The DeGaetanos explore Howe Caverns!

For Day #4 of our staycation, we took a long drive (2 hours) to explore the Howe Caverns - an underground cave world that, according to geologists, was formed millions of years ago by an underground river. The entire thing is naturally formed, except for the brick walkways and modern lighting installed to enable visitors to tour it. The tour lasted about 1 1/2 hours (Josephine slept on Lou's shoulder for half of it!), and was truly a once in a lifetime experience!


This is the scene we pulled up to - the building where you find the gift shop, the café, the place where you can cut your own geodes or mine for gemstones, and also where the tour begins. The building is actually much bigger (about 7 times as long as what you see here), but I couldn't fit it all in my camera! I just had to take a picture, not only because I thought the building itself was really pretty (I love the tudor style!), but also because I couldn't help but notice the fantastic view!

I just love all the valleys and rolling hills of New York!

The caverns are quite a ways below-ground - 156 feet to be exact, or the equivalent of 15 stories down. We took an elevator down to start our tour. The caverns are 52º year-round, regardless of the weather outside, so it was quite a bit chilly down there. Luckily, I had some towels in the car, so we were able to wrap the girls in them to keep them warm!

Because of the constant cool temperature, there is a local company that pays to use some of the space in the caverns to store and age their cheese - you can see here that there are quite a few wheels of the stuff. I have to say, I was curious as to how this "cavern-aged" cheese tasted...

This was one of the first things we saw in the caverns - a huge rock formation that looks like Godzilla - can you see the eye at the top, the nostril at the left and the mouth below? (he is facing the left) Pretty cool, huh?