Dig this... the Meramec Caverns!

Gong Gong leaves less than a week from now for home sweet home Singapore. Before that, Vern was at first thinking we could all go to some nearby place for a short getaway. But with my still-blocked ear and me feeling off, day-trips would be more doable.

And so, while it was sizzling hot outside, we went on Sunday to seek refuge in the cool of the Meramec Caverns instead! It was our first time there, and we drove about an hour or slightly more for a tour of the caves and its formations, that took approximately the same amount of time.



There wasn't any see-through, crystal-like formation though, like the kind in the Western Australian caves that Gong Gong remembered fondly from a trip we had all made with my mom- and sis-in-law, years ago when Jon turned 1.

But there were some interesting enough points here and there...

Like this same 'scene', when looked under different lighting effects, more than meets the eye. Which one do you dig?

There is also the Onyx Mountain that is still growing, and looks to me like a giant mound of marshmallow!

The Wine Room has one of only two "wine tables" in the world. And this wine table, because it has three legs, making it one more than the other, the guide thinks it's the better of the two! See also those grape-shaped formation, from which probably the room derives its name.

The most awesome of the formations must be the Curtain Room, with a stage, and curtains parting, and a backstage even (the hole in the wall, on the right-hand side)! We were treated to a brief performance that was an interplay of music and lighting, that helped show off its natural beauty.

There wasn't any real spelunking to do though, but the boys and their daddy did go for a short river boat ride, that was another way to cool down, and wrap up the day's outing!

Stalactite or stalagmite?

So which name is for which formation? I only remember my primary school teacher saying to think of the name with the letter 'c' as ceiling, hence, the formation overhead, and the name with 'g' as ground, hence, the formation from the floor.

But maybe you have a better mnemonic, since phonetically 'c' and 'g' sound alike, so the real difference is between 'tite' and 'mite', not just 'c' and 'g'? I was thinking something along the lines of associating 'ct' with ceiling top, and 'gm' with ground and er mud (?), for lack of a better word.