I am on vacation. It is the first REAL vacation that I've ever been on. Sure, Dionne and I had a FABULOUS time on our Carnival Cruise, but that vacation was hot on the heels of my marital separation. That vacation was filled with tears, worry and stress... but Dionne and I enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. However, when I think vacation, I think of a break from all that stress and worry... And nothing can seep into your good, relaxing time.

As a member of WorldMark, The Club, I have the opportunity to stay at many different resorts at my leisure. Incidentally, I have never used this membership-- and I've been a member for 3 years. So, this week, I decided to visit Oro Valley, AZ, right outside of Tucson. There is a lot to do in the area, and you have to be pretty selective when you've only got 7 days in this great area.

After meeting at my condo at WorldMark Rancho Vistoso, Ddward, her kids, Craig189 and I decided that we would head down to Colossal Cave Mountain Park. As my friends and family will tell you, I have no concept of time or distance. Personally, I thought that we were just 1/2 an hour from the Cave. Boy, was I wrong!!

First of all I got us a little lost. Maybe not completely lost, but I was navigating the car that Deb was following, and I made us take a wrong turn. Fortunately, Craig knew that I was wrong and turned us around pretty quickly. We got on the right road and drove to the Cave.

And we drove...

And drove....

And drove some more.....

We passed Sagauro National Forest, which was really neat to see. With me and Craig from NY and Deb and the kids from AK, we've never seen cacti that big before. Shoot, the only cacti I've ever seen has been in Home Depot! We finally pulled into the entrance of Colossal Cave Mountain Park and paid the $3 fee for each car.

After paying the small admission fee, we continued up the mountain - a relatively steep drive - to the parking area by the Cave itself. We parked our cars and took in the breathtaking view of Sagauro National Forest. Of course, we snapped several pictures. We then headed into the cave area for a guided tour of the Colossal Cave.

Tickets for the Colossal Cave guided tour is very inexpensive. Kids under 6 are free. Children between ages 6 and 15 are $4. Adults 16 and up are $7.50. The tour lasts an hour. It is most definitely worth it! I would say that ages 5 and up would enjoy this tour. Since there are steep steps and it's kind of slippery in places, you might not want to go younger than that. Besides, the cave is relatively dark, which might scare little ones.

The first place you see when you get to the entrance of the Cave is the gift shop. Let me tell you, the gift shop is AWESOME!! They've got all sorts of things in there: work from local artists, hand-crafted jewelry (I got my mom some earrings), postcards, t-shirts, handmade baskets, everything that you can think of. You can find a souvenir in this gift shop for anyone that you want to buy for. Everything is pretty inexpensive, too-- well, in comparison to the other gift shops I've visited since being in Tucson.

Everyone is then called together to go on the tour. You start off in a small room at the lip of the cave, where your tourguide tells you all about the cave's history. The cave was home to the Hohokam Indians in 900 A.D. They used the cave as a shelter as well as a shrine, while farming in the valley below the cave (now known as La Posta Quemada Ranch). Later, the Sobaipuri and other Indian people used the cave as a home. Throughout the tour, you can see artifacts left behind by the inhabitants of Colossal Cave. The artifacts are encased in plastic boxes with plaques further along the tour, describing what is inside.

After our eyes adjusted to the dark we moved into a bigger room, where we were told the story of the Four Bandits. Basically, four bandits robbed a train (or something) and had heard about the cave in the newspaper. They went into the cave, chased by a sheriff. There was another way out, so the four bandits slipped out with some of the god while the sheriff waited at the mouth of the cave for them to come out. The sheriff waited for 8 days, until a deputy told him that there were four guys in a saloon, throwing around money, bragging about how they left a stupid sheriff at the mouth of the cave they went into. The sheriff was so mad, he shot and killed 3 of the bandits. He left the third one alive to tell him where the gold was hidden in the cave. The bandit wouldn't, so the sheriff locked him up for the next 18 years. The gold has never been found, and is supposedly worth $4 million today.

Craig, Deb and I tried to find it. Needless to say, we didn't.

There are 363 steps throughout the cave. Some are steep, some are wide, all are slippery. Be sure that you wear sneakers or hiking boots on this tour. Otherwise, you might slip off and end up at the bottom of some cavern or pit within the cave. Don't worry-- There are handrails that you can use.

You wind and climb throughout many different "rooms" of the cave, learning the history all along. You also learn some Earth Science-- Stalagmites, stalagtites, columns, etc-- as you pass each formation. It is very educational, even for the adults.

You're let out through the way you came, leaving you back in front of the gift shop. You've also got a great view of the mountains and the ranch below.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to the ranch. We got there around 4pm. The tour lasted an hour, and the ranch was closed by the time we emerged. My advice to you? Go early so that you can visit the ranch!!

La Posta Quemada Ranch was a stagecoach station in the 1880s. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were housed there while they constructed the walkways and handrails in the cave and built the Colossal Cave Headquarters Building. In 1992, Colossal Cave Mountain Park was created, uniting Colossal Cave and La Posta Quemada Ranch. The park was then named to the National Register of Historic Places.

On the ranch and near the cave, you can:

Visit the museum
Sluice for gemstones
Horseback Ride
Check out the Research Library
Go Birdwatching
Picnic
Hike
Watch the tortoises
Visit the Bat and Butterfly Gardens
Eat at the Open-Air Cafes

None of those activities - including the tour - need reservations. Some have a little extra fee, such as sluicing and riding. We visited the Bat Garden near midnight, which wasn't too impressive. (I did scare Deb, though, which was pretty darned funny.) The kids seemed to like it, as they searched for the bats.

There are also some "Special Adventures" that you can do by reservation:

Off-Route Tours of the Cave
Wild Cave Tours
Candlelight Tours of the Cave
Equestrian Events
Stagecoach Rides
Cowboy Cookouts
Breakfast and Dinner Trail Rides
Kids' Birthday Parties
Teambuilding Adventures for Groups

I am really glad that we were able to do this tour, especially with the kids. We took a ton of pictures, which I will post somewhere eventually. It was a lot of fun and very educational. I highly recommend it to anyone that visits the Tucson area.

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May