Longhorn Cavern

Just north of Marble Falls as you reach Burnet, TX, lies Longhorn Caverns; probably the most beautiful cave I've been to in Texas. As temperatures soared outside, I felt a trip to a cave would be a good idea. We headed out early on Thursday morning, stopping in Marble Falls for lunch at Bluebonnet Cafe. We'd hit Bluebonnet Cafe again on our return trip, but more on that later.

After a quick bite to eat (note to self...again...let the kids share one child's plate, do not order two child's plates again!!!), we were off. The cave is west of Hwy 281 and lies a bit east of Inks Lake. The road to get there is Park Rd 4 and it is super hilly! The kids pretended they were on a roller coaster as we drove up and down those fun hills.

Once we arrived, we bought our tickets, shopped and poked around a bit and waited for the tour to begin. The entrance to the cave is a beautiful limestone (I think) stairway of 52 steps. About 20 steps down, it begins to feel cooler. Once in the cave, it is about 68 degrees. That felt refreshing! We went in to the cave with our tour group, experienced "absolute dark" and saw "crystal city" a portion of the cave with tons of crystals from the ceiling. We saw a dog sculpture inside and walked about 200 more yards after that. However, the little guy was feeling restless and tired all at once. He wanted to walk, but I could not let him do that. The tour guides turned on lights as we came to parts of the cave and turned them off as we left -- so just ahead of us and just behind us was pitch black. The thought of my son running off into the deep dark cave actually terrified me a li'l bit! So, we saw a tour group that was finishing their tour up and we tagged along with them and headed back out. My sweet daughter was very okay with this and I was impressed. She was having fun in the cave. She didn't even get scared at all by the "absolute dark" experience and she is not a fan of dark!

I think we will try again when Jesse can come with us or wait about 3 more years. But I am so glad we got a chance to visit.

Oh, yeah...Bluebonnet Cafe. We stopped again on the way back and bought a chocolate cream pie. Mmmm. Don't be jealous!!