Hard Hat Adventure

Got my hard hat on and
ready for an adventure! 

After what was an early start to the day due to needing to go have my pre-op MRI ( surgery is just over a week away now... a hysterectomy if you have not been keeping up) at a bright and early 8 a.m. , then also needing to get the bi-monthly grocery shopping done, we still had nearly a full day of which to do something with and not waste the beautiful Spring weather. After much debating, my husband decided a drive was in order through the beautiful foothills of our local gold country, and to have a destination, as well as mark another adventure off our "to see/do" list, we programmed our gps to lead us to California Caverns in Mountain Ranch Ca, or as it is more commonly known to be located, Cave City. 

The drive was beautiful ! Blue skies, bright green and rolling hills, wild flowers, gnarled oak trees greeted us mile after mile, even a chipmunk or two and much to my surprise a coyote on the side of the road as we drove along. Back highway's and one lane roads, expansive farms and historical main streets were all part of the journey that eventually took us to our chosen destination.  Barely a word was spoken as we just soaked it all in and let all thoughts of my surgery and tests leading up to it slip away, guilt over a lawn left un-mowed dissipated and a smile and a sigh were all that was left in it's place.  In just over an hour, we arrived... just in time for the next tour. 

California Caverns is one of many caverns that are within the foothills above Sacramento, you may recall recently I shared our visit to Black Chasm  located in Volcano Ca., California Caverns was next on our list. I believe there is still one or two left to see, each one is unique in it's own way, although the history is very similar and all around the same time period within what is known as the California Gold Rush. I shall not go into the history here, as it is wonderfully recapped on the web site for the caverns HERE , and I certainly could not put it any better... so I shall just get on with the picture show. 

Unusual greeter *giggle*

Sadly the recent rains prevented us from seeing the whole cave tour, much was under water.

A five minute stroll was required to get to the
helmet hut and entrance to the cave. We
did not mind one bit. 

impressive amount of cave straws and flow stones 

Draperies 

I wish this photo came out better... but you can see the railing slowly
descending into water... needless to say we did not take this trail.
The rocks you see below the railing is a mirror reflection of the ones above. 

More straws.. each one takes thousands to over a million years to slowly form... drip by single drip of water. 

cave bacon 

Sorry for the grainy appearance, my camera is not truly made to take
very clear photos in the deepest and darkest of cavern rooms, and to
see any detail I had to brighten the image way up.This does give you
an idea of our decent route. 

Much to the relief of all tour takers, this bat was not real... apparently
bats do not really like caverns. 

Back outside once more ......

On the trail back to our car. 

From California Caverns to California poppies on the drive home.