Spring Break 2022 - Part 2

After walking around some of the trails, we loaded back up into our van and headed into the main attraction of the National Park: Mammoth Caves.  I had packed some sandwiches and bottled water but we also found a Subway restaurant so we grabbed some subs and chips too and ate outside on a local picnic bench.  We laughed because, while sitting there looking at our view (and finding a turkey!), we noticed three dollar stores in the same vicinity.  Two were literally right next to one another and the third was across the street!  The kids are STILL talking about how funny that was.

I had made reservations and paid for our tickets online weeks before and we are glad that we did!  All of the tours were sold out while we were there and that would have been a huge disappointment to discover that ...

It was chilly that day -- only a high of about 55 degrees -- so we opted to stand in the sunshine while we waited for our tour to begin.  We purposely parked ourselves at the entrance to insure that we would be able to hear the tour guide clearly.  

It was difficult to take pictures inside the cave because you were not allowed to use the flash on your camera.  That meant that cell phone pictures were blurry for sure, but I was able to get a couple of "decent pictures" with my large camera.  Still, I don't think that these pictures really do the site justice.

The section of the tour that we did had man-made cement walkways throughout it so travel was pretty easy.  There was once leg of the tour called "Fat Man's Misery" though where it was extremely narrow and you had to duck your head to fit through.  

We stopped to look closely at the cave walls here.  There were LOTS of messages, names and drawings here.  Some of them were from the 1800s and others were from the 1980s before the National Park put an end to 'vandalism' inside the caves.

Most of the cave was dark, but as we entered a new section, our tour guide would 'turn on the lights' so that we could see.  The guide at the end of the group would then turn them off as we exited.  It was amazing to look down below and see all of these sink holes.  

Overall, the humidity inside the caves was greater than 90% (the kids even noticed while we were in there just how clammy their hands felt).  Jimmy was a real trooper though for a 6-year-old as it was a lot of walking, especially when we had to climb more than 300 feet of stairs to get back up to land level inside the cave AND then walk up these stairs again (where we had started) to get back up to the entrance.

Back outside in the natural air, resting for a bit before we hit the souvenir shop!

 

Inside, we opted to purchase a magnet for our fridge back home and a Christmas ornament to remember this vacation by.  The kids LOVE decorating the Christmas tree and looking at all of the ornaments that we have collected over the years and I am looking forward to them finding this one in December.