Friday night we drove down to Benson with our friends Beverly and Lloyd and spent the night so we could have a full day Saturday "down south." Our trip included Kartchner Caverns, the old mine in Bisbee and Tombstone.
Lloyd on the drive Friday
You are not allowed to take your camera into the caves( which made me feel like I was missing a body part!) So I settled for taking these pictures of replica items at the visitors center:
"Spelunking" in the replicas of the hole sizes the 2 discovers climbed through to find and explore the Kartchner Caverns
soda straw stalactites
Cave Bacon anyone?
Lloyd and Bev in the "cave" and Kenny by a stalagmite
I thought the amazing experience of seeing the Rotunda/Throne Rooms Tour was worth the trip alone. We went through 3 sets of doors to get into the 70 degree cave with 99% humidity. Kenny and I have been in caves before, but it was nothing compared to what we saw here. This cave was discovered about 35 years ago through a small sink hole. The discoverers kept the cave a secret for 12 years in order to protect the condition of the cave! They used a one path system (they walked in the same place every time) and kept the cave in pristine condition. They kept saying it is amazing what something as simple as water can do... I couldn't help but think "yeah at God's hand!"
After the tour we drove down to Bisbee and did a little exploring. We came across this place that a friend of mine had stayed at . I was excited to see it in person, but we were all disappointed that the Diner was closed for the summer!~ It is a 1950's trailer park and you can rent the trailers for the night.
Next we were off to our Mine Tour-
After we got all dressed up for "work" we loaded up on the trolley-
Here we are heading on in to the 47 degree mine... Thats right 47 degrees and it was a windy 47 too!
The tunnels -
This is the tour guide showing us one of the drills they used to make holes for the dynamite
Bev and Lloyd on the trolly and a staircase to a large "room"
Rocks and Beverly
Bev bought a rock to break open- pretty cool
We all really enjoyed the mine tour, in fact Kenny and Bev said they liked it better than the cave (Lloyd and I thought the cave was better). The mine we toured opened in 1914 and closed in the 40s. The man that took us on the tour was very knowledgeable because HE was a minor (just not in that mine).
Our next stop was Tombstone for dinner.
Tombstone was such a neat little town and I would love to go back and check out more of the attractions and maybe take a carriage tour.
It was a very nice, but long day- I think we all had a blast. We really enjoy Bev and Lloyd's company they are so funny and a pleasure to be around.
Looks like a great day!
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