Our favorite stop on our epic road trip was the Oregon Caves in southern Oregon, 5 days into our trip. With the tour lasting 90 minutes, several hundred steps and many passages requiring "squat walking" we were advised to be certain we were physically able. We determined that we were. picture...Angie, Gram and Tyler in the depth of the cave...
One lady got 3 feet in and quickly turned back. "Not for me", quote she.
Our trusty, friendly guide, Ranger Paul.
Listening to pre-tour instructions 
The rock of the cave is hard....marble.Sections have stalactites and stalacmites
Prehistoric "large head" bear bones and teeth.
Gram G had to rest a time or two while climbing several hundred steps.
Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve is a protected area in the northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. The 4,554-acre (1,843 ha) park, including the marble cave, is 20 miles (32 km) east of Cave Junction, on Oregon Route 46. The protected area, managed by the National Park Service (NPS), is in southwestern Josephine County, near the Oregon–California border.
Elijah Davidson, a resident of nearby Williams, discovered the cave in 1874. Over the next two decades, private investors failed in efforts to run successful tourist ventures at the publicly owned site. After passage of the Antiquities Act by the United States Congress, in 1909 President William Howard Taft established Oregon Caves National Monument, to be managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The growing popularity of the automobile, construction of paved highways, and promotion of tourism by boosters from Grants Pass led to large increases in cave visitation during the late 1920s and thereafter. Among the attractions at the remote monument is the Oregon Caves Chateau, a six-story hotel built in a rustic style in 1934. It is a National Historic Landmark and is part of the Oregon Caves Historic District within the monument. The NPS, which assumed control of the monument in 1933, offers tours of the cave from mid-April through early November. In 2014, the protected area was expanded by about 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) and re-designated a National Monument and Preserve. At the same time, the segment of the creek that flows through the cave was renamed for the mythological Styx and added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
Oregon Caves is a solutional cave, with passages totaling about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), formed in marble. The parent rock was originally limestone that metamorphosed to marble during the geologic processes that created the Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyous. Although the limestone formed about 190 million years ago, the cave itself is no older than a few million years. Valued as a tourist cave, the cavern also has scientific value; sections of the cave that are not on tour routes contain fossils of national importance.
Activities at the park include cave touring, hiking, photography, and wildlife viewing. One of the park trails leads through the forest to Big Tree, which at 13 feet (4.0 m) is the widest Douglas fir known in Oregon. Lodging and food are available at The Chateau and in Cave Junction. Camping is available at USFS campgrounds and private sites in the area. (wiki-pedia website)
And a well deserved giant caramel milk shake
It's a GO for California!!
Left turn to Crescent City and the redwoods!!
How does one beat the heat??
Well, how about Gram G's dumpling dinner with the Millers on a hot Tuesday evening??
And a 3-4 night sleep over in Gram's air conditioned home??
Gracie, too...
Angie and Micaela learning the fine art of dumpling making! All the while exclaiming how excited they are to eat them with sour gravy. Makes Gram G's heart sing!!!
So....Gram G is cooling down and resting up from family fun since early July; prep work since early June; all around busy, busy time since mid-April. You all come back now to find out more about all the family adventures and our 1,000 mile road trip!
This has been a good 11 "epic road trip" days in the life of Grandma G.
"Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." (Psalm 139: 7-10)
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