not want to go inside and walk through all the trains but we spent some time in the gift shop and took some photos.
Tickets are available across the street in the gift shop. We enjoyed seeing the trains from a distance. After the caverns we were hot and tired. It was near 90 degrees outside with high humidity. We came back to the campgrounds and swam in the pool until thunderstorms blew through the area and we spent the rest of the evening inside watching movies and playing with toys.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure.
