My Experience as a Tour Guide at Howe Caverns

I still get nervous every time I turn on the microphone here at the radio station but my experience at Howe Caverns was petrifying....pardon the pun.I was a young confident teenager who thought being a tour guide at the famous cave would be a walk in the park. Instead it turned out to be a walk in the dark. After one week of intense training, management decided to turn me loose.

I still remember part of the spiel: "Welcome to the vestibule, the vestibule remains a constant 52 degrees regardless of weather conditions." That's the only sentence I remember. The rest is natural history.

If you've ever visited Howe Caverns, you may recall that part of the tour includes a boat ride. Part of my job as a tour guide was to navigate this long boat through a narrow passage way while simultaneously answering questions from curious tourists. I soon learned that this was much easier said than done. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been so scared. Not only was I fearful that I didn't have my pitch memorized 100%, the constant bombardment of questions drove me batty... (cave joke) I wondered how I could possibly be sweating in an environment that was far from temperate. I was panic stricken. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the boat got stuck. I resigned the next day.

If you've never been to Howe Caverns, here's their link:

Howe Caverns