McFadden Family Adventures

This morning we took a tour of Dixie Caverns in Salem, VA. We had definitely not been here before. It was a small group of only six people and our guide. The group before us only had two people. The cave was discovered in 1920 by two boys when their dog Dixie fell in through a hole. They ran to the owner of the property to get help and discovered the cave. They began giving tours but people had to crawl through the hole and on their stomach’s until the 1950’s. The lights are from the 50’s and some are having problems. The middle picture shows a formation called the organ because it resembles the pipes on an organ and has an area that looks like a seat.

The pictures below are the same area. The second one has the light turned off and you can see all the formations.

The hole is still visible that the dog fell in and the boys went through to rescue her. The second picture is called a slice of cheese. It is clay that was dug up when they put in the walkways and put in this area.

This is the Salem Fault that runs about nine miles. It has caused earthquakes that have damaged the cave over the years. You can see how the formations run in a row.

It was a good tour and if you stay at the campground you get a discount on tickets. Tips are appreciated so be prepared for that. We weren’t, but since we were staying at the campground I took some money back to our guide.

There was a terrible thunderstorm this afternoon. The trailer was rocking and a very strong downpour lasted for around 15 minutes. We had over a 1/2 inch of rain in about 30 minutes. It cooled everything off, although it wasn’t bad before. It dropped almost 20 degrees though.

I named my phone GPS Mary. We were coming back from town and traffic was terrible. I navigated us away from the craziness. But Tom didn’t like the way we were going. Here is our conversation.

We arrived to our destination with no issues. Never a dull moment around here. We’ve had an interesting day. I’d rather have interesting than boring. I hope your day is filled with interesting moments as well.