There's a Hole In My Mountain, Dear Liza

Today we got up relatively early and took advantage of the “grownups only” swim time at the KOA pool. That is, until a brief morning lightning storm forced them to close it. Those squalls have been daily occurrences here, but the weather always clears up. The stay at this campground has been a bit costly, but the amenities like free internet helped us get these entries out to you, and the free pool balances out our lack of air conditioning to keep us from melting in the 90 and 100 degree heat! Speaking of air conditioning, we’ve seen a lot of enormous RVs come through in the past week, and it’s made us think about what’s going to happen to the future of travel across this continent. Gas for our small pickup is expensive enough; powering those large machines must be quite a major investment. We wonder how much longer that way of travelling will be possible at all.

Enough philosophy for the moment! After our swim in the morning, we went off to Lewis and Clark Caverns. Alan had been there before as a child, and was excited about returning. One of the things he wanted to try there was low light photography (other than the digital camera, we also brought along our old fashioned film cameras). The 3 mile road from the highway to the caverns was built in the 30’s, with no provisions for vehicles larger or faster than model A’s, and certainly no thought was given to luxuries like guard rails. This was Cara’s first real “mountain” drive. She prefers when the side of the road doesn’t drop several thousand feet.

The tour was interesting. The guides have changed since Alan was there last, but the bad jokes are exactly the same. The rooms of the caverns (it is a 2-mile hike) and many of the formations (stalag-bits, drippy things, bumps, and stuff you hit your head on) had names. “Room of the Gods,” “Cinderella’s Castle,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” etc. A technical geological tour this wasn’t.

But the caves were beautiful, and Alan was as excited as he was as a little kid. At one point, you actually get to (have to) slide down a formation to continue! And there’s a colony of bats that live just inside the “front” door. (Don’t worry, mom … the guide told me you’re more likely to get rabies from a cow than a Montana bat. J )

After the caves, a bbq dinner, a dip in the hot tub, and time for bed!