Monday, October 15, 2007

Speleothems 'R' Us...

Our guide only asked us not to blind him. I accidentally got him in one of my shots. Sorry about that, but it does make a nice promo shot for Onondaga, LOL!

Looks like all the sugar is pouring out!
Rocky chandeliers dripping over the river. Originally much of the cave was shown via tour boats, but that wasn't as safe or as reliable a way of getting around and so was eventually given up, though some docks are still here and there.
Some coppery "lilypads" adorn the cave ponds. And the dripping ceiling drops make beautiful crossed ripples in the crystal clear cave water. Um, I'll just call this one a cave flower (with an impressive pistil)... Wider view of the lilypad room. Complete with orbs (ok, they're just water droplets). ;-) A rainy room!
This one is an overgrown gnome.
Milk pouring out through the bacon...neat shot, if I say so myself.
An island of solitude. A closer and slightly different angle of the above.
More cavernous textures.
And one last, dramatic scene from Onondaga Cave.
After the tour I stopped in the giftshop for a few minutes, and a little onyx bat flew into the car with me on the way out. There was more to explore outside--the area where the river met the cave and other places to walk to and inspect, other prospective neat things at which to aim a lens--but the staff also announced that the front parking lot would be closed in a few minutes. At first I wondered why they'd encourage us to look around and in almost the same breath tell us we'd better get going, until I realized this was also a camping park. So the cave lot would be closing in a bit but the camping side of the park would be open. Consequently I'd have to move the car and find another place to park if I wanted to roam around. However, even though tempted, I was now very tired, and outside was very hot, so I settled for a quickie drive around the aforementioned area (saw a little bit of swamp) and circled around and headed back to the highway instead. It was a nice spot to spend a couple hours, and a new one to me.

No comments: