Monday, July 13 Morning
This morning we went to Mammoth Cave National Park! The boys woke up at their typical time so after feeding them breakfast and getting them dressed we were on our way by 8:00. The Visitor Center doesn't open until 9:00, but when we arrived we saw that the line for cave tours had already formed. Due to COVID they are only offering one tour, the Extended Historical Self-Guided Tour, with limited spots. When I tried to book tickets earlier this week they were all sold out except for Tuesday at 3:00. We were lucky to be able to get tickets. As of right now, the next available reservation tickets is Thursday. We decided to still get in line for tickets because we might get lucky and get tickets for today (so we could go into the cave twice if we wanted). While Thom waited in line the boys and I found the main path and started to explore. We made it all the way to the cave entrance and saw where many of the trails that we want to go on begin.
Thom was able to get us tickets for today so while we waited for our reservation time we shopped in the gift shop. We got some new shirts, got everyone's National Park Passport stamped, stickers and coasters. We've started a collection of the same coasters at each of the national parks that we've visited.
Once it was time for our tour we made our way to the meeting location to head to the cave entrance. To get down to the cave you need to walk down stairs. Rocky had to be held the entire time because we couldn't take a stroller or our backpack carrier and we didn't feel comfortable having him walk around. As we approached the cave the temperature dropped dramatically; inside the cave was even colder--my guess was 60 degrees, but after consulting Google it hovers about 54 degrees. There was a nice brick walkway and occasionally would go to a dirt/rock path, then back to brick. I was amazed at how high the "ceiling" was. When I asked, the ranger said the surface level was approximately 100 feet. The caves were formed by a river. Throughout the cave we could see people sketched their names in the rock before it became a National Park in 1941. We learned that many "paths" were named after people who "...made dumb mistakes in the cave" such as Harvey's Avenue, which is named because Harvey got stuck in that portion of the cave after his lantern went out for 39 hours, the longest anyone has been stuck in the cave. The cave was lit so we could see where we were going, but was definitely not bright. Thom asked a ranger if there is anything unique we should know about Mammoth Cave. He shared that they just found a shark fossil in the cave approximately a year ago. It was twice the size of the a great white shark because millions of years ago there were shallow oceans throughout the midwest. After climbing the stairs out of the cave we needed to walk over a spongy mat. This was to wash our shoes in an effort to not spread the white-nose disease; a disease among bats.
We then headed up to a cafe to grab some lunch before heading back to Jellystone. The boys were wiped and both fell asleep on the way back. While they're napping I got a golf cart to drive around the campgrounds while Thom prepared for his run. This afternoon and evening we will explore Jellystone!
Thom was able to get us tickets for today so while we waited for our reservation time we shopped in the gift shop. We got some new shirts, got everyone's National Park Passport stamped, stickers and coasters. We've started a collection of the same coasters at each of the national parks that we've visited.
Once it was time for our tour we made our way to the meeting location to head to the cave entrance. To get down to the cave you need to walk down stairs. Rocky had to be held the entire time because we couldn't take a stroller or our backpack carrier and we didn't feel comfortable having him walk around. As we approached the cave the temperature dropped dramatically; inside the cave was even colder--my guess was 60 degrees, but after consulting Google it hovers about 54 degrees. There was a nice brick walkway and occasionally would go to a dirt/rock path, then back to brick. I was amazed at how high the "ceiling" was. When I asked, the ranger said the surface level was approximately 100 feet. The caves were formed by a river. Throughout the cave we could see people sketched their names in the rock before it became a National Park in 1941. We learned that many "paths" were named after people who "...made dumb mistakes in the cave" such as Harvey's Avenue, which is named because Harvey got stuck in that portion of the cave after his lantern went out for 39 hours, the longest anyone has been stuck in the cave. The cave was lit so we could see where we were going, but was definitely not bright. Thom asked a ranger if there is anything unique we should know about Mammoth Cave. He shared that they just found a shark fossil in the cave approximately a year ago. It was twice the size of the a great white shark because millions of years ago there were shallow oceans throughout the midwest. After climbing the stairs out of the cave we needed to walk over a spongy mat. This was to wash our shoes in an effort to not spread the white-nose disease; a disease among bats.
We then headed up to a cafe to grab some lunch before heading back to Jellystone. The boys were wiped and both fell asleep on the way back. While they're napping I got a golf cart to drive around the campgrounds while Thom prepared for his run. This afternoon and evening we will explore Jellystone!
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