All packed up and ready to roll by 8am. Stopped at the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site around noon where we found a cache, toured and Therese found a friendly dog. She got her dog fix for sure!
Continued our drive through the Land Between the Lakes NRA. Stopped by Fort Massac State Park and then went to our main attraction of the day — the Superman Museum in Metropolis, IL! Love the Man of Steel!
It’s hot and humid, so we got up early for a hike on the Mammoth Cave Railroad Bike & Hike Trail.
We met up with the fam and John at 9am at the zip lines. We had so much fun: 10 year old daredevil niece, 18 yr old nephew, Mark and 72 year old Dad joined Therese and Lynn for the adventure!
The two of us did the Introduction to Caving trip at the national park. It was fun, but I don’t think that either of us need to do that again...as the description had stated, we would be doing some tricky things and have to fit into small spaces...
Offering an off-trail experience, this tour crawls and climbs through hard-to-reach areas for 3.5 hours. Focusing on learning safe caving techniques, this tour explores parts of the cave difficult to access. Please note that due to the tight nature of some of the areas visited, chest and hip measurements must not exceed 42 inches in circumference. Lengthy amounts of time will be spent in tight crawl spaces and difficult climbs, with no alternative routes available. Please note, at 3.5 hours there are no restroom facilities available on this tour. This tour is ideal for people who wish to perform a wide variety of challenging physical obstacles in a unique environment.
It was a busy day with the fam! Karen had us on the move for sure.
Started the day off around noon with a trip to Big Mike’s Rock Shop & Mystery House. Then on to the Mammoth Caves NP for the 3pm Ranger Talk, An Overview of Kentucky Slavery. Finally, we went on the 6:30pm Star Chamber Tour of Mammoth Cave NP. The 2.5 hour tour was by lantern light; we went into the historic Star Chamber and Gothic Avenue.
Via Ferrata Day! We had reservations for 3 @ 9am! Via ferrata is guided rock climbing and rappelling and the course in the beautiful Red River Gorge, KY. was the first to be built in the United States.
Nicole gave us a safety talk and John, Lynn and Therese put on their gear and were out on the rocks by 9:45am. Dad doing the via ferrata at 72, "rocked" it, literally. We were there for a couple of hours; my only regret was that we didn’t have gloves. It was scary and it was hard to hold on to the metal bars with sweaty hands.
Next, we all headed to Mammoth Cave NP to meet up with Karen and her family. On the way, Therese and I drove the Bourbon Trail and headed for Maker's Mark in Loretto, KY. We had been following the Google Maps directions and it seemed like we were lost on some tiny back country roads. But nope, all of a sudden, we came around the bend and there it was. We barely made it to the last tour of the day with Mike the tour guide. He allowed everyone to stick their fingers into the mash (not too tasty) and at the end of the tour we tasted three types of bourbon and ate bourbon balls with pecans.
Headed to our campground at Mammoth Caves; the Bauers and Karen’s family camped at Yogi Bear campground, which we visited. That was an experience for sure!
We spent the morning exploring the park. Therese and Lynn took a hike up to the Natural Bridge — we started before 8am and finished around 10am. It was a steep trail with lots of steps carved into the rock and narrow slots that we had to hike through. After we finished hiking, we met up with Joan and John at the lodge where we had a great overlook of the area and listened to a ranger talk.
Next up: a crazy drive on a narrow road, with a one-way tunnel. The Nada Tunnel was originally used as a logging railroad tunnel. We all survived, but it was something! Along the way, we posed for pictures and had a sip of spring water fresh from the pipe on the side of the road.
We walked to dinner at the lodge with Joan and John and then watched a clogging event. Clogging is kind of like a combination of line and tap dancing. It was a lot of fun to watch the dancers, but none of us joined in. Still daylight at 9pm, we all walked back to camp over the suspension bridge.
