This lady informs me that there is no water allowed on the tour. For the record, it's been in the 90s for days here and this tour involves climbing hundreds of stairs. A different lady came over and was cordial for a few moments until she saw me take a sip of my small water bottle I pulled from my back pocket. At this time, my wife and I had already been debating leaving because of the bad vibes and nasty attitudes. ![]() Almost an hour later, we are still waiting with just a handful of others. (Of which there are only nasty porta potties.) She said that it would only be 30 minutes. I explained that we purchased tickets for the 3pm slot and asked why the tour was leaving before the scheduled time, as my wife needed to use the restroom. We are now just a few minutes removed from our arrival and this lady then goes and tells a tour group apparently waiting down a flight of stairs (as far as I could tell), to go ahead and that my wife and I could catch the next tour, it still being 6 minutes until the scheduled time. At any rate, all obvious objectionable items were put back in the vehicle. We explained that it is bad practice to leave items in a vehicle, which is ripe for a break-in, even when hidden. ![]() She was having none of that, as her rudeness swelled. As someone who has worked in a public facing leadership position for many long years, you never just tell a customer "it's the rules", you explain the premise behind it to help bring about understanding and mutual respect. We asked the universal question, "why", and got the pathetic, "it's the rules", reply. One such item was my wife's purse which is no larger than her hand extended on all sides. She tore into us about what we couldn't bring, a vague laundry list of items. We arrived about 10 minutes before our scheduled time, but apparently the group was ready to go and we were being rushed as the lady came running over to our vehicle almost immediately. To the right is a 360 picture of the Great Room at the bottom of the cave.Sure the cave is "spectacular", as many of the reviews and pictures attest to, but I must have come across the same horrible attendants some other reviewers have. Scott did much of the work himself, but many other people, including family and friends helped with the rebuilding of the cave. The wires are hidden, but the fixtures are visible, consequently, the cave is exceptionally well lit when compared to other caves. Scott has redone it with 207 LED bulbs using 1900 watts and putting out 155,250 lumens. The cave had been electrified with 279 floodlights, 27,900 watts total and 418,500 lumens. ![]() of steel I-beams, channel, angle, re-bar, grating etc, to rebuild stairs and bridges.Ģ,000 feet of electrical conduit and miles of electrical wire were installed. He also installed an additional 9,000 lbs. He installed 2,000 feet of hand rail, replacing almost all that was in the cave. The other half came in by wheelbarrow through the lower tunnel. Scott carried half of the concrete into the cave two 3 gallon buckets at a time, each weighing 65 lbs. Sara mixed 17 cubic yards of concrete weighing 68,850 lbs (34 tons). Hundreds of tons of rock, mud and dirt were hauled out by bucket and wheelbarrow. While in the cave, the buckets were filled with mud, dirt, rock and other debris and hauled back out. That is 1,080 trips into the cave with gravel. 54 tons of pea stone was carried into the cave by Scott, two 5 gallon buckets at a time, each weighing 50 lbs. He made concrete steps in some spots to replace steep trails. Scott lowered the trails so that there is more head clearance whenever possible. They have a great love of the cave and Scott feels it is his calling to rehabilitate the cave and share its beauty with his guests. It reopened on after being closed for nine years. He has also opened up new areas of the cave. Over the years Scott has replaced the stairs, bridges and railings, lowered and re-gravelled the trails and installed all new LED lighting. In 2015 they bought the campground and surrounding property. Then in 2014 they started working on rebuilding the cave. It took four years to sell their place in Michigan and get established in Cave City. ![]() They had the good fortune to track down the owners and buy the cave. Because of the nature of their business, they had been thinking of moving to Kentucky. They were disappointed to see that it was closed. Scott and Sara Sendtko had toured CRYSTAL ONYX Cave many times and in 2010 they returned for another visit. In 2009 it was sold to Cumberland Cellular, which has the towers atop of the Knob, and they closed the cave. It opened for tours in 1965 and was owned or operated by Ray Gossett, Wesley Odle, Ed Hay and Ed’s widow Karen. Cleon Turner found the cave in 1960, Ray Gossett financed the development and for five years they created trails, stairs and bridges.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |