Grandpa came for a visit so we went for a little drive up to the foothills to check out some caves.
Once of the perks of living in Northern California is we are in a central location to take in a lot of different terrain and sights. Even though I grew up in Northern CA. I never went to any of these caves. So we packed a picnic and headed out for the hour drive!
I thought the kids might be bored by what they saw, but they do pretty well with stuff like this. They love listening to the guides and trying to answer questions and learn new facts. This cave is one of the best places in the world to see these calcite deposit formations.
They look like crazy little worms that have been squished out of a mold, or fancy blown glass sculptures.
This formation is called bacon.
And here's a picture where I look like a bat. I thought it was appropriate, being in a cave and all.
Waaaay down there, the little speck of blue is an underwater lake.
I just like this truck.
In the gift shop, the boys wanted to buy geodes. Before she helped them crack them open, she explained how they are formed. I honestly don't remember what she said. Something about heating up and cooling down.
Ty's had cool little wormlike formations inside.
Ashlynn chose to buy a back of "rare gems" in sand.We used the sluice they had outside to separate the rare stuff from the sand.
Then we drove into Jackson to check out the cute little old mountain town. My Great Grandma use to teach school around here somewhere.
We found the best shop in town. Grandpa said Grandma would have loved this shop!
When we asked Grandpa what she would have bought he pointed to the white fudge and said, "Divinity". The kids said, "What's Divinity?" The little old man behind the counter quietly gave them each a sample and said, "I can't have kids leave my store who haven't tried Divinity!" The kids liked that!
Ashlynn and I vowed to come back and hit every single one of the antique shops someday, when the men fold aren't hovering over our shoulders!
