A few weeks ago the girl, Tim & I packed up a lunch and headed 30 minutes north of San Antonio to the Natural Bridge Caverns. We weren't expecting much so when we got there we were happily surprised.
We were greeted by big Texas sky and a giant orange Grendel.
As we made our way over to purchase our cavern tour tickets, we admired kids and families panning for gems & gold, rock wall climbing and even mastering their fears on the Watchtower Challenge.
Once inside it was difficult to decide which tour we should take, they offer several: the Discovery Tour and the Illuminations Tour are their two standard tours and you can opt to buy both for a discounted price. They also offer a couple of Adventure Tours where a guide will take you to where you can hike, crawl and rappel to new discoveries!
[If you decide to go sooner rather than later, due to the recent heavy rains (hello Hermine & Karl) they are able to offer a tour of the underground aquifer!]
Because we had the girl with us, we opted for the simpler Discovery Tour.
The tour lasted just shy of an hour. We walked for about half a mile, going as deep as 180 feet below the ground and back up. The entire tour was cemented with handrails and there were two set of stairs that we had to climb. The ground stays wet and is slick in spots, be sure to wear gripping shoes.
Afterward, we rewarded ourselves with our packed lunch and some of the freshest most refreshing water we've ever tasted: cavern water.
There are a number of picnic tables scattered throughout the grounds, there is also a cafe that offeres yummy Icees and various other stadium-vendor type foods to eat, in case you did not pack yours.
It was a fantastic afternoon! And when Tim's weekends off come around as often as the comet Lulin I really value a place that isn't a dissapointment.
If you decide to go, I'd advise you to go early in the morning before the afternoon rush of people that decided to visit the neighboring Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in the morning start heading over to the Caverns.