[firebll31]

If caves interest you, I suggest you wait for a second vacation and travel north to Southern Missouri. There are numerous caves in the Ozarks, from very non-commercial to super-touristy. If you go to Branson, a trip into Marvel Cave is included with your ticket into Silver Dollar City. The cave is located inside the park. Fantastic Caverns, located at Springfield, is a short road trip away. Bridal Cave, Jacob's Cave and Ozarks Caverns are all located near Lake of the Ozarks, north of Springfield. You could fly into Springfield, rent a car, drive to Lake of the Ozarks and take in the caves, lake and area for a few days, then drive back to Springfield, go to Fantastic Caverns and fly home. The cool of a cave or lake is a great way to escape the summer heat!

[prerunner1982]

If you could make a 2 day trip out of it I would suggest Blanchard Springs and Caverns just outside of Mountain View. They have 2 cave tours (a 45 min and a 1.5hr, there is actually a 3rd tour which you put on gear and crawl around unimproved areas of the caves) that are very neat. They also have camping and picnic areas with a swimming area. It is about 4hrs from Mt Ida, but if you left early AM you could do a tour that afternoon, camp, swim, maybe do another tour the next day and still make it back to Mt Ida by mid-late afternoon.

Blanchard Springs Caverns - Ozark-St. Francis National Forests

[Reivax]

Thank you for the suggestions! We may do that - stay overnight in S. Missouri or N. Arkansas.