Beneath the Rocks

Pike's Peak peeking out :)

The Cave of the Winds lantern tour is something we've looked at since the first day we got here, but it was not until today that we finally did it.  The website says to book tickets for this tour ahead of time, as it fills up quickly, but the website wasn't letting us book them, so not sure how we were supposed to do so!  Instead, we just aimed to be there when the place opened, and get on the first tour we could.  It worked.

What is the latern tour, you  might ask (or you might not, I don't care either way).  The Cave of the Winds were discovered in the 1800s sometime. The way they searched the tunnels then, was to tip tin buckets on their sides and stick a candle inside.  So, while the shorter tours at this place take people through the main part of the caves, where it is fully lit with concrete floors and stairs with handrails, the lantern tour takes you beyond that, into the deeper parts of the caves, where there is no electricity, and you are completely reliant on buckets with candles in them (yes, they were real candles, well oil burning ones, but they looked like candles and they were still real flames).  Naturally I had to do THAT tour, and really didn't care what Clare wanted!

As the tour starts, our guide kindly points to a 4 foot hole in the wall, and tells us that some of the crawl spaces are this low, including one that goes for about 20 feet.  She then reminds us all that this is a haunted cave tour, and if we don't like the dark, or small spaces, if you have bad knees or a bad back, or if you are afraid of ghosts, then this tour is not for you.  Ok, so what she didn't mention was that you also needed to be able to keep up with her - a young, fit girl probably still in her teens!

While we raced through these caves and caverns, I hit my head a number of times (yes, me, the bear).  You see, I was still attached to Clare's backpack and while she managed to stay low enough to not bang her own head, she didn't seem to mind banging mine!  I was rather relieved when she decided to wear her backpack on her front (does that make it a frontpack?).

The ghost stories seemed far-fetched most of the time, all a good act to sell the tour, I figured.  Although I did notice that as the tour ahead of us was coming out, their guide told us that they saw (insert name I don't remember here).  I figured its what they all say to the new tour, but when we returned and saw the next group, our guide said we hadn't seen a thing (which of course, we hadn't).  I'm not saying I do or don't believe in ghosts, but man that would have been cool to see one!

After Clare got a drink and enjoyed the view from their gift shop balcony on a cliff, we headed down the road to the cliff dwellings, where I suppose... cliff's dwell.  Actually, these were pretty elaborate homes built into and under the cliffs where they have been preserved for a thousand years or more.  Like my Incan friends in Peru, these ancient people also disappeared many years ago, and without a written language, we are only left to guess why they did things the way they did.  It was amazing to walk in and around these houses that truly made use of the landscape. 

Something tells me this wasn't part of the original home

Before I knew it, we were done touring and back at our campsite.  Something about needing to sort our stuff (hey my stuff is sorted - its HERs that needs sorting), and do laundry, and pack the car, and whatever else needs doing before we head out for Utah tomorrow, and my wonderful friends that treat me like family.  I guess I'll just sit quietly and be glad she's at least writing my blog for me tonight.

Who knows if there will even be an entry tomorrow.  I mean, we're spending the day in the car, and when we get to the other end, I'm guessing Clare and KayRena aren't going to shut up long enough to write anything for me.  Ok, maybe I'll at least be able to get her to write that we arrived so that nobody's left wondering... I'm just not getting my hopes up, so I suggest you don't either :).

Whatever!