Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher did. There is water down there, and a passage can collapse. There are bigger caves outside of Missouri. But for sheer numbers, variety and the opportunity to safely see everything from Jesse James' hide-out to what was once a giant bat guano mine, this part of the country can't be beat. And that's just not true.
Every cave is different.
Fantastic Caverns, billed as the only drive-through cave in North America, offers visitors a tram ride in and out. Marvel Cave requires a good deal of walking downhill, since visitors enter the cave from an Ozark mountain peak inside the Silver Dollar City amusement park. From there, they head 20 stories down, along twisting, turning passageways into the Cathedral Room, the world's largest unsupported dome. But there's a train ride back to the surface. Along with the huge, beautiful stalagmite and stalactite formations that all the caves have, Meramec Caverns also boasts the hide-out of Frank and Jesse James.