June Adventures Kick-Off

School let out for the summer at the end of May, so the boys and I decided that we would forgo summer camps and become "Colorado Springs Explorers!" We picked out some of the cooler things to see here for the next month. Come July, we are heading home to WA. We have planned two or more places each week of June that represent quintessential Colorado. The deal I have with the boys is that on the days we do the free explores we will go to Sonic for happy hour juice slushes afterward...YUM! School is back in sesson August 14th, so it is going to be a quick summer!

Today is the first post of our explorations. Adam was able to join us on this one since we hit it on a Saturday. Below are pictures of our spelunking in the Cave of the Winds (OK, so not so much spelunking was done, since there is a paved path, stairs with hand rails and electric lighting, but it was still very cool). Imagine 3 little boys, bizarre rock structures, and semi-darkness and you have a recipe for fun and amazement. I have to note that in the cave there was a $2500 fine and drivers license revocation for touching the walls, which we joked about the whole way through, but don't worry, we never touched! We learned all about stalagmites (stand up from the ground) stalagtites (hang down from the ceiling), and what they called "Colorado Cave Bacon," these really cool ribbons of mineral deposits that really do look like giant stone bacon (it is kind of a gross name for such a pretty thing), and saw many amazing creations of nature, really it was very cool.

Next week is the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (W) and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center (Th), followed by a hike with our new neighbors (F) and on Saturday we will go to Royal Gorge with dad--weather permitting since we hear it is cold enough up on the bridge over the Gorge without the freezing wind blowing. We are excited for all the cool things we will see, AND if anyone comes to visit we will know which things we must take you to! So be looking for more posts of our adventures. Ben keeps asking, "What's our exploration today?!"

The boys and I looking at the view while we wait for our tour to begin.

Adam and the boys outside of the entrance, still waiting....

Adam and I had to duck through a handful of the passageways, one was only 3 and a half feet, even Zach had to duck. How convenient, railings in a cave! It was helpful though, since in this picture there are only about 5 steps separating Adam and I and I am directly above him.

I had to put the picture of these rocks, they are called "Romeo and Juliet" because they were once connected, but due to seismic activity they were separated, sadly never to be together again...at this point in the tour I am thinking, "Great...my entire family is deep in this cave, and NOW they tell me there is seismic activity here. Nice."

A really thoughtful couple offered to take a picture of all of us...how rare to have a snapshot of the entire fam!

The boys liked this one because it looked like squid tentacles (Zach), earthworms (Ben), and tree roots (Josh).

The guys are by an 8-foot stalagtite--impressive since it can take up to 1000 years for each cubic inch of mineral deposit, that's 96,000 years!!

Look closely at the wall behind the boys, this formation they call "The Grinch," and, appropriately, Zach and Ben are making thier grinchiest faces to go along with.