Julia and I just got home from a quick roadtrip. Today's adventure: Kartchner Caverns! I've been wanting to go down and see these caves for a while, it just took till now to be able to work it into the schedule and convince someone to come with me.
We were up bright and early to make the 2.5 hour drive down south. We stopped and got McDonald's on the way out of town.
Once we were out of town we ran into a slight delay: car fire on the side of the road. By the time we got there it had been mostly cleaned up, but the emergency vehicles were still there.
We finally made it to the park! It's a very nice facility. Beautiful desert grounds, with a Discovery Center that has a gift shop and a little cafe attached to it.
We had reservations for the 11:20am tour, but we made really good time and when we got there the lady at the ticket window offered us a couple spots on the tour that was leaving at 9:40. Awesome! They don't allow anyone to take anything into the caves on the tour. They're really protective of the cave, which is awesome becuase it's kept it in almost pristine condition and mostly undisturbed. The tour we did was for the Routunda Room and the Throne Room. There's a third room: the Big Room, but it is closed off until mid-October due to a population of bats that live in there and have babies right now.
After the tour, we walked through the Discovery Center looking at the displays and information plaques they had up. Very cool! Then, watched a 15 minute video about how the caves had been discovered and eventually made into a State Park. Then we had lunch at The Bat Cafe. We sat outside, enjoying the cooler weather down south. I had an over-mayonized chicken salad sandwich and Julia had an over-cheezized personal pepperoni pizza. It was...adequate. Then we walked around the Hummingbird Garden that they have.
On the drive back we saw some interesting things. A line of military helicopters flying east:
There was a DQ attached to the gift shop, so we each got a blizzard to finish the drive home.
One of the fun things about the cave is the story behind the naming of the Throne Room. In this room there is the largest column (stalagtite and stalagmite connected) in Arizona. It's as tall as a 5 story building and it's called Kubla Khan. Here's the story: When the guys who discovered the caverns back in 1974 we exploring and trying to keep their discovery a secret so they could keep it as undisturbed as possible until they could determine the best way to let others see it (eventually the state purchased the property and designated it a State Park), they let a few close friends in on their discovery just so they could tell someone where they were going, so someone knew where they were and could get help if they ever didn't come back. One of the guys they told was a fellow student and the U of A who was a literature major. He would come up with the guys and sit outside the entrance and read for hours and hours while they were down exploring. One of the things he read at one time was the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge about the leader of the mythical, mystical underground kingdom Xanadu. They decided to use the code name Xanadu so as to not give away what they were doing and where they were. When they discovered the massive column they named it Kubla Khan and said he was sitting on his throne.
Kind of a fun story! When we got home and told mom this she said, "Are you kidding me?! Yesterday was Xanadu Day! That's funny!"
What is Xanadu Day, you ask?
Xanadu Day is August 29th. It's the date of my parent's first date and, yep. You guessed it. On their first date they went to see this movie:
"Xanadualbumcover" by scan of LP. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.
I think it's awesome and really cute that they still celebrate this day and remember when it was. This movie is a family favorite and we watch it often. The soundtrack is pretty awesome.
