Around the Cottage

The Woodland Cottage across the parking lot from the Visitor Center at Mammoth Caves was where we called home for the weekend. A cute four bedroom cottage, it was perfect for the four families we had in our group. No heat, A/C, phone or TVs, that was what we knew. So we had visions of rustic and decapitated buildings in our head. We were pleased to find, spacious clean rooms, refrigerators, coffee maker and two bathrooms WITH showers. Not to mention the price was right. I would recommend it to anyone planning a visit.

My dad's camera takes the best shots. We got some cute ones of the kids.
Little Girl

My boy and Jac

The baby

There is a picnic area right behind the cottages. We had an awesome picnic on Saturday night. My boy found some abandoned coals and nurtured them until he got a fire going. I love that he has these life skills and knows how to do things like this safely. A couple nights later he taught a 30 year old how to start a campfire...(grin)

Hubby and I at the picnic

While around the cottage we pulled the chairs outdoors and enjoyed the birds and creatures that flitted through. Of particular interest was the cicada. They were hatching left and right.

We also enjoyed bike riding. The boys were hardly around the cottage as they were off romping on bikes. I took a group on a crazy bike ride that I would rather not talk about. OK maybe I will a bit. Do not take bikes down Flint Ridge. Down is incredibly AWESOME, going back up....not so much. If you must have a car waiting for you at the bottom.

More adventures to come...

Frozen Niagara

Saturday morning cave tour.
Frozen Niagara is the one area of Mammoth Cave that has stalactites and stalagmites. Over the majority of the area the cap rock is strong and does not allow drips of water into the cave. In this particular area the roof has leaks and has created these awesome formations.

Stalactites which form as the water drips down.

Here is a pool of water, it was crystal clear.

A wall or drapery

You can see here how in past times people have broken off a piece as a souvenir. The owner of the cave in the 1800s didn't mind if visitors did so. For a bit of money they could chose a piece and break it off. Unfortunately it takes hundreds of years to form so this practice has permanently effected the cave.

Thankfully, everyone from our group was able to enjoy this part of the cave as it was very accessible and go at your own pace.
Hope you are enjoying glimpses of our trip.
Still more to come...

Hike to Cedar Sink

Another guided hike my mom and I went on, was to Cedar Sink. Around this area there are many sink holes where water enters into the cave. One never knows where a sink may appear so you need to be careful in these parts. The hike to the sink was very beautiful and informative. The guide talked about the native trees and plants. Identifying flowers as we went along. The closer we got we descended upon some spectacular ledges. This area was truly beautiful and worth the hike. If you visit the area and are into nature, I recommend taking this hike.

Cedar Sink. You can see the pile up of branches. Right near this is where the water enters the cave.

I saved my mother's life, as she was about to fall into this nearby sink. It was a one foot path and she slipped. I grabbed a hold of her and helped her to get her footing. She is forever grateful. She says she would have been sucked into the cave, if I hadn't been there. I think she would have free fallen for 5-10 feet and then I would have pulled her back up. But I am thankful it was much less dramatic than that. This was past the Cedar Sink but near the cave opening.

300 feet from the Cedar Sink is a natural cave opening. It has been barred off so entry into the cave is not permitted but the view was cool. To get to it I had to climb a steep hill. It was worth it. Going back down the hill was slow and steady.

A view from the top near the cave opening.

Fire Pink, a pretty red, star-shaped flowers growing on a ledge. We saw this all over in Kentucky.

A centipede. I saw three during the hike. This picture here is actual size.

Nearing the end of our Mammoth Cave Adventure.
Still to come, The Ferry over Green River and our visit with Miss Sue.

Cave City

After our first cave your we decided to head into Cave City. My kids have been wanting to go horse back riding for a very long time. Why not go on our trip and see some beautiful country side at the same time?

The Kentucky Action Park is where we decided to go. My husband had to laugh at the sign, KY Action Park. He opted out of the horse back riding but saw us off.

My girlfriend and her daughter went with us. Little girl rode with me and the boy got to ride his own.
Here's Homer on his horse, Chief. The boy did really well.

Little girl and I got AJ, short for Apple Jacks, he was an eater. He made every opportunity to get at leaves, weeds and grass. He also took us on the high rode and than ran back down the ledge. He was a feisty guy.

The guide led us along the Kentucky country side, through muddy red clay, up hills and through the grass. We saw heron, ducks, hawks and truly lovely landscape.

I lost my cell phone on the ride, but the guide found it an hour later. We picked it up on our way to dinner. :)

After the ride, hubby joined us as we went down the Alpine Slide. To get to it, we rode a chair lift up to the top of the hill. Then we raced each other down. Fun stuff. A highlight for the boy.
Once I find my camera, currently MIA, I will post some pics from the Slide.

While a bit pricey, The Action Park was a hit for the whole family. Everyone had a great time.

In the evening of day one we went to the Guided program at the amphitheater. The title of the presentation was Caves of the World. The photography was stunning. The information just as interesting. Well worth it.
So there you have Day One of our trip...still more to follow...

Mammoth Cave- Historic Cave Tour

The first cave tour of the weekend was the Historic Tour.
It takes you through the large dry passage ways that Mammoth is known for. It also includes many of the parts Stephen Bishop led groups through in 1840s and some of his discoveries. Like The Bottomless Pit, Fat Man's Misery and Mammoth Dome. Places we learned about reading the book, Journey to the Bottomless Pit.
Many parts of the tour were wide open. If there was something close enough to focus on, we could get a good shot. In most areas the lighting did not allow for good photographs.

Others parts had low clearance.

Some parts were narrow.

And there were many, many stairs. This area was beautiful though so you could stop often and look around.

Little girl, helping grandma through the cave.

With all the little nooks and crannies, it's easy to see how this cave has miles of passages. 365 miles. Currently the longest in the world with more still being discovered.

Heading out the natural cave opening. Very beautiful. You can see the water falling.

Our group (mom was taking the picture) at the end of the tour. The baby was crashed out the last 20 minutes or so. I had forgotten how heavy a sleeping baby can be.

The cave tour was great. An awesome beginning to an awesome day!
More of our adventures to come...

Blessed

Last weekend marked my 10th wedding anniversary. Amazing. 10 years. Married to the same man. Heehee.
In the midst of hubbies travels things have been a bit crazy. With him two weeks in Florida during our anniversary, I flew down to spend our anniversary with him. Not far from our original honeymoon. It was great seeing his home away from home. His favorite restuarants, he has many. We enjoyed walks on the beach. Hanging out on the pier, this was my favorite. We saw dolphins, pelican and tons of fish. We ate and ate and ate. Like I said, he so many places to take me. We had no agenda. So it was very laid back and relaxing. The kids were back in Michigan, cared for by loving relatives. God is so good how he prepared the way for all of it. He worked out every detail and provided in ways I could not have imagined. I am blessed!
Oh and I was able to add the states of Florida and Georgia to my geocaching list. We found 2 in Florida, near locations we were already planning on going and I found a virtual in the Georgia airport. YEAH!

Returned from the East

Last night the kids and I safely returned from our trip out East.

We had a great trip! My aunt married and moved 18 years ago. On occasion we get a chance to go out and visit. This trip my other aunt came along with us. Which made for nice traveling and shared cost for the (outrageous) gas.


Since the travel bugs we brought with us on our trip had goals, we used their goals as a platform of our travel entertainment. I'm a Bill wanted to see the capital, so we took him to DC. Unfortunately we failed to realize that the Rolling Thunder Memorial Bike run would close down over half of DC. Thankfully we found a nice spot along the Platomic River to have a picnic. Then we realized the motorcycles were going over the bridge nearby as the starting point of the ride. So we went up to check it out. I did not expect the flood of emotions that came over me as I watched them go thundering passed. Yound marines in uniform lined the edge of the street. Bikes were decked out with US and POW flags. It was a great way to spend the eve of Memorial Day. It was not that far to walk to Lincoln Memorial, from there we got the shots of the capital that the travel bugs desired.



At one point my boy was standing on the wall with the flag up in the air and someone said it really touched them and asked if they could take his picture.

The next day we took a country drive and (intentionally) found some caches along the way. We saw some beautiful bridges, one of them covered. It was such a great way to spend the day. Beautiful scenery and 12 caches.

On day three of our east adventures we took in some small town shops. The small historic town was cute but I was not impressed with the shops. It seemed that the town was taking a turn for the new age. We did find one nice toy shop with a friendly owner. For lunch we went to a huge mall.

On day four, we returned to DC. Since we could not get access to the Zoo previously, we decided to try again on Wednesday. After all Miss Monkey wanted to visit zoos as did Midnight traveler, whom we picked up on our country cache day. The Nation Zoo in DC is free admission. Bonus. There are many cost that do add up but with planning you can avoid most if not all of them. Since this was our one big event and expense we decided to play the part of tourist. Spending $11 to rent the double stroller (we worth every penny spent for it.) $17 for lunch which included 2 cheetah lunch boxes. $16 for parking, we split this cost. While it cost me about $35 (again you can plan and reduce this cost) we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the zoo. Little girl could have sat all day watching the different animals. A zookeeper observed her and said "Looks like you have a future biologist." She was so patient to just watch and observe their behavior. I could have spent all day watching the meerkats. There were 2 week old pups that had just emerged from the den. And the Beta female had a fight with the new mother. Drama, I have never watched Meerkat Manor but I think I might like it. Both days we were in DC it was HOT! The kids enjoyed cooling off in this mister at the zoo.



One thing not so pleasant about our trip was the encounter with ticks. After one cache I came out of the woods with my pants covered with them. We brushed them off and went on our way. A couple days later we encountered again. This time a small deer tick was trying to take residency in my flesh. We got it out and cleaned the area with alcohol. Then I checked the kids only to find little girl had one of the larger variety. Normally she freaks out with bugs. This time she has one working its way into her skin and she stayed calm as we removed it. No sign of lime disease, thankfully. I am glad I live in Michigan where these insects are much less of a threat.

Since the triathlon is only days away, I trained while away. One thing about the area I was at, HILLS! As in monstrous hills. I ran or biked everyday. It was a really good workout going up and down those beasts.

Driving home we hit caches along the way. Four states in all. 9 caches. One led us to a nice family restaurant with a duck pond. Others were quick grabs at rest stops. Another was a virtual cache counting the number of a certain landmark. Midas well cache on.

Great trip!