The next day after Columbia, Mom and Dad were headed up to Idaho.  We went and visited Railtown 1897 State Historic Park and then Mercer Caverns.

We arrived just in time to catch the 12:00 train.  It was hot.  If you can, you want to sit on one of the cars with open sides; the breeze keeps it much cooler than the cars with just open windows.

At the halfway point the train stops and the engine decouples and then hooks back up on the other side to take us back.

While that was happening all the kids were piled up at the end of the train watching.  I was standing at halfway back in the car to make room.  Then I hear Heather screaming for me.

As I work my way up to her I discover that she'd gotten her head stuck in the gate at the back of the car.  Before I can get to her a woman helped her get her head out.  Heather then turned to her, thinking it was me, and really lost it.  At that point I was only a step away though, so I picked her up and carried her off to try and calm down.

After she calmed down we went back to the end of the car to look out again.  The crowd had dispersed by this time so it was mostly just us and another little boy.  For unknown reasons Heather pushed the boy so I grabbed her arms to discuss why that was not acceptable during which she kicked him [sigh].  So I picked her up again and carried her off screaming.  That part was less than great.

It could have been more relaxing.  I would recommend against visiting when it's over 100 F out.

We got back in the van, bought some cold water, and headed off towards Mercer.  At least underground it would be cooler.

On our way there we crossed this bridge.  This sort of highlights California's water problem.  You can see where the water level is supposed to be and used to be.  The little pull-off here has a plaque commemorating this location as the location of one of the first ferry crossings for this water.  At the moment you'd have to work your way pretty far down the cliff to cross the water.

We stopped for lunch in Murphys, which we discovered is apparently a somewhat hoity-toity little town that was having some sort of festival so it was packed.  After contemplating driving back the opposite direction to find some less crowded food, we eventually decided to be adventurous and just go with it.  So we found a parking lot and loaded up the strollers.

We had been heading for the Murphys Grille, but then stumbled upon Peppermint Stick (which didn't sound like a restaurant when we saw it on the GPS receiver).  But they had food and ice-cream which, again, it being over 100 F sounded like a good idea.  We enjoyed some really tasty and plentiful burgers and shakes.

After lunch it was time to delve into the earth where it was blessedly 55 F.  We were concerned we might get chilly in shorts and t-shirts, but let me assure you, the tour is only long enough for the cool air to feel nice.  Heather did end up wearing her jacket, but we ended up just carrying our other jackets the whole time.

I didn't take the camera into the cavern as I was concerned I might end up needing to carry Heather, so I only have pictures from my phone, but the lack of light was mostly too difficult to get any pictures worth looking at.  But I did get this one near the entrance:

On the cavern tour Heather was a perfect little angel.  The heat seems to really affect her ability to concentrate and maintain her self-control.

After the cavern tour it was time to pile back in the van and head home.

For the past couple of weeks Mom and Dad have been wandering around the western states and last weekend we met up in Columbia, CA.  It's technically a State Historic Park, but it's still an actual town too.  The main street and surrounding area is a preserved gold-rush era mining town (though they have paved the road).

But, before we talk about the town, let's back up a moment to the night before.  The only arrangement we'd made with Mom and Dad was to meet them in Columbia Friday morning.  Then Jess and I decided drive out Thursday night to give us a better chance of getting an early start in the town before it got too hot (forecast was for over 100 F).

I called the hotel at which we had booked a room for Friday night, but they were sold out for Thursday.  So I found another hotel a couple towns over and booked a room there.  As it turned out that was where Mom and Dad were staying.

We left town late Thursday evening to avoid sitting in traffic (it was going to be a ~1.75 hour drive already).  Heather eventually fell asleep and we pulled in to the hotel's parking lot around 10:30pm.  After groggily working her way up the stairs to our room, Heather was startled by Mom stepping out of the room right next to ours to say, "Hello."  Turns out, grandparents popping out of doors unexpectedly late at night was not something Heather was going to tolerate.  She pretty much lost it.

Anyway, we eventually got to sleep and Heather was somewhat less wary in the morning.

In town we had a blacksmith put our name on a horseshoe (this was something Jess was super excited to do):

We also did candle dipping (again, something Jess was super excited about):

We had lunch at one of the restaurants (with sarsaparilla) during which Heather had a few meltdowns; heat and hunger didn't combine well for her.  As it turned out, we then left Heather's water bottle at the restaurant and didn't notice for several hours.  When I went back to get it the worker greeted me with, "Oh yeah, you had the screaming blond-haired girl.  She was memorable."  Yah....

We took a stagecoach ride which was set upon by a bandit:

Heather panned for gold.  She found some rocks, which she declared to be her treasure, but nothing of value.

And we had some ice-cream to cool down from the heat:

And Heather enjoyed spending time at the antique bowling alley:

It was a good time.  It was hot, but most of the buildings were air-conditioned and the old trees along main street provided nice shade.

Apparently the real secret is to go during cooler months and rent one of the cottages (there are cottages and hotel rooms available only through the ReserveAmerica system as they're run by the Park Service).  The cottages don't have air-conditioning, but they seem to have plenty of room and are reasonably priced.

Bonus pictures: