Places I wouldn't vacation
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wrote on 6 Feb 2025, 15:38 last edited by wtg 2 Jun 2025, 15:39
This giant natural cave is right below one of America’s favorite theme parks (and yes, you’re allowed to explore it)
There's an entire world waiting to be explored underneath the rollercoasters at Silver Dollar City.
https://familyvacationist.com/spelunking-at-silver-dollar-city/
When I was a kid we went on vacation to Kentucky and Tennessee. We stopped to see Mammoth Cave. I was terrified the whole time we were down there.
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wrote on 6 Feb 2025, 18:57 last edited by
Sounds cool. Decades ago we visited some cave out west and were awed by the rock formations.
And in western PA there's something called the Coudersport Ice Mine, where it's always around freezing temperature no matter what the air temp is. When we were there, it was on private property run by its irascible owner and his cats. That's real local tourism! (I think it's more touristy now.)
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wrote on 6 Feb 2025, 20:42 last edited by
Not a fan of caves. I'll go underground when I'm dead.
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wrote on 7 Feb 2025, 00:31 last edited by
@Mik said in Places I wouldn't vacation:
I'll go underground when I'm dead.
Unless you die in a NOLA, that is.
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wrote on 7 Feb 2025, 18:13 last edited by
I came pretty close once. Glad he didn't shoot me after all. I love it but it's a dangerous city.
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wrote on 7 Feb 2025, 21:15 last edited by
@Mik said in Places I wouldn't vacation:
Not a fan of caves. I'll go underground when I'm dead.
I’m right there with you. I had to take meds to deal with my last MRI.
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wrote on 7 Feb 2025, 21:59 last edited by
I hear that, Jodi. You will never get me in that tube while I am conscious. The open MRIs, no problem. I go to sleep in them, but they're not as good a picture.
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wrote on 7 Feb 2025, 23:20 last edited by
My gallery-mate needed an MRI on his neck, he is horribly claustrophobic - he went under general anesthesia - he said the bill was something like $10K!!
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wrote on 8 Feb 2025, 00:11 last edited by
Head MRIs don’t bother me, except it’s hard not to move at all. And I actually like the percussive sounds (a lot of musicians do).
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wrote on 8 Feb 2025, 00:14 last edited by
I’m okay with the MRI if I’m not face down in a face cradle. I need to turn my head to look sideways, or I’m freaking out. I didn’t know I was claustrophobic until that moment…
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wrote on 8 Feb 2025, 00:45 last edited by
Went into caves in Missouri and Tennessee when I was a kid. Tried an old mine and the catacombs more recently. Not for me.
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wrote on 8 Feb 2025, 10:16 last edited by
I'm fine with large caves but understand absolutely your claustrophobic feelings.
The idea of potholing in ultra-confined spaces as a hobby is my worst nightmare.
Even walking into a traditional cornish tin mine with guide, stooped over and having to walk slightly sideways to fit through the tiny tunnel was very disconcerting.How are you in lifts?
We had a truly antique Otis goods lift at work (1880's) the type with with two wooden hinged inner doors and an outer metal concertina pull sideways door; it was so small that it could hold only two people or one with sackbarrow. Tiny, one young man who helped me was 6'4 and had to stoop as we inhaled each others breath.
Took some getting used to.During 20 years working in that building it stuck twice with me in it, one time they forced the doors open and I climbed up & out
Halcyon days
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I’m okay with the MRI if I’m not face down in a face cradle. I need to turn my head to look sideways, or I’m freaking out. I didn’t know I was claustrophobic until that moment…
wrote on 8 Feb 2025, 11:51 last edited by@AdagioM said in Places I wouldn't vacation:
I’m okay with the MRI if I’m not face down in a face cradle. I need to turn my head to look sideways, or I’m freaking out. I didn’t know I was claustrophobic until that moment…
That was when I discovered it too. I don't know if for me it's really claustrophobia or just being in places where I don't have the ability to get out if I want to.
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wrote on 8 Feb 2025, 17:52 last edited by
I've enjoyed visits to caves a number of times over the years. I think the last was Ruby Falls near Chattanooga. When I was in college, I went spelunking in caves with the Explorers Club. I had to slither through some tighter spots.
There's an extensive sandstone cave system in western Pennsylvania, Laurel Caverns, that may soon become the state's first underground state park.
Elevators don't normally bother me; what I find frightening is unconfined high places. Those two things once intersected in a downtown Pittsburgh building where I worked. I was stuck between floors in an elevator and learned that a side panel could be opened for access. The maintenance people stopped the elevator in the adjacent shaft next to the one I was in and opened the access panels in both to get me and a couple of other people out. There was nothing much but air in the intervening space, except for a steel beam about shoulder height that we had to pass under to get to the other elevator. I gripped that beam so tightly as I ducked under it that it should still have fingerprints indented in its surface.
Big Al
