After getting the dogs to the kennel (and a cat back to the shelter) Friday morning we headed off via 285 to Fairplay and then south to stop at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. We spend about 2 hours there and did a 1 mile hike to see the petrified Redwood tree stumps that litter the park. I was impressed with the size and age of them (35 million years old) but as the boys couldn't touch them and they really didn't LOOK like rock the boys weren't too impressed. They were happy to arrive in at our destination and play in the pool. I decided to stay in a hotel vs. camping (a fact I was glad of later). The town is an old mining town turned Casinos. Now, I knew from my research that it was heavily casino's but didn't realize the extent until we got there and walked the main street. I would guess there were about 30 casinos. Almost every store front from gift shops to the local Starbucks was a front for a casino. I took the boys to Starbucks so I could get a coffee and they decided they had to go. So, you had to "escort" them through the casino, they couldn't "linger" on the casino floor. I left them at the men's room and when I came back to get them (after I went to the woman's room) Ben started to walk over to meet me when he was stopped by the casino cop and was told he wasn't allowed to set foot on the casino floor. Truly. Of course, that casino (as well as the one our "free" breakfast was in) were some of the very few that even allowed anyone under 21 to come in the building. We tried to find a decent place to eat dinner and there were only 3 places in town that we could choose from....and let me tell you those 3 were total dives with choices like hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza.
So, aside from that overwhelming fact we did manage to have a really good time. We did the "Molly Kathleen" mine tour that was just outside of town.
You have to imagine...our tour was led by the owners son (about 30 maybe?). You get in a open metal cage and "descend" 1,000 feet to the tunnel (bumping against the wooden cage shaft the whole way). Our tour guide points out the wooden ladder that is located on the wall next to the cage in case the cage didn't work for some reason. Yes, 1000 feet up. He also demonstrated how the tools have changed and how much faster they can dig using compressed air tools. They were VERY loud and I couldn't of gone without the feeling of the vibrations in the walls. We were about 20 minutes into the tour (into the tunnels) when we heard and felt a series of long vibrations with a noise that I thought for a second was some sort of emergency air horn signal that all hell had broken loose and we had to get the hell out of there....I hear our guide counting and when he got to 10 he says "dynamite". Yes, they were blasting with dynamite in another mine a 1/4 away from us! It took all my control to not totally panic and reassure the kids all was fine--gee wasn't that fun! (Ben looked very worried). So, on we go to finish with a compressed air driven train which he got going pretty fast (and then turned off the lights as we whizzed through the tunnels). The mountains in the area are riddle with tunnels and he said there were about 2,000 miles of tunnels many which intersect and connect with each other. You can actually walk to the town of Victor (7 miles away) though the underground mining tunnels (if, of course, you don't get lost in the dark never to be found again--our tour guides words). I didn't realize how uptight I was until the cage bumped it's way but up into the daylight again. The kids can't stop talking about the mine tour so I know it was a success for them.
Saturday night I decided to get tickets and take them to see a play at the historic Buette Theater/opera house. It was a play about Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde set in Cripple Creek during the mining times. We had seats right up front (good for Michael) and right next to the piano player (bad for Ben-noisy). The show was fun and the kids had a good time figuring out when the cast of 6 did costume changes and who they were next. The best part of the evening was after the show when they did about 20 minutes of some fun skits and Halloween songs. The lead actor put on a magic show and he made a tiger "disappear". This ended up being an animal cracker and he made if disappear by "rubbing magic disappear tiger dust" in the air which of course was him turning the cooking into crumbs. I'm not sure why that struck me as funny but I laughed so hard I was crying.
We had a storm come through overnight which left some snow on the cars (not guilty at all now about not camping!) and we drove off and on through snow flurries all the way home. Luckily the roads were still pretty wet since I had the van. We have about 1" at home and more on the way tonight I think.
