Robber's Cave State Park

It has been brought to my attention that I have been very negligent and must repent.  A couple of weeks ago we went on an overnight field trip to Lake Eufala and Robber's Cave State Park.  I only blogged about the first half of that trip and totally forgot to write about the rest of it.  Shame on me...

So.  Robber's Cave.

We woke up Friday morning to the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof.  Not an auspicious start to our day, but we need the rain so badly it was hard to complain.  We enjoyed a quiet morning at Terri's parents' house and got ourselves packed and ready to go.  The drive to Robber's Cave State Park took about an hour and a half because of the inclement weather and some carsick kiddos - Olivia and Kelsey, to be exact.  Olivia was kind enough to limit herself to an upset stomach, whereas Kelsey had to use the bag we provided her.  Fortunately, she didn't make a mess and we got back on the road without too much drama.

Once we got to the park, we decided to picnic first and give the rain a little more time to pass us by.

Kelsey did her part by offering up a rain dance.

Connor helped, too.

 Oddly enough, it worked.

We discovered this cute little hike by the picnic area, so the kids grabbed their hiking sticks, I put Maddox in the backpack carrier, and we hit the road.  Or should I say bridge?

There was some really gorgeous scenery!

And lily pads.  We mustn't forget the lily pads.

Did you know that lily pads have flowers?  It was news to me!

Once we crossed the bridge, the trail took us in the woods for a short hike.  I asked Connor to let me take his picture, and he struck his usual face pose with his walking stick.

 The girls posed for me, too.

While we were in the woods, everything was wet from the rain.  As I walked by an evergreen, I saw this:

 Isn't this so cool?  Look at those heavy droplets of water just hanging there on the tips of the needles.  Once I pointed it out to them, the girls got the biggest kick out of whacking the trees with their walking sticks to make the water drops fall off.  It didn't take long for them to be forbidden to do it while the adults were walking under the tree.

Kelsey called these trees the "bat trees".  I bet you can't guess why.  (And no, they aren't bats.  Just old, dead leaves.)

Just as we finished our hike and headed back to the van, it started raining again.

Despite the rain, we were not to be deterred from visiting the actual "robbers cave" part of the park.  We got everyone loaded up and followed the signs to the caves.  Can you guess what happened by the time we got there?  

You guessed it!  It had stopped raining again.

Once more, we piled out of the car and headed to where the cool stuff could be found.

Do you see the rock-climbers in the background?

This is a picture looking straight up from the side of one of the big rocks we walked around.  They're so big!

Despite the fact that the rocks were wet, the kids seemed to hurry ahead wherever we went. 

We finally had to rein them in.  It was getting out of control and I'm a pretty nervous mom when it comes to my kiddos climbing on slick rocks.

This awesome-looking crevice is called "Devil's Slide".

And this cave had two exits - kinda cool!

Right before we left, I noticed Eva looking cute by the cave opening, so I asked her to smile for the camera and took her picture.

Apparently, that was everyone else's cue to say, "I want a picture!"

And I do mean everyone.

Bye, now!

P.S. Remember that rain I've been mentioning?  Well, it picked up again right as we were leaving the caves.  I guess that's what you call a pretty nice "I love you" gift from heaven.  It stopped raining just long enough for us to see the sights and head home.