Friday's ups and downs (by Jan)

After we went UP with the group up to Pikes Peak (yay!) with the group, David and I headed off to try a last shot at seeing the Cave of the Winds. We got tickets to the 5pm lantern tour and killed some time at Garden of the Gods climbing on Balanced Rock. (we have photos, but I don't know how to load them)

The tour of Cave of the Winds took us DOWN into the cool cave which looked like a great place to have a Halloween party, with stone walls and illuminated crevices, courtesy of modern day electricity. Our tour though took us further into the cave where there are no lights, and we had kerosene lanterns to carry. The large part of this tour was stories of the guy and his friend who owned the place, and how they became not-friends over ownership, and mentions of "George sightings" in various forms... life form, ghost form, etc. The guide told us that they've had a tough time getting maintenance workers to go down there; apparently those who have won't return... apparently there have been apparatition sightings. George had a mummy, one of his gimmicks to get tourists to come, and one day the mummy was gone... and when we were led into a certain passageway and told to blow out our lanterns into complete darkness, we were told that the mummy had been found in this very hall, and that it announces itself nowadays by grabbing your ankle, wrist or blowing in your left ear.... thanks a lot to David, who thought this would be a great time to play a joke on Jan... (made me say "hell" in front of the little girls who were actually doing quite well).

The tour felt a bit short though it did last the appointed 1.5 hours. It was enjoyable. I could do a better job at this story, but we've got to pack up and head out this morning.

Thanks for being a fun group and for the great ideas and roads we traveled!