Mammoth Cave

So, yes, we drove to Cave City, Kentucky, which is about 9 hours away, that first day.  We were staying at a campsite, but we had splurged and gotten a cabin, which was nice.  Unfortunately, the cabin did NOT include any linens or towels or anything, so that was a bit of a problem.  We should have been able to rent some, but the place was packed and they seemed to be out.  So we ran out to Wal-mart and bought the cheapest queen set we could find, and a couple of sleeping bags.  We'd brought two of our own sleeping bags, and Bentley had his blanket and said he would be fine on a couch with just that.  So that was almost roughing it.  We also got a bunch of food so we wouldn't have to eat out for every meal (although we did go out to a nearby Tex-Mex place that night).  

We let Bentley drive the first hour, and I got to take a nap!

This place got our food out to us SO FAST.  I was crazy hungry and ordered way too much, but it made for a nice lunch the next day, so that was fine.

The campsite had a lake and a pool, so we also went swimming that first night

Since there were no towels, I told the kids they could use the towels we'd brought for the pool OR for showers.  It was a little bit stressful for me.  I told Craig this felt more like glamping than I'd been planning for...

The next morning we headed to our first tour of Mammoth Caves!  Before we got very far, we spotted something in the parking lot that made Bentley very happy:

Bentley with a Bentley!

Our guide gave us all these warnings ahead of time about how you have to walk SO FAR (I think it was 2 miles?) and sometimes you can't stand up and there's even a passage called "Fat Man's Misery" that's hard to navigate...  He had me so nervous!  But I looked around and I was certainly NOT the heaviest person on this tour and I go hiking all the time, so I just assumed I'd be okay.  And it was no problem at all.  I think they were making the wrong people nervous!

Before you even descend into the cave, you get hit with this cool air, and in late June, it felt GREAT.

I think it was here that they turned off all the lights so we could see how dark it is.  Unfortunately, the woman near us had a glowing watch, so that ruined it.  Stupid technology.

It was super cool and we really enjoyed the whole thing, although when the heat and humidity hit us on the way out, we wanted to die.  But Mammoth Cave is awesome!  

We headed back to our cabin, ate some lunch, and swam in the pool.  Then Craig took all the kids to the lake where he had a reservation to jump on all their floaty things-- they called it the "wibbit" and unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of it.  But everyone had a great time.  I went back to the cabin and showered and took a quick nap.  And had a great time doing that!

Then we had another cave tour!  This time we were going down a thousand steps into a sink hole and then gradually climbing out in the one spot where Mammoth Cave actually has stalactites and stalagmites.  So it's the pretty part of the cave!

So that was probably even more fun than the first tour, but I think the first tour really gave you the feel for Mammoth Cave, if that makes sense.  Also on the second tour, the guide turned off all the lights, but THIS time, when some kid waved his glowing watch around, the guide snapped at him to turn that off, too, so we actually got to experience full-on, can't-see-your-hand-waving-in-front-of-your-face darkness.  And that made me happy.  All in all, we enjoyed all our cave tours immensely.  

Then it was back to the cabin for frozen pizza and ice cream sandwiches!  It was a good day! 

Good-bye Jellystone!  Some day I'll learn to stop trying to take pictures of my kids with the sun in their eyes...!

In the morning we packed up everything and drove to our next stop... Nauvoo!