Café Con Monica

Austin Adventures: Inner Space Caverns

Another goal for my blog was focusing on sharing things I was doing in/around my new city so today I am sharing one of our recent adventures.

It’s rare when AJS and I have the same weekday off so I always want to plan something when we do. I started looking up things we could do on a Monday with weather we thought might be just this side of too chilly to be outside a lot. (ended up being a gorgeous day though) and I found out that we lived only 20 minutes from some caverns! So we text our friend, made plans and headed out to check them out.

Inner Space Caverns

Located in Georgetown, TX (about 20 minutes north of Austin) these caverns are some of the best preserved in Texas. The caverns were discovered in 1963 when a drilling team for the Texas Highway Dept was drilling to see if the land was stable enough. After that some Splunkers went in and explored the caverns and eventually in 1966 it was opened to the public.

They offer a few different tours ranging from basic walking tour through well lit areas (Adventure Tour) to Wild Cave tours which are off the path and last 3-4 hours.

Unfortunately, in all my excitement I did not do any research so we didn’t know about the other tours until we arrived and ended up deciding that the basic Adventure tour was the best option for our plans for the day.

We got our tickets, chose a time and then joined a group of people waiting.

The our was led by an awesome guide named Sarah who was funny and knowledgable and shared plenty of cavern type puns throughout the tour. We learned some great facts and were surprised to find that parts of the cave were super warm! We had bundled up thinking it would be cold underground to find out it was a nice balmy 72° with 98% humidity down there.

We came to this great big formation that had water constantly running down it that we were told was 98% pure. I kind of wanted to just dunk my face in it.

After that we got to into a space that was really beautiful (pic below) and our guide asked us to cover all our devices so that she could turn out the lights. It was incredible to see the absolute absence of light. I kept expecting my eyes to adjust and eventually see but there was zero light, I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.

After that we headed back the way we came resisting the urge to touch things no matter how much I wanted to.

We really enjoyed seeing these caverns and were so glad that I happen to find them on a whim. Our plan is to do one of the off the path tours really soon because we need a little more adventure in our lives!

Have you been to these caverns? Done something similar? I’d love to hear about it!

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Travel Days: Caribbean Cruise – Harvest Caye, Belize

Sharing Day 4 of our 7 Day Norwegian Western Caribbean Cruise. You can find Days 1-3 along with my other travel posts here!

We had a really great time in Roatan, Honduras on day 3. After doing plenty of research before we left for the cruise I knew that we would not be doing an excursion when we got to Belize.

A bit about this stop. It is a man made island built specifically for cruise stops. This means that there aren’t really any great excursions and everything is tailored to tourists. The drinks reflect this, the few things you can do are also priced accordingly and there is very little of Belize actually present. Knowing this we decided to sleep in, have breakfast on the boat and then head out to the island with the plan to lay on the beach, walk around and then head back early.

Some things to note…

  • Even though the island is owned by Norwegian, your drink pass does not work there.
  • It is a VERY long walk from the ship to land so be prepared or be sure to request assistance if necessary.
  • There is very little shade outside of the shops so sunscreen is a MUST and getting there early enough to find a good chair spot with an umbrella is key
  • The pools are a very nice after being on the ship with a million people in the pool all the time.
  • They do have an Information desk that will stamp your passport for you if you want to have that stamp (I always do!) Plus they have a mail box for those of us that like to mail postcards. Our card took 5 months to arrive
that long white tent covering is the walk way

The island is very pretty and there was some clouds in the sky so we walked around and took pictures.

The middle picture is what happens when he tries to get me to pose for photos.

We got back to the boat, ate some quick lunch, napped and then went to see a comedy show.

All in all I would say that we were glad to get off the boat but would have loved to have been able to get to the mainland rather than stay on this island but most of my research pointed to it being too unreliable to take the ferry and hope to get back in time. It was one of the things I was most disappointed in.

Have you been to Harvest Caye? Did you enjoy it?

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Spring Break Trip Ideas

If you have children, are in school, work in education you may already be thinking of Spring Break. In some cases (like my own) counting the days until it is here! I thought I would share some fun, last minute, not overly expensive ideas for those of us that haven’t got it together enough to have booked in September.

**I also just want to say that I always always recommend Airbnb. It is usually cheaper to find a home/apartment to stay in rather than hotels especially if there are more than 2 of you and you might need more than one room. Also, kitchens can save you plenty of money even if it is just to make breakfast or pack up lunches! **

Super Last Minute

I want to start with the super last minute stuff because the reality is that in January some of us are still recouping from Christmas, waiting for some tax money to vacation with or simply don’t have the time to sit and do the research right now!

  • Check out sites like Last Minute, Priceline, TravelZoo for super last minute deals and pick a place!
  • Plan a Staycation: Pick a fun hotel with an indoor pool, plan for a couple places you want to see in town, some fun eats and enjoy staying somewhere you don’t have to clean up!
  • Get outdoors: If you live in a mild enough climate you can camp. Get yourself outside, hike, swim, explore and enjoy the outdoors for a few days or the whole week before you (or your kids) have to go back to that fluorescent lighting for 8 hours a day.

Avoid the Typical

  • Costa Rica – While everyone else is heading to Mexico and the Caribbean check out this beautiful country with a mix of cities, beaches and volcanos! Spring weather there is gorgeous too!
  • Washington, DC– First of all…Cherry Blossom season! Instead of beaches and the hassle of passports road trip or look for a reasonable flight to DC. Man of the museums are free so that lowers the expense.
  • National Parks – ties into the get outdoors but travel to one or maybe two?
  • Mexico City – Rather than the beaches head to this beautiful city and check out all the amazing food & culture
  • Think places that you might not usually go to for Spring Break!

Out of the box

  • Home Swapping – If you are really looking for a way to save some money a great way to do this is a home swap. By giving someone the opportunity to stay in your home while you are away you can stay in their place! There are sites for this but also consider your friends and family. If they live in another city that you would like to visit, you can propose switching spots for spring breaks!
  • Amtrak– Plan a trip on the train! Look at where they go from your city, pick a place and enjoy the ride! (Kids 2-12 are 1/2 price and infants are free) If you are a family that can save a lot!

I’d love to hear any ideas about Spring Break! Have you gone somewhere different? Did you plan your Spring Break yet?

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