Gold Rush. I’d always wanted to pan for gold, which turned out to be hokey but fun, and yielded a few pretty, if worthless, gold flakes to bring home in a tiny glass souvenir vial. The most memorable part of our visit was a tour of the inactive gold mine there. I felt transported to another world as we descended the damp, sloping stone walkway deep into the heart of the earth. The guide explained to us the constant trickling sound we heard came from aquifers flowing through the mine, the water running down the walls and bubbling up from beneath its floor. I’d shivered when I heard the only thing keeping the inky dark man-made cavern from filling up with water were electric pumps, operating twenty-four hours a day. The journey down into Lad’s world was infinitely more thrilling… and terrifying. There was no charming guide to reassure me with corny jokes and historical tidbits. I could only follow the two uncommunicative mystery men as they carried Lad down a winding earthen ramp, deeper and deeper toward his eventual cure or death.
