Mammoth Cave and Our Arrival in Kentucky!

Mammoth Cave is only about an hour and a half north of Nashville, and while driving through rural Tennessee and Kentucky may sound awful, it's actually quite scenic. Maybe we just have an odd fixation on farmland, but we continually "ooh-ed" and "ahh-ed" at the seemingly endless fields of grain and corn. This is the only picture I have that comes even remotely close to doing it justice:

 Hansel, Billy and I arrived at Mammoth Cave by late afternoon for our tour. Mammoth Cave has over 400 miles of passages (that have been discovered) and is the largest cave system in the world. Billy had been there on a childhood trip with his mom and older sister and although he didn't remember much of the trip, he was eager to go back.

Hansel and me at the park entrance

I've never been in a cave before and as the park ranger rattled off all the required warnings about stairs, claustrophobia, bat diseases and cave rescues, I was admittedly a little nervous. 

Walking into the cave (and pretty much the entire experience) is hard to describe. It truly is mammoth, especially when you first walk in and it opens up into the gigantic underground rotunda. It's like being in an Indiana Jones movie. At the risk of sounding extremely cliche, it's hard to believe your eyes. 

I got over my cave fears within a few minutes of being in the cave. It's a little bit of group influence, I think....if all these old people/little kids/out of shape people can get through this cave then why can't I?! It was an amazing experience and I have to give Billy a ton of credit for coming up with this awesome idea.

Our park ranger guided tour was also excellent. For anyone considering Mammoth Cave in the future, we took the Historic Tour. Obviously, this discusses the history of the cave, which was much more interesting then it sounds. At some points, we were over 300 feet underground--it's hard to believe that people just went down in there to see what they could find with just a lantern! We were spoiled by the railings and lighting (although still dim) provided by the lovely park service :)

Because the cave is so dim, none of our pictures really turned out. So, I present you with a professionally taken picture of the rotunda! It still doesn't really capture how incredibly gigantic the room is! 

Since I'm sure you're all dying to see pictures of Billy and me (the best part of every post...right?!), here are some of us looking really excited to be in a giant cave!

One of the best parts of the cave was getting a break from the heat! It was nice and cool underground, which was a welcome break from the over 90 weather we'd been cooking in all weekend!

Mammoth Cave was another awesome experience and our first stop in Kentucky (besides the drive thru Panera we ate at on our way to Nashville). I would definitely do it again, especially to go see one of the more geology-focused tours. The cave also has plenty of stalactites/stalagmites that were part of a separate tour (Frozen Niagra, if you're interested).

From Mammoth Cave, it was full steam ahead to Lexington. You didn't expect me to go a full two weeks without something horsey did you?! Since Billy is truly a saint, he agreed to not only go to the Kentucky Horse Park with me but also to camp there! 

The first lesson we learned about the Horse Park is that you should not shut off your GPS and simply trust Kentucky signage to get you there. As the sun set, my child-like excitement over seeing horses everywhere and streets named after racehorses began to fade. Thanks to road construction and woefully absent signage, we managed to drive by the horse park numerous times until we finally pulled into the campground around 10 pm.

This is Billy realizing he is dating a crazy horse person.

In yet another camping victory for me, I set up the tent in the dark all by myself! Headlamps are fantastic and a lifesaver, even if I look completely ridiculous. Billy always looks outdoorsy and mountain man-like in his camping gear. I envy him. 

We quickly realized that the Horse Park uses the word "camping" pretty liberally. There is a bath house with showers, a pool, playground, tennis courts, and a trash can at the end of everyone's driveway at their camp site. Everyone also uses RVs.

Our lone tent in the sea of RVs the next morning

By the time we had eaten random snack foods to satisfy our hunger and set up the tent, it was late enough that we went straight to bed. The forecast was ominous for the next 48 hours, so we crossed our fingers the tent wouldn't flood and got plenty of rest before our Tour de Horses the next day!