salt mines.

For Christmas, we got my dad 4 tickets to the Underground Salt Mines. (He's kind of hard to buy for, I think.)
Last weekend, they came down, we left the kids with a babysitter, and we all ventured 650 feet below the ground...

We weren't feeling too sure about things when they show us the safety video about hard hats and rescue inhaler packs. (But apparently in 50 years, no one has ever had to use a rescue inhaler. Corey, of course, took this to mean that the rescue packs are 50 years old.)

Loading into the double decker elevator... total darkness... 650 feet... but it only took about 30 seconds.

All walls, ceilings and most of the floor is salt. (No drinks are allowed... you could melt holes in the floor. There are also several signs asking you to please not pick at the walls.)

We loaded onto a little train and Matt (our guide) and Wilbur (our driver) took us on a tour of the tunnels and mines. It really was pretty interesting.

Corey and Matt enjoyed giving each other a hard time for most of the ride.

I forget the significance of the ruler, but I took the picture because that was Wilbur... years and years ago when he worked at the mine.

We stopped at a big salt pile and everyone got to fill a bag with salt or choose a piece.

A 1930-something Chevy that was used in the mine. To get equipment down there, they either had to take it all apart and reassemble underground, or just attach it to the bottom of the elevator and lower it down the shaft.

All kinds of documents and important stuff is stored down here. Tons of Hollywood memorabilia and original films.

Cameron Diaz's suit from "Charlie's Angels."

Dean Cain's Superman costume from "Lois and Clark."

Batman.

Dorothy II from "Twister."

I guess you would be pretty safe from tornandos down here...

It really was pretty neat. There wasn't any "claustrophic feeling" at all (not that anyone of us were worried about that, right, Mom and Corey??)