Today is LCC’s birthday and she is going to spend it in a cave.
I got breakfast in bed from PTCC. Only it’s not what you think. She was supposed to set her I-Pod to wake her up but she turned the volume down so when I woke up at 6 am she was still asleep. When I woke her up she got up and brought back some OJ in a bottle and a homemade concoction of granola bars and cereals in a bowl. Then she jumped back into bed and pulled the covers over her head. So I got up and made the coffee and some orange rolls and saw what she had worked on last night. She had strung red mini lights and Happy Birthday banners all over the RV. The table had all my Wildlife WebKinz and gifts from her, CC, and the G’s on it. I opened everything and then ate breakfast. CC called to wish me a Happy Birthday before we left.
By 8:20 am we are on I-15 going to Timpanogos Cave when the G’s call. I can’t talk because traffic is moving so swiftly and I don’t know where I’m going so we will talk to them later. We make it to the cave by 9 am and buy tickets for a cave tour at 10:30am. The brochure says it can take most people about 1.5 hrs to walk the 1.5 miles uphill on the path to the cave. We start out and it immediately becomes a tough uphill walk. The path is paved there are no stairs but it is tough. The trail is marked with ¼, ½ ¾, and end markers. It seems forever till we get to the ¼ mile mark. There is lots of snow on the rocks above the trail. PTCC had snow on her birthday in April and now I get it on mine in May. Will we ever get to warm weather? We stop a few times to take pictures and read the signs on the way. If I knew at the beginning they had a cell phone tour I would have called in to hear what it said but we didn’t notice it until about ½ way up the trail. We finally make it to the top in about 40 minutes and use the last chance bathroom before our tour. We are sweating and will now go into a cave that is 45 degrees. After everyone makes it to the top I notice the Ranger who will lead us. She looks very familiar to me. When I heard her speak I knew I had seen her before. I asked if she taught skiing at Snowbird and she said yes. I asked if her name was Nancy and she said it was. I told her she taught PTCC to ski 7 years ago when we stayed at Snowbird. A very small world it is.
Our tour starts and we get to go inside. We are paired up with a family of 3 generations that were in town for a wedding, a group of about 12 people plus us. The tour is very interesting but I don’t think CC would have liked it because of his size. There were many narrow cuts and low ceilings to get around. The cave runs beneath a fault line so it runs north to south. There were many formations that were beautiful to see. The main attraction is a large stalactite called the heart. They have lit it up with white and then red lights. Back in the 70’s they used to let people touch certain parts of the cave but no more since they have studied what it does to the formations. We finish our tour and get back out in the heat (70 degrees) to thaw out. The walk down is harder on the balls of the feet and my knees. None of the path is level you are always sloping toward the bottom of the valley. We make it to the bottom in 30 minutes and go into the Visitors center so PTCC can finish her Jr Ranger book and get her badge. We watched the movie and looked around in the bookstore. Then we got the picnic stuff from the car and walked a nature trail to the swinging bridge picnic area. This was a really nice lunch area. The American Fork River was gurgling nearby while we ate. It was nice and shady with the walls of the canyon above us and the river below. Miss Nancy had told us that this river had once flowed through the caves. It had to be a really long time ago because the distance between the two are so great now. We walk back to the car after eating and my phone dings signaling a message. I actually have 2-one from my brother and one from my dad, both wishing me happy birthday. I wait to call them back until I get out of traffic. We make it back around 3 pm and PTCC can’t wait to go swimming again. So we pack up and head for the pool where I call everyone back. After talking to my brother, father and the G’s, CC is calling to find out how our day has gone. I told him his package for me had arrived in good condition. He knows what I like. Inside the package was some dark Ghiradelli Chocolate as well as the Duke NCAA Champion T shirt and some new movies to watch.
PTCC is making dinner tonight. She worked up a menu on the computer that was completely in different foreign languages. I got to chose what I wanted to eat from appetizers to entree to 2 separate desserts. I think this has been a great birthday except CC wasn’t able to spend it with us.