Our Virginia Adventures – Day 2

Today, my parents, grandparents, siblings, and I went on many adventures. We went to Skyline Caverns, a cinema to see Inside Out 2, and it was my Mom’s birthday!

The cavern had to be my favorite part of the day (no offense, Mom) because I saw a super rare group of crystals called Anthodites (I saw the biggest group of them humankind has ever discovered)! Anthodites are spiky crystals that can come in white, orange, and more colors.

I didn’t only learn about the anthodites, though. I also learned about a rare species of beetle called a Skyline beetle. People digging up the cavern found small flea-sized bugs with no eyes and decided to take some specimens for research. They killed seven of those bugs, and not a single trace of another one was found again. They had somehow discovered, named, and killed an entire species of bug, all in the span of one singular day. (Don’t be too sad about that, though, because bug-haters like me are probably thankful for that).

In the cavern, they also had RAINBOW trout (matching the rainbow lights all over the cave!) The rainbow lights weren’t only for aesthetics, though. They were to keep the moss inside the cave from growing. The moss grows because the pollen from our shirts gets collected by moist air, attaching to a part of the cave and beginning to grow. This creates moss, and people don’t want the moss to grow in the cave. Rainbow lights help the moss not grow as fast as normal lighting would help it to grow.

Anyway, after we had a quick visit inside the caverns, we headed to a cinema to watch Inside Out 2. It was at the Royal Cinema in Front Royal, Virginia, which has existed since 1930!

As normal human beings, we snuck our own food into the cinema, but my siblings and I got snacks anyway because we couldn’t turn down some slush and soft pretzels. The movie was great; my G-dad was so confused about what had just happened in the past two hours, and that’s that.

For my mom’s birthday, we went to a fancy restaurant. I got a burger with fries and key lime pie for dessert. 10/10 experience. Alright, I’m tired right now, and it’s taken me a long time to write this, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!!!!!

-Katelyn (AKA your favorite person ever)