After purchasing a tour ticket, I stop inside the coffee shop for a cup o' joe before the tour. Patrick Lynn, our tour guide, gives us the lowdown on the requirements to go inside the cave: The 75-minute long, half-mile cave tour route includes more than 500 stairs, many of which are steep and wet. Several passages are narrow with low ceilings. The tour is strenuous and is not recommended for people with walking, breathing, or heart problems. Children must be at least 42 inches tall and able to climb a set of test stairs unassisted. Also, because oils and dirt from our fingertips can ruin the cave walls and formations, they are very specific about what you can and cannot touch and/or lean against.

Chivalry goes right out the window as old guys, fathers and other ilk push past me to be first up the ladders, down the steps or into the next room. I'm not in any hurry and the tour guide speaks loud enough so I don't mind being last in line. My "old-school" manners, however, tell me that because I'm a single female travelling alone, I should not be bringing up the rear so I have no respect for these pseudo-men. About 30-minutes into the tour, the guide notices me in the back and asks loudly if I'd like to come up by him since I'm on the tour by myself. Pseudo men, may I introduce a REAL MAN? I think I love him. Heheh.

Here are some old photo postcards from the 1930s-1940s of the interior of the Oregon Caves. The last three are postcards from the 1930s and 1940s of the chalet outside the Oregon Caves.

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