I entered Mystery Cave
There is a limestone cave in southeastern Minnesota called "Mystery Cave." I went inside.
Mystery Cave is apparently called "Mystery" cave because once a guy working in the cave tipped over a wheelbarrow full of debris and exclaimed, "It's a mystery why anyone would want to work in a cave," or something like that. I'm paraphrasing. Here's a picture of us exploring the cave behind the park guide who told us that story:
That door is incredible!!!!
Inside the cave, it is always a steady 48 degrees Fahrenheit (approx 8.9 C). We had to layer up to go inside. The cave remains this temperature at all times of the year, which makes it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It is fed by water from the neighboring river, and the water returns to that river after passing through the cave - but it then cools the entire river so much that different species of fish choose to live in it. It's really extremely cold!! By the time I'd been in there an hour, my nose had started to run and I was starting to get uncomfortable.
Anyway, here's some Cave Stuff:
Looking down into a several-feet-deep pool:
It's hard to see the actual fossil in this picture, but here's me looking down some steep stairs at the tour guide as he pointed out a fossilized cephalopod tail sticking straight out of the wall like a conical spike:
Here is the tunnel leading off to like, over ten more miles of spooky cave that you can only visit on a special 4-hour tour where you crawl on your knees for over a mile:
A kind of underground pond full of blue water:
Us hustling out of the cave with drippy noses and chilly fingers:
Anyway, this was a super cool tourist attraction, very well-run by the state. The tour was great. The cave is just the caviest, cave-ass cave experience you could possibly imagine. If I came back to this part of Minnesota with new guests, I would take them for sure!!