Friday 27th January – Texas at random

Today is definitely a good example of making things up as we go!  I woke up feeling a bit heavy headed with bunged up sinuses so was in no rush to do anything much.  I had a recommendation from a couple I met in the swimming pool the other night, that San Angelo in Texas is particularly pretty, so our original intention today was to make the roughly three-hour drive there, maybe doing a spot of grocery shopping on the way.  We didn’t do either of these things!

Simon drove as I was feeling slightly under the weather, talking of which – today was freeeeezing!  I think we actually saw our first USA snow/sleet as we drove through the hills, there was definitely some white stuff falling from the sky in any case. 

As a passenger I am regularly perusing the road Atlas when we’re on the road and as we turned the page from East to West Texas today I noticed ‘Caverns of Sonora’ marked as a point of interest. This was to the South of San Angelo but nearer Interstate 10 so probably a more direct route towards New Mexico than we were due to travel.  I had a quick Google and found the website which described the caverns as ‘World renowned as the prettiest show-caves in existence’.  I also found the attraction in our AAA Texas book where it was described as a gem and stated that tours lasting 1 hour 45 minutes were $20 each.  I threw out the suggestion to Simon that maybe, as we’d missed out on world-renowned attractions before, we should head that way to check them out.  Their website even mentioned welcoming RVs and having overnight hook-ups.  I re-programmed the Satnav and we arrived for a late lunch and a coffee hit at 145pm.  Again, timed to perfection, we strolled into the gift and ticket shop just in time to join the 230pm tour.  Despite the chill outside our guide, Bill, assured us that the temperature inside the caverns is a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity is about 98%.  There were strict instructions about what you can and cannot take with you to avoid causing damage to the delicate habitat.  No coats, no bags, no camera cases, no big hats and definitely NO touching anything other than the handrails.  Wow, Bill was bossy! But I guess they've probably had idiots visit in the past who have tried to remove bits of stalactite as a souvenir – hence our reminder that damaging any of the structures is now a Federal offence punishable by imprisonment.  

At the top of the staircase we were given a brief history of the caves discovery, only in 1905, and that they have only been accessible to the public since 1940.  They have changed the estimation on the age of the caverns several times as they learn about the speed at which they can change form.  But they are several millions of years old…. At least.  The conservationists have been very careful to lay down a concrete path so that visitors do not damage the cave itself and when the tours are not on the caverns are left in complete darkness to not alter the ambient temperature or humidity at all.  There are only so many pictures of stalactites and -mites that you will want to see so I’ll try to only pick the best!  We were impressed by the formation of the cavern walls even before we started seeing the white intricate shapes forming from all around us….  We were allowed to take a couple of items out in the end, after all those warnings! There was a pre-dug hole, within which you were allowed to sift through the earth for fossils, as there were so many there from when rivers flowed through the caverns all those millions of years ago. I found some gastropod fossils and shark teeth.  Here are several of the hundreds of photos I took:

 

A section of cave before we started seeing the stalactites

Stalactites?  Or coral?!

This area looked like a sea of mini cauliflowers!

Crystal clear water in this section of the cave

Eventually the top and bottom will meet... in several thousand years

This area is known as the cave of the white giants (humans for scale!)

A formation known as the red top

The difference between the rounded formations at the base and the more intricate formations - the lower part was once under the waterline, the top section was not.

No amount of photographs will ever show the formations in their true glory, they really were breathtakingly beautiful.

It had been warm and muggy (as promised) in the caverns so it was quite refreshing to return to the cool outside temperature.  It was still grey and drizzling - a good afternoon to have spent underground!  Not motivated to drive any further today we decided to stay overnight at the RV sites by the caverns.  The view wasn’t too bad and we even saw some deer stroll past as we ate dinner just before sunset.  Our remote location meant no internet, no TV channels and no phone signal for the night though…. Blogging it is!