The Mines of...

We went to an old mine yesterday, called Kelly Mine. This picture is from what was just a cave at first that they sunk shafts into. All the shafts had filled with water, and it was a little dicey getting down into this one and back out, so the kids stayed on top and threw rocks into the water.
This is a tunnel down the mountain a little ways from the cave. The old ore cart tracks are still there.

Here's the entrance to the tunnel.

The kids really liked it, and while I was disappointed by the lack of dwarves, gold, or a battle with a Balrog on a narrow bridge over a fiery chasm, I suppose it was pretty cool. The tunnel went back a little ways, maybe 1000 feet or so. Today Simon and I are going to play golf in Colville, and Faith and Dylan are going swimming in Colville. We're having a barbeque tomorrow afternoon with some friends and their kids, then we can watch the fire works from our back deck. Hope everybody's doing well.