Lost Sea Adventure

One can do only so many weekends of home improvement projects until it is time to go on an adventure.  Also, one can only stand so much of a cranky wife before one has to beg her to leave the house.  And so, Sam and I went to...

When beginning your lost sea adventure, please be advised that while the America's largest underground lake is cool, the place where you wait for tickets is not.   This summer I have lost all touch with what outside feels like.  My desk job is in a building where the heat varies wildly, and my office is usually somewhere in the arctic tundra range.  I wear sweaters to work while the rest of the world feels the 96 degrees and humidity.  Thus, I am spoiled and unprepared for reality and fall apart in the sun.  Especially when I was already halfway apart.

Sam couldn't believe the yellow tunnel would be so fun

Happily, once you sit down in the yellow tunnel to accustom your eyes to the darkness, you leave all that behind and the cool breezes begin.  

Far and away my best cave picture

Here is a problem with cave photography (aside from the fact that my camera was on panorama without my knowledge):  it is very dark down there.  It is my belief that even photographers who know what they are doing would struggle with this subject matter.  So while Sam and I can appreciate in our memories how cool it was to see civil war era graffiti, all we have to show for it is this:

And while it would be amazing for you to get to see a genuine, Tennessee, moonshine still, instead you get to see this:

For those who can't tell, the sign reads, "Genuine Tennessee Moonshine Still"

I'm pretty sure this is my picture of the underground lake.

But I'm borrowing this one from online so you can see it in all its glory.

The water was incredibly clear, and more blue than green.  They have stocked the lake with trout who become albino and partly blind because they never see the sun.  Despite the tragedy, it is beautiful to see them swimming around down there, and they seemed to find their way fairly well in spite of their handicaps.  

Sam attempts to empathize with a lost sea trout

While Sam's favorite part was the trout, mine was when we experienced absolute darkness.  Shutting off all the lights in the cave, I experienced darkness like I had never felt it before.  

This really doesn't do it justice