Caving

The weather has been cold and damp, and I've been desperate to find ways to get the girls outdoors without freezing them down to their bones. I had been thinking of searching for a new (to us, at least) historical marker when Amelia made an odd comment. I don't remember what the context was, but I heard Amelia say, "There are no real caves."

Of course there are real caves. And one fact about caves that you may or may not know is that they almost always maintain a constant interior temperature. When visiting the underground gardens in Fresno the guide pointed out how much cooler the underground home was than the surface during the blistering hot summer. I reasoned that the interior of a cave, though cool, would have to be warmer than the weather outside, and I started investigating California caves online.


My first search brought me to The California Cavern which, coincidentally, is a California Historical Landmark.

Stopping at Angel's Camp for lunch I actually felt warm when I got out of my car. The weather in the sunshine was (according to the big red car) 50 degrees. I pulled off my sweatshirt for a while and patted myself on the back for deciding to come up to the mountains for some warmth.

The weather was only a touch cooler at Cave City. A dozen signs led the way to The California Cavern.

Walking away from the counter at the gift shop (where we purchased our tour tickets), Mike reminded me to ask where the actual Historical Landmark plaque could be found. The man behind the counter told us that he didn't have an actual plaque. He went on to make a comment about the rowdy individuals that would accompany the placement of an actual marker by the California Historical Society. I wasn't sure if he meant that the society members were ruffians or that wild bunches like mine would likely show up when the plaque was placed.

Either way, the story was a bit funny to me. I suspect that those who specialize in or are interested in California's history aren't too wild and crazy. Of course, I'm excluding myself because I also consider myself a linguist, and we all know how zany and out of control linguists are.

At 1430 we walked down a path that led to the cave entrance. Here, everyone over four foot tall had to don a skullcap to protect against likely bumps. The tour guide, who was really upbeat, gave us a run-down of all the caving rules. The most important rule was that we not touch the cave walls and formations (exceptions were pointed out along the length of the cave). If I hadn't paid attention, or had missed this rule somehow, I would have been okay because Amelia felt she needed to verbalize this rule over and over and we travelled through the cavern.

She's a good rule-follower, just like mom.

The cavern was very beautiful inside and had an interesting history. The reason this particular cave was designated a landmark was because early California gold miners who visited the cave were requested to graffiti their names on the cave walls. There was a room where local church groups would gather to sing once a week (because of the great acoustics), and a great column where a stalactite and stalagmite met was the site of several weddings.

Though Diana became over-tired and a little feisty toward the end of our tour, the girls were very good most of the time we were underground. Still, I was glad that Mike had decided to come with me. He wasn't sure I would be able to handle both of the girls alone, in a cave, and he might have been right. For one thing, some of the passageways were damp and slippery. I'm sure I couldn't have held on to both of the girls hands in many of the narrow tunnels.

As usual, Amelia had some brilliant things to say that made those around her smile. The tour guide loved to hear her exclaim, "How beautiful" when we would enter a particularly lovely "room." I'm sure she also got a kick out of Amelia's requests at the end of the tour that we go right back and do it again. Though the tour was an hour and a half long, Amelia was determined that we seek out one of the other nearby caverns and take another tour that very afternoon.

Amelia was also extremely impressed with the guide's demonstration of how miners would use tin cans and candles as make-shift flashlights while traveling through the cave. But Amelia's best line came after we had spent a few moments in complete darkness. Shortly after the lights came back on, Amelia inhaled quickly and said, "I can't believe my eyes!"

Walking back to the car we talked about our favorite parts of the cavern tour. Amelia loved using her imagination to find shapes in the rocks. She compared it to another game where we look for different shapes in the clouds. Diana said she liked finding animals in the rock formations the best, too.

Because I am collecting photographs of California Historical Markers, I noticed that there were two more markers on the way out to the cave. Because we were hoping our grouchy toddler would sleep a little before the tour, we didn't dare stop on our way to Cave City. However, on the way back, both girls fell asleep so quickly that I didn't have the heart (or the nerve) to wake either of them up for a photograph by a rock with a plaque.

One marker wasn't obvious to me until we had driven way past it a second time. Another is the one you see here: California Historical Marker #258 - Forth Crossing.

Mike suggested that I try to get a photograph of myself with this marker. After taking at least a half dozen photographs I did manage to get both myself and the plaque in the same shot. Oh, and I also managed to keep the toppled basketball backboard and hoop that had fallen a couple of feet away out of the photograph. I thought that might diminish from the historical significance, somehow.

Lisa

P.S. If you need ideas for my birthday, I just found this online.