Kartchner Caverns and Casa Grande Ruins... on the way home.

On the way home we stopped at Kartchner Caverns, hoping for a cave tour. Unfortunately, apparently you have to get reservations weeks in advance so we were unable to see the actual cave. They have a really great museum though with replica's of all the best rock formations, so we got to touch and see what you are not allowed to touch in the caves.

We weren't allowed to bring camera's in but Kevin's phone takes pretty good photos... They had a replica of the size of the original hole that the discoverers of the cave had to crawl through. Considering my baby had to crawl through it I have no idea how two grown men got through it! Nikolai and MaryKate ran in and out of these too but they were too fast and off to another exhibit before Kevin got his phone out.

We stopped at the Casa Grande Ruins because we had never done it before. It was really interesting seeing how these Indians constructed this three story building using piles of mud!

By the time we got here my camera was completely dead so these last few pictures were also taken on Kevin's phone. Not bad.These two pictures show how tall it really is, close up and then far back in the same location.
We had a great time on our little trip!

In the Hotel and on the way home...

Sara was filthy after running around all day in the dust of Tombstone so she got a bath first thing when we got back to the hotel. I put this picture in because you can just see the big red scrape all the way up her right forearm. The inside of her palm got really bad scrapped too... that is what happens when you are 14 months old and insist on doing everything yourself!!!Nikolai spent the evening shooting arrows at the mirror.

While MaryKate laid around in the most uncomfortable of ways, playing her flute.

We went out to dinner with Kevin's cousin, Greg, and his wife, Lyn that same evening. They live over in Benson which is reasonably close to Sierra Vista (where we were staying). It was great to see them even though I forgot to get a picture of them... whoops.

Sara fell fast asleep almost immediately when we got in the car to drive home the next day. How she stayed asleep with all the commotion going on around her I will never know.

The World's Largest Rose Bush

I can never go to Tombstone without stopping by and visiting the Worlds Largest Rosebush. It came from Scotland in 1885 which makes it 124 years old. It covers 8,000 square feet and has never been fertilized!!! The house is a museum filled with 1880- early 1900 Tombstone paraphernalia. I think that kind of thing is really interesting. Here the kids are checking out a miniature rock crystal garden that somebody sculpted.
There is a platform constructed in the back of the bush so you can climb up and see the top. The trellis that holds the bush up is constructed with old mining pipes, in and of itself it is a work of art!

Sara will not let anyone but her Daddy carry her like this... not even me! But she LOVES it when he does.

You can see MaryKate's horseshoe around her neck that she bought.

This is what the trunk looks like. It is bigger around then most trees!!!

Souvenirs and Downtown Tombstone

Look at the dead guy!
Oh, wait, maybe I don't like it... (she burst into tears immediately after snapping this picture)
Nikolai loved the dead guys. MaryKate would not go anywhere near them!

We stopped at the park to let Sara run around. She wanted to push her stroller!

We gave each of the big kids $20 and let them spend it any way they wanted, but once it was gone they were not allowed to ask for anything else. Nikolai picked out this bow and arrow set that came with a knife and belt and target. He had enough left over he got a crystal growing rock and gigantic jaw breaker at Kartchner Caverns.

MaryKate bought this Indian flute and a pretty stone ring (you'll have to zoom in to see the ring very well). She had been begging the mine tour guide to let her take a pretty rock home so after she bought the ring made out of a local pretty rock she saw him out on the sidewalk and had to run up to him and show him that she got one the legal way! She also bought a horseshoe painted pretty with beads that she calls a good luck dream catcher.

the Good Enough Mine Tour

We took the kids down to Tombstone for a little vacation over spring break. Our main reason of going there was because of this really cool mine tour that opened up a couple of years ago. We thought that they would just love it, and we were right.

Out on top of the mine, with all the modern excavating equipment in the background. Sara had been asleep and I was trying to get her back so in the carrier... it sure didn't last long though...

This is my all time favorite photo of the entire trip. Kevin took over carrying Sara. We gave her a bottle to keep her quiet and we all had to wear the hard hats. She just looks so tough hanging there, in her hard hat, with her bottle in mouth!

A nice lady offered to take our picture and somehow even managed to all of us, including Sara, smiling and looking at the same time!

I would recommend this tour to anybody. It is informative in a real hands on, up close sort of way. They have a lot of the old time equipment from the 1880's and early 1900's. They even demonstrate how the work was accomplished. It is amazing to see all the work the men did all by hand. There are even some veins of silver left in the rock and you can see how unappealing it looks in the rock.

Sara was soooo done being carried and insisted on walking out of the mine, this is the front entrance, hanging on to Daddy's hand and the railing, it's not very obvious, but it is a good size ramp for a little 14 month old baby.