So far, it looks like the year is off to a very good start!

While 2006 ended like a train wreck Cry, 2007 has gotten off to a very good start! Hopefully, that’s a sign for what this new year will bring. It started with an impromptu vacation to San Diego for their annual New Year’s Day Kite Festival at Mission Bay (just west of Sea World).

San Diego Kite Club 2007 New Year's Day Fesitval

My youngest son and I happened upon a kite store at Seaport Village (a quaint little place on the water off of downtown San Diego) several months ago and we’ve made several purchases there. A few weeks ago, we visited again and learned about the New Year’s Festival. Having never been to one before, it sounded like a great way to start off the year – spending the day at the beach while enjoying the calm atmosphere and laid-back activity of kite flying. As I really wasn’t in the mood for something as crowded and high profile as going to the Rose Parade (which is, just the same, a cool thing to watch) – going to the Kite Festival sounded like just the thing to do.

My son flying a kite.We drove down to San Diego on New Year’s eve (and the traffic was surprisingly light) and made a little bit of noise to usher in 2007 before calling it a night. We woke up fairly early, had breakfast and proceeded to the beach for the Kite Festival – the weather was PERFECT – blue skies, a slight chill in the air, and a steady breeze. Needless to say, the Kite Festival was FANTASTIC! Not only did we meet many delightful people, but the guy from the kite store showed my son how to fly a stunt kite (as I’ve never flown one, myself). My boy was a natural and spent most of the day flying stunt kites (while I chased after them when they crashed)! I wasn’t disappointed that I only got three short attempts (i.e., crashes) all day as my son was so interested in flying them himself! I did get to fly several other non-stunt kites (which made me happy as a clam) and both of us really enjoyed the synchronized stunt kite shows – those were absolutely spectacular!

In addition, there were dozens of kites of every variety – including many types that I’d never seen before. Towards the end of the day (we stayed until sunset!), the San Diego Kite Club held a raffle for a variety of kites. To our great surprise, we won four more kites! I had to get after my boy to put the kites away as the sunset – we just barely got everything put away before dark.

Following the Kite Festival (I think we’ll go again next year), we went to Belmont Park – an old amusement park just a short distance away from the Festival. Belmont Park was closed back in 1976 (I was there just before they shut down) and completely refurbished about ten years ago. I wasn’t aware that it had re-opened. One of the best rides there is the roller-coaster which was originally built in 1925: it has since been completely refurbished. I bought unlimited use wristbands that allowed us to go on as many rides as we desired – we went on the roller coaster eight times (urp!!!) – I’m afraid I don’t have the same stomach for such things as I did in 1976 – and the bumper-cars a million (or more) times! We stayed until the park closed and had an incredible time!

Entrance to Colossal CaveThe next day (January 2, 2007), we embarked on “part 2” of our journey – we went to Tucson, AZ. While I had never been there before, I was familiar with the opening of Kartchner Caverns a few years ago (1999) and had heard that the caverns were incredible. As a result, I thought that might be a fun place to visit. In looking at a couple of books (AAA and National Geographic), I also learned about another cave (Colossal Cave) and a mine tour in Bisbee that might be interesting to see. Of course, Tucson also offered quite a few other sights that would be appropriate to take my boy to.

We spent nearly all of January 2, 2007 driving from San Diego to Tucson (about five hours) and arrived too late to do anything but get a place and have a bite to eat (we found a great Mexican restaurant). We went to bed early so that we could get a head start the next morning (Arizona is one hour ahead of PST – meaning we had to get up an hour early – ugh)! We had breakfast at the hotel and took off for Colossal Cave. I thought it would be best to see a dry cave (such as Colossal Cave) before our visit to Kartchner Caverns which is a “live cave” – i.e., it’s very wet inside!

Colossal Cave formationsColossal Cave was great – it had a lot of fascinating formations and we could smell bat guano (bat poop!) immediately upon entering it. After out tour, we decided to hang out a bit in the area because I wasn’t able to get reservations for both of the tours available at Kartchner Caverns until the next day – more on that later.

At the entrance to the Queen Mine, Bisbee, ArizonaAs we had plenty of time, I decided to take my boy to Bisbee Arizona for a tour of an old copper mine – the Queen Mine. The tour books indicated that visitors got a chance to ride into the mine, appropriately attired with slickers and a hard helmet, on an old mine train. We arrived about 2:45 PM – just in time to get tickets for the last tour of the day at 3:30 PM. Like Colossal Cave, we weren’t disappointed – we had a GREAT time! The mine train took us approximately 1,400 feet (approx. 1/4 mile) into the mountain with a couple of stops along the way. The atmosphere, of course, was very different than that of Colossal Cave and the tour was very well done – it’s lead by former miners who explained a great deal about the mining industry and how mines are operated.

The bordello (gasp!) at Tombstone, Arizona.As the mine tour finished just before dusk, and most of the shops in Bisbee were either closed or closing down for the day, we decided to head back to Tuscon. We stopped for some dinner at the Wild West Town of Tombstone, AZ – the place were the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred. Like Bisbee, most of the shops and attractions had already closed for the day but it was still fun to walk around.

Like the previous night, we hit the sack early because our first tour (of two) at Kartchner Caverns was scheduled for 11:15 AM and we were instructed to be there an hour early: in addition, the drive to the Caverns from Tuscon takes about an hour.

I don’t remember exactly when I first learned about Kartchner Caverns (it may have been from a National Geographic article) except that it must have been just a short time before they first opened to the public in 1999. I had heard that the caves were still “living” (i.e., very wet and the formations were still growing) and that they were supposed to be some of the best in the world. I also knew that the caverns had originally been discovered back in 1974, the discovers had kept them a secret, and the land eventually sold (again, in secret) to the State of Arizona in order that the trails through the caverns could be developed and the entire environment sealed so as to prevent any damage to their pristine condition. Apparently, these preparations took place between 1988 and 1999 when the caverns were finally opened to the public. Another section (called the “Big Room”) wasn’t opened until 2003 in order to protect the bats that live there. Furthermore, that section is only open during the late Fall and Winter months in order to protect the bats (they live elsewhere during those months) – fortunately for us, we were able to take a tour of that portion of the caverns too.

I can say, without any reservations whatsoever, that Kartchner Caverns is one of the most spectacular places that I’ve ever visited! Words simply can’t describe how beautiful they are and the extraordinary amount of work and caution that Arizona took in developing them for the public is fantastic! It’s so rare to see a government agency do something right for a change and Arizona’s work clearly displays an extraordinary effort to maintain the caverns for generations to come (long into the distant future).

The caverns are so spectacular that it’s really impossible to describe them – I could have spent months (at the very minimum) just basking in their beauty. There is simply so much to see! I suppose that the “Throne Room” may have been my favorite location but only due to the shear enormity of it, along with all of the spectacular formations. The caverns were so beautiful that they gave me goosebumps (they really did)! At the end of the second tour, we were able to sit on benches while various features of the “Throne Room” were light and discussed. I was “struck” by a “cave kiss” (a big drop of water) while sitting there. Allegedly, that’s supposed to be a sign of good luck as it doesn’t happen too often – sure hope it works! Cool

My only regret about Kartchner Caverns is that the tours (at approximately 1 1/2 hours in length) were far too short for my liking – our second tour commenced at 3:20 P.M.). Just the same, both my boy and I enjoyed our day at Kartchner Caverns immensely. I’m very grateful; however, that we were able to get reservations for both tours – only a limited number of people are permitted to tour the caves each day and reservations are, more often than not, required. To be honest, I can hardly wait to go back again!

My boy looking at the We concluded our brief journey with a tour of Biosphere 2 – an incredible piece of architecture that was originally designed as a scientific experiment in which its inhabitants were intended to be compeletly cut-off from the earth’s environment (even the bottom of the structure is sealed off from the earth by huge plates of stainless steal. Having read a far amount about it in the past, it was rather fascinating to see what an incredible structure it really is. It’s a shame that further research isn’t currently being conducted there.