Today was Jim's birthday so he got to choose the excursions for the day. The area around here is a very famous gold and silver mining area. There is a sign in town that states that more gold and silver came from this area of Central City than anywhere in the USA. So, they went to the Hidee Mine to find some of that gold today.
Since they arrived too late for the 11:00 tour, the miners let Jim try his hand at panning for gold at no charge before the next tour because it was his birthday. It's not as easy as it looks but he did get a few flakes to take home. Gold was discovered in this area here in the 1850's and they are still mining here today. At the Hidee mine tour they went into a tunnel 135 feet underground and were given picks and chisels to carve out gold specimens from the main ore vein. It was dirty work but Warren and Jim really had a good time. They came away with two little bags of ore. This kind of mining is very hard work, not like the nuggets you would expect, but it was still a lot of fun.After lunch they went on a jeep tour on the Apex Road up to an altitude of 10,000 feet and could see St. Mary's Glacier in the distance. The road was really rocky and bumpy, just the way Jim likes it. All in all, a great birthday. Time for the cake and ice cream now.
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