Caves and Canada

Today, Jeff and I opened the world of nature up to our kids. And we lived to tell about it. We had a busy road trip, kind of day. We took our slue of kids up to the Canadian border to Crawford State Park to see Gardner Caves and the Boundary Dam. We got there with a picnic lunch an hour before the next tour began. So we decided to take a hike on a path about a quarter mile past the cave that went to the Canadian border. We figured what the 'eh? I thought there would be some kind of barrier or electric fence; you know--like illegal aliens hiding in the bushes, or horse-mounted patrols wrapped in red maple leaves...you know, typical Canadian border issues you hear about in the news. But I saw NOTHING. I felt like I needed a consolation prize or a t-shirt--or, at least something that said "I went to Canada today and all I got was this picture!"

The view from Canada: Priceless little Americans and a warning (albeit, small) to enter through the front door and not the window. (Must have been put there by a prior political administration). Rebounding back along the path, we went on the guided tour of the cavernous tomb. It was a pleasant 39 degrees the whole time. For the pre-menopausal woman that trekked herself to and from Canada on foot, uphill, both ways...it was a blessed relief to wander in a natural freezer for almost an hour. The cave was used as a Moon Shining hide-out on the Gardner homestead during the turn of the last century. It was kind of funny to hear the tour guide explain what that was to a group with a lot of young children. They have no concept of prohibition since they live in such of world of exhibition and no inhibition. Anywhoo...

So the tour guide started out by telling everyone that the formations were 100s of thousands of years old and we weren't supposed to touch any of the formations because the oils from our hands would turn them black and then it would take hundreds of more years to wear off. OK. I'm 38 years old and I had this unbridled desire to run my hands up and down the formations after she said that--for no reason other than she told me I couldn't even touch with a ungreased pinky finger. Ooh. I had an "ah-ha" moment as a parent of what it must be like for a child to not touch something after they've been told No.... **I just want to add that I reigned myself in and didn't touch anything...well, at least not something with a light on it. Seriously. Although I did want to see if the walls felt as wet as they looked.

I was kind of sweating the life of the battery on the camera because when we got there, there was only 600 pictures left on the camera card. The way Jeff was shooting pictures, I figured we'd be done before we got to the caves. We had plenty of juice...and here's few that I shot of the family. As you may notice, I have one child that looks a lot like his daddy. Hmmm...ok, maybe four out of the five.

All in all, it was a memorable day. And after reviewing all the pictures, I couldn't help but post the last one of Jessica. No matter the terrain or the temperature--she's the perfect picture of family fun. Needless to say--the pictures of the others are not so accommodating or cute...but it was worth the trip for a hundred other reasons.