Meramec Cave and Children's Museum: Meramec Cave

Yesterday (It night time now, so I bet I won't finish it now, so it will probably be "two days ago" on tomorrow), we drove into the forests of Missouri, where seldom was seen or heard many houses or people. By a rapid rushing river, beneath a big cliff not high though, we saw a little flat complex of buildings up against some huge rock or mountain. We parked, and I went to the restroom in an old dirty flat building connected to the other main building, by ramps and sections. There were other buildings, like a panning station and outdoor cafe, all boarded up. After going to the restroom, I went into the big flat roofed building and saw a sign saying Meramec Caves and Jesse James Hideout. In front was a statue of Jesse James and his brother Frank. I walked in, and came into a center with an indoor cafe with all kinds of food, and a very big gift shop loomed to my left. It was pretty big, and as we walked further and further through this area, we saw a big desk with tickets being sold. I looked around, now seeing a tiled floor with a little wood cabin and a stage to my left, with many chairs under it. We got tickets, and then stood in line. A few minutes later a big troll-like (yes I said troll-like) man with black hair, a limping gait, and a tall looming over us appearance. He started out kind of sarcastic, saying his name was Dustin and telling us to go stand by the cabin. He would later tell us he made us do that to gather around to start the tour. It had a manikin in it, and he had a gun up his nose, being a ruffian, a cowboy. As everyone gathered around, he told us people found it on the property. I looked up, finding myself in a huge room, seeing a cave ceiling with all the rocky features. He showed us a large metal round ball with a cord coming from the ceiling, telling us that is was the only one that was underground, but it does not work. It was supposed to go back in forth for six hours, and then go left and right for 6 more hours, and then it repeats the process. In this example, the pendulum (it's scientific name) only goes back and forth for an hour or two (same with left and right) , and you have to push it every now and then. And, if that's not enough, the one is supposed to be 1,000 lb. or so, but the one there was only a hundred or so. Still, they were pretty proud of it. Now Dustin went over the rules. Everyone had to stay with him, and not touch anything. ANYTHING!!!!!! OKAY! And I mean when your reading this, don't touch anything in the jungle room, Onyx Mountain, or anything in the wine room. I know it might be tempting, but I want all my readers sober. Okay, now, let me continue

He told us he would be turning off and on lights, and so we should come fast and when he stops he will check to see if everyone is close and then turn off the lights. We entered the entrance of Meramec Caves.

One of the first things we saw as we moved down into the cave, away from going up into the upper levels was a little area of a few feet high, being a little thing as big as a dog house, with rocks and dirt and such. Dustin told us that an entertainer named Charles Jones (not his real name but it will do) used people in the audience and if they went along and were funny he would usually give them a good prize, being the nice and generous person Jones was. He had a broke newly wed couple not having money for their honeymoon, and they went along and were funny. Jones told them that he had a honeymoon for them, the little room in the cave we saw at that moment. They found out where they were staying and said they would never do that, but he said if they stayed in for ten days and found a key hidden in the room he would give them a real prize. They thought they would find the key in the first day, the first hour, the first minute. What Jones didn't tell them was that he would only place the key in in the 10th and final day, and that they had to dress up in cave men and women outfits and hit each other with Styrofoam clubs for the delight of the passing tours. They were so mad. Going to bed on the 9th night, they woke up on the 10th morning and found a clay pot, and in that clay pot was the key. They showed it to Jones, and he gave them a week's stay in the Bahama's and a thousand dollars to use any way they wanted, so, it came out alright for Mrs. and Mr. Flinstone (not there name but I call them that because they were cave people for ten days.)

We also saw sights where people discovered the cave and where tours started and ended. We had to stop at a few places for Dustin to switch off lights, first checking to see if everyone was there. They were hidden in the rock, and very cool to see him find them and know exactly where they were. Dustin wasn't the nicest guy, being sarcastic, kind of rude, and quirky. He was nice to us, though, but at times when we saw certain things he wasn't exactly flattering. "When was it discovered?" I asked. "It was discovered by many Indians before white people discovered it in 15...uh,... 1562. " I later learned it was 1532. He said "Oh yeah, I knew it was 1530's or 40's." Even though he said in the 60's. Hummph.

Anyway, we gathered around a figure or two hidden in the dark. The lights came on, and I found myself looking at two figures, Frank and Jesse James, with a flat big rock behind them. They looked like cowboys, with guns, a rifle, and a treasure chest. Dustin said this was the sight they hid until the news of their stealing a bank or something went down a little. It was cool to see where the outlaw stayed.

We saw other things, like two places where Hollywood came to the cave, once in Tom Sawyer where Injun Joe fell into an 1,000 ft. pit after fighting Tom(really a pool of one foot) and where the kid from Lassie was stuck in the cave and Lassie saves him. Dustin remarked over this by saying we didn't miss much if we didn't see it, that was what happened in EVERY Lassie episode. Poor Lassie. She's being made fun of.

Then we saw a terrific display of several, several stalactites and mites. It was called the Jungle room, a long wide corridor of beautiful masterpieces of nature. Wonderful twists, turns, different colors and a pool of water with dripping sounds every moment, sharp tights that looked like talons, fantastic shapes of things like columns and such! It was really beautiful. We also went into another place where we saw a crystal lake, a one foot pool that looked like ten feet because of the high ceiling reflected on it. It was so pretty too. They were all pretty formations. The cool part was when Dustin changed the lights to red, blue, green, making it a colorful spectacle. He changed it to one blue, one red, and one green. We finally saw a formation called Onyx Mountain, and boy was that something! A huge rocky blob visible from both sides, one side dead, made of stalactites and mites(one of the biggest in the world) and on the other side I saw black, red, green, orange streaks on the big thing. It was also really cool.

At the end, we saw a big room reachable by 159 steep slippery stairs, and came into the wine room, called so because of the small rock formations that look like grapes. It was really cool, and they were on the other boulders and such, little grape looking things. We also saw a formation called the wine table, with the grape things all over it and looking like a table.

Finally, we sat down in benches of a slanting room downward and watched a presentation of lights and music and colors of all kinds. It was very very illuminating. We went along and went all along, seeing underground streams, lakes, and rivers. We then left and came out into the gift shop again, and left Meramec Caves after having a great, great time.

We drove to a destination in upper St. Louis, a big huge complex of buildings called the Magic House, or the Children's Museum. Part of it was a big house of windows and doors a roof and such, of a not normal kind, but then it was added on and made into a large children's museum. Sure it started out as a normal house, but what we would find in there would not be normal at all.

TO BE CONTINUED! (You will find the rest in Meramec Cave and Children's Museum: Children's Museum. )