I don’t pretend to be an expert on caves. In fact, my last cave tour was when I was several months pregnant with my fourth child, so the tight squeezes and flights of stairs made the experience less than enjoyable for me.

And so, it hadn’t even entered my mind to take my kids on a cave tour on our latest outing. We had a historic site on our minds, and it wasn’t until we got there that we realized that we were just a few miles from Minnesota’s Mystery Cave.

Being a firm believer in taking advantage of things while we’re there rather than making a 3.5 hour return trip another day, I decided to at least inquire about the cave tour. The man at the Forestville historical site said it was indeed kid-friendly, and when I saw the part about putting your child in a stroller instead of a backpack carrier, I was sold.

The only problem was that I didn’t have a stroller along. We decided to give it a try anyway, and we headed through the countryside to the Mystery Cave visitor’s center, a new building with exhibits, a gift shop, restrooms, and information counter. I purchased our tickets, and the park ranger asked if we had jackets along since the cave is 49 degrees year-round. Oops. No jackets on this nice fall day. I was eyeing up the sweatshirts in the gift shop when she offered us official Mystery Cave loaner jackets, in sizes that fit each of us perfectly.

We had to wait about 30 minutes before the start of the tour, but that gave us the kids some time to run off excess energy. They jumped in the leaves, watched the stream under a bridge, and played hide-and-seek behind trees.

I went through the rules with the kids: No eating. No drinking. Use the bathroom before the tour starts. NO TOUCHING ANYTHING!

Then it was time for our tour. Along with our group of five, there were twelve others on the tour, including four other kids. The ranger offered a stroller to another family with little ones, and when they declined, I gladly accepted the offer. One less kid to hang onto is a benefit, especially when you’re outnumbered four-to-one.

Inside the cave, the kids paid close attention to the guide. I was amazed at the cave terminology they had learned from PBS’s Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman and their TripFlix DVD. “Look! There’s a column, Mom!” “What’s the biggest dome in this cave?” Although I cringed every time the boys raised their hands, their questions were right on target. (Relevant questions are sometimes hard to get from early-elementary-aged kids.)

Inside the cave, there were nicely paved paths and only one area with a low ceiling. There was just one spot where we had to park the stroller briefly. We saw three bats (two asleep, one flying), some raccoon tracks, a lot of stalactites and cave bacon, and some beautiful pools of water. We learned that there are hundreds of caves in Fillmore County alone, and that Mystery Cave is the largest cave in Minnesota.

The hour-long tour went by very quickly, and none of the kids had fits when the guide turned off all the lights and we were in absolute darkness.

When we got out of the cave, my kindergartner tried to claim that he wasn’t impressed by it, and that the bats were the only part he enjoyed. But guess what he’s going to talk about at Show and Tell tomorrow?

If your kids are interested in caves, Mystery Cave is a good place to start. The terrain is quite level, and there aren’t any scary ledges that they can fall off, or holes that they can fall into. Still, it’s a real cave, and one they’ll enjoy telling their friends about.

Have you taken your kids to a cave yet? What was their favorite part?

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