The Lost Sea Adventure

Noah looking for gold and gems.

When we were driving home from Georgia we stopped at a place in Tennessee called the Lost Sea Adventure. I didn't really know what to expect since I couldn't imagine there being some super amazing sea/lake just off the road. To my surprise, there was - it was just underground in a cave. We went on the cave tour which ended with a boat ride on the largest underground lake in America.

Waiting to go into the tunnel to the cave.

"I want in that tunnel now!"

Noah and Eli. I should have dressed them warmer since it's a constant 58 degrees in the cave.

The cave was really cool and has an impressive history. There was an area where Native Americans used to hold meetings and rituals, a place where they used to make gunpowder for the Civil War, Civil War soldiers and early explorers writings on the wall, and an old moonshine still. In 1905 a 13-year-old boy named Ben Sands discovered the underground lake. When he told people about his discovery no one believed him. He didn't get full credit for his discovery until he was 75 years old and the lake was rediscovered by a group of teenagers.

The black writing is from Confederate soldiers. The wrote it with their torches. The white writing is from early explorers of the cave who scratched the writing into the cave wall with rocks.

Moonshine still.

The boat ride was pretty amazing. People introduced rainbow trout into the lake which were HUGE. Funny story: the young man driving the boat told us they introduced the fish as an experiment to see if they would survive or find a way out. Instead, all the fish died. He says the only thing they learned is that fish need food. He fed the fish while we were out on the boat and they all came to the surface and were jumping out of the water to get the food. It was pretty cool.

Here we are on the boat.