The day we went to jail with John Wayne and my grandson

Follow the arrow to find John Wayne. Oh ya, he was there in all his cardboard glory.

Gary and I don't always take road trips alone or even together. In fact, a lot of the time, the kids and/or grands tag along. Sometimes we all get into trouble.

Once, we even ended up behind bars with the grandson and John Wayne. Actually, that's how you start out at Argo Gold Mine Tours up in Idaho Springs, Colorado. After that, they let you out to explore the mine and such. 

If you promise to behave, that is.(And if you make it up the cliff of crumbling, shifting mine tailings on the rickety bus to the entrance.) 

It was not as bad as "Oh My God Road" but still a seriously freaky ride! I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy holding on for dear life. LOL

Ever wonder what it's like inside a mine? Nathan's ready to show you now.

 Come on in!

Outside the mine, the guys start down the trail to see the rest of the tour.

I lagged behind to take some pics of typical and not so typical Colorado forest growth.

Our tour continued along the top of the cliff trail where you can look down on the staged wreckage of ancient and mysterious mining equipment. (Mysterious because we are clueless about mining.) Later on, we got to experience it up close and personal. We could have explored it before we went to jail, but decided the anticipation factor would make it more fun.

We also decided to mosey down (see how I used old west speak there?) the path a bit before entering the main building. Mainly because I had no desire to come back up the stairs to see what was on top. As you can see, I wasn't the only lazy one in the bunch.

I wonder what those old time, hard working miners would have thought of this pair?

Seriously? Bwa ha ha

Anyway.... We hiked it down a short trail where we encountered a few displays like the one the guys are lounging on, plus a mine entrance that was closed due to a back in the day mining accident. and the old mine office. Pretty cool stuff. I absolutely love old buildings, history, etc.

On the way back to the building we came across this grindy thing in the next pic.

Incidentally, I thought it was awesome that I'm from NY and there was a lot of mining equipment made there and shipped here, just like me. Ha ha 

Remember, I warned you, I am NO Rick Steves. I have no idea what most of this stuff is and it's not all labeled. That doesn't make it any less cool, though. So here it is. You figure it out. LOL

OK, now here we go, inside the main building where I'm guessing the ore was processed and the miners hung out, spitting “tobaccy juice” swapping horror stories, and avoiding going home to the “little woman” after a grueling day of risking life and limb for a few nuggets they didn't even get to keep.

(Sounds about right anyway.)

Inside the building above, there was a crap ton of this cool old stuff, including a seemingly bottomless pit with a swing over it. I cannot for the life of me remember what that was for, even though there actually was an explanation for it.

Just a couple more cool displays

And outside, well, we were hoping to go gold panning but Boooooo!!!!! The dude was eating lunch or some such thing. Imagine, the nerve! Eating lunch in the middle of the day! How rude! Anyway, there was this stuff to look at, so we managed to entertain ourselves.

Some of us, more than others, as you can see from the center photo

This pretty scene greeted us as we made our way to the car for the return trip.

Pretty sure Nathan had a good day!