I was looking around on Geocaching.com the other day and I saw a listing in Santa Rosa County for "The Cave".
A cave? Wow I've lived here my whole life and I never knew there was a cave around here.
I've really been wanting to go to the Florida Caverns but work keeps interfering with play so we haven't been able to get over there yet and do some exploring.
But a cave on Hwy 90 I can get to!
I read the logs for the cache and saw tales of a bear and a well that you can draw a cool drink from and I couldn't wait to get up there.
Saturday seemed like the perfect day to get away so we made a plan, loaded the truck and headed for the cave.
My teenager would rather be anywhere but outside and seems to have a major fear of going into any kind of cave so we dropped her off to spend the day with a friend and then headed north.
The boys were really excited and I spent most of the ride telling cave and bear stories (well, a slightly embellished version of these stories since I've never actually been in a cave or encountered a bear in the wild)
I told the Island King that I was amazed that there could be a cave around here and that I'd never heard a word about it.
He says that as a teenager he remembers a cave somewhere near the Holt exit off of I-10 and that it was a large limestone cave big enough to drive a truck into.
Obviously this must be it!
We got off the Interstate at the Holt exit and then turned West onto Hwy 90. I was SO excited!!
I have the GPS in hand and can see that we are getting close. Well this is odd - the land around us is as flat as a pancake. Maybe this is an underground cave that you walk down into. Yep that must be it.
We're cruising along and the GPS beeps to let us know we are arriving at the cache location.
The kids and I are about to bounce out of our seats we are so excited.
And then we saw it - The Cave.
It's a good thing we pulled over because the Island King was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
It turns out that The Cave is a bar. A bar!
It's a little block building with a big sign saying Bikers Welcome.
Holy Cow I have fallen for this one Hook Line and Sinker! Suddenly everything was crystal clear.
We're at The Cave, there's cold beer on tap and I'd be willing to bet my last dollar that the bartender's name is Bear.
The Island King is still laughing and I'm standing in the parking lot saying over and over again I can't believe I fell for this!
The boys want to know where the cave is and so we explained that the Cave is actually a bar and that no we won't be going inside, looking for the bear or drinking from the well.
We did find the cache which was a small micro container in a tree near the edge of the parking lot but I gotta tell you it was quite a let down from the cache I had envisioned stashed inside a cave.
We pulled out of the parking lot still laughing and me feeling like The Most Gullible Person in the World.
We met up with my BIL a few minutes later and after we told him the story we had another good belly laugh.
As for the cave the Island King says he remembers, I think he's nuts.
I spent a good part of the day exploring that area and never saw anything resembling a cave.
He swears it's there but I'll have to see it to believe it.
So we didn't find a cave but we did find the cache and we have a story that will make us laugh for years to come.
And I can another another "blond moment" to my list. Labels: Staying