This is the Rotunda Room in Mammoth Cave, the first stop on our trip of National Parks.  It is the largest cave in the world.  There are three tours available and we had the gentlest one and we were glad.  The most strenuous requires protective gear and crawling through tight spaces.  Our tour was 2 hours an quite enough for us.  we descended 200 feet on steps that had cost $3000 per step. There were tight spaces, water dripping on our head, and dusty slippery walking on  the pathway . We were told not to touch the rocks which sometimes was impossible. We were in a group of 50 and we were able to keep up with the front half, but doing much looking or taking pictures was impossible.  I was trying not to fall and managed that.

David was a guide at Luray Caverns in Virginia his senior year in high school and we have been to Howe Caverns in New York.   I waited for his reaction and he said that his opinion was that Mammoth was not as interesting as the other  two mentioned. It is the undisputed world’s longest cave system with 400 miles already explored,  though.

There were no stalactite   or stalagmites  until the end of the 2 hour tour. I enjoyed the formation and think most people do. . . not the holes and piles of  limestone rocks we saw along the way.  The cave is in National Park and the rangers are great guides, very patient, and great with kids.  The forest was lush and camp sites and a hotel are on site.

But honestly, if you are nearer Virginia and or New York, I would suggest a visit to Howe Caverns and or Luray Caverns.

The title  quote  is credited to Stephen Bishop one of the early guides to the cave.  Maybe  he had visited Luray or Howe!