Check out the other days of our trip (day 1 here, day 2 here, day 3 here, day 4 here, day 5 here and day 6 here).
Day 7 turned out to be our last day of the road trip although we had planned for one more. The day started nice as we headed for the town of Intercourse and wondered around the Amish market. However, quickly the heat started to get the better of us. It was HOT. We were going to take a buggy ride to an Amish farm, but decided better of it because who wants to be behind a horse in a closed in buggy in 100 plus degrees? We did not. So instead of doing much other than shopping we left Amish country and headed for the caves.
We had a long drive ahead of us and the heat was making us exhausted and frustrated. At one point we ended up seeing beautiful lakes everywhere from the highway, we were desperate and wanted to swim. So we pulled off looking for a local beach or swimming spot. We found nothing, we even stopped and asked someone who gave us crazy directions to a spot about 20 minutes away. We followed the directions anticipating a wonderful swim in the lake. We changed into our bathing suits in a parking lot and headed excitedly for the water. Instead of a wonderful swimming hole we found a kind of marshy river that really was gross, like to the point of we questioned if it was safe to swim in.
Again we asked a local and they suggested not swimming there, but that there was a pool down the street. We headed right there and even though it cost $5 a person (which is crazy!) we didn't even hesitate and boy did it feel good. I don't think much has ever felt so nice as jumping in that pool. From the pool we continued onward to Penn's Caves. This was the point where we decided we would stop at the caves and then continue driving home to attempt to capitalize on the cool night air.
Penn's Caves was in the words of Taylor Swift 'miserable and magical o yeah'. It was a totally awesome experience being in a cave in a boat having water drip all around you and looking at the breathtaking caves. On the other hand, I have never considered harming a child, or maybe just the parents because who takes their probably three month old baby on a boat inside of caves. The temperature inside the caves is always 52 degrees, it is wet and dark and not a place for babies. That being said, about five minutes into what was supposed to be a 55 minute tour the baby started screaming, and I mean screaming, not just crying or fussing, but blood curdling screaming. This then continued the entire time. The guide offered to turn back and drop them off, but they did not want to, so the rest of us suffered. We missed out on a lot, we could not hear the guide, who was awesome until the baby started crying, and the entire thing was very rushed.
Hands down however, I would do the entire thing again, I loved it. With studying earth science at school I learnt all about rock formation and subglacial formations and it was honestly awesome to see things that I learnt about in school first hand. If I did it again I would just pray that it could be a bit more peaceful and a baby would not ruin it. We left Penn's Cave around 7pm and continued the 7 hour drive home. When we got home at about 3am, we were hot sweaty and exhausted. I would certainly do it again, I loved NYC and I cannot wait to go back.
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