What a wonderful birthday I had!!! David and I visited Cave of the Mound, which is a local tourist attraction that is near Perry and Michael’s in Blue Mounds, WI. It was originally discovered quite by accident on August 4, 1939. Workers were blasting a section of limestone quarry. The results of the blast revealed a limestone cave that was more than twenty feet high containing a variety of mineral formations.

This discovery brought many curious people to see the caves which were quickly closed to the public in order to preserve them. For nine months, debris was cleared from the cave, lights and walkways were installed. In May, 1940, the Cave of the Mounds was opened to the public.

The guided tour took about an hour and our guide was wonderful explaining about the different formations of stalactites, stalagmites and columns. The lighting gave such a dramatic effect on the beautiful colors of the formations. It was interesting too that most of the formations were named after food….bacon stalactites was the flat form of a stalactite, there was a popcorn formation that had formed when the water had cut into the limestone, carrot stalactites are the more common pointed formation. The lowest point in the cave is at 70 feet, which we descended to. Above ground, it is marked by a flag pole. 50 degrees is the constant temperature in the cave. It is believed that the cave is over 1 million years old.

I have to say the best part of my birthday was the picnic that David, I and Biscuit shared under the the oak tree in the field on Perry and Michael’s property. It was magical!!! By candlelight, we had wine, cheese, crackers, smoked oysters and olives and played the game “table topic”. Cards that ask various questions…what song provokes the best memory, do you believe in angels and ghost, etc. We stayed until sunset and then loaded everything up in the Kabota and headed home.

Just wonder where we will be next year for my birthday…..