A Hole in the Earth

Up early, we said goodbye to Hobie and his casita, and Bob, Cathryn, Matt and Mackenzie headed southeast to the Kartchner Caverns Campground, picked a campsite and dropped off the Chalet, then drove ½ mile to the Kartchner Caverns. We had a 10:20 appointment for a tour that lasted 1 ½ hours. These caverns were only discovered by two young men in the 1970s, and they kept their presence a secret from everyone except the family that owned the property for 14 years. In the 1980s when they had sorted out a plan to transfer the caves to the Arizona Parks Department, the caverns were opened up in limited fashion and they completed construction of the pathways, lighting and “weather” system including a series of six air-lock doors to maintain the humidity and temperature that would allow the caverns to remain alive (wet) and growing their formations. We very much enjoyed the sights inside the caverns, reminding Bob and Cathryn of a much smaller Carlsbad Caverns in some ways. After lunch, we headed into the Arizona wine country near Elgin, AZ and participated in wine tastings at two wineries, Village of Elgin Wines and Sonoita Vineyards. Here they have the unusual (to us) practice of charging you a higher fee if you don’t have your own wineglass, but after you’ve purchased one at the first vineyard, you can take it with you and pay the lower fee at any subsequent vineyards you tour. The weather was cloudy, breezy and chilly today, never climbing above 60 degrees, and becoming quite cold as soon as the sun dropped behind the hills. We sat outside, bundled warmly, for cocktail hour, then spent the entire evening, all four of us, inside the Chalet having dinner and chatting until bedtime at 10:00.