Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mammoth Cave - vacation part 1


So last month I took a little mini-vacation.  Sometimes I go on solo vacations and I always keep them fairly short and unplanned.  I do so much planning for my job that I want vacations to be spontaneous and a little bit weird.  This time I went to Mammoth Cave then drove up towards the Kentucky Bourbon trail.


I stayed at Wigwam Village #2 built in 1937.  The price is so cheap and it could use a little updating but it's worth it.  I've concluded that whimsy is something we lack nowadays.  Also it's great staying in a motel/hotel and not sharing walls with anyone.


The River Styx emerges from underground.  Mammoth Cave is known for it's cool geological features.


I took the New Entrance Tour at Mammoth Cave.  The cave tours at Mammoth Cave are interesting and this one took us to the Drapery Room which has some beautiful flowstone formations. However I'm going to be honest with you.  I like to go caving, you know wild crawl through the mud caving.  For me the Mammoth Cave tour was dreadfully slow.  It's not even the tourist aspect (because I can live without all the adventure occasionally) but I struggle with the stop and go movement.  (For the record this isn't just a cave thing. I hate standing in lines at amusement part or getting stuck behind people at the grocery store).


My favorite part of Mammoth Cave (okay ANY vacation usually) was the hiking.  Everywhere else the park was crowded. When I started off on a hiking trail the crowd disappeared.  My favorite was the hike down to Cedar Sinks where absolutely everything was in bloom. It was like a hidden magical valley.


This is one of those tourist trap antique/junk stores. I absolutely love places like this. Lots of little places like this around Mammoth Cave.


Coming soon: Bourbon Trail vacation pictures.  I wanted to put the whole vacation in one post but that was a ridiculous amount of photos. So you'll just have to stay tuned.  

3 comments:

Flannery (The Readventurer) said...

This is awesome, Cassi. Love the pictures. I think we are similar travelers. I hate the lines on tours and the slow pace. My sisters and I went on a vacation two springs ago across the southwest to go to all the national parks we could. Saw Carlsbad Caverns then which (I imagine) is pretty similar to Mammoth. That underground river sounds so cool--I get a bit sad how hard it is to translate such awesome sights into photographic form. And that wigwam village! You're right about the lack of whimsy in the world. I bet that place was great.

Catie said...

I love the place that you stayed - I bet my kids would GO NUTS for that! I wonder if that's within reasonable driving distance for me? Also, I hate standing still or moving slowly. I am a speed-walker through and through. I frequently leave friends and family members in the dust. Love the pictures! I think it's so cool that you go on vacations alone! I think I would love that.

veela-valoom said...

I want to hit more National Parks! You can tell the funding difference when you go to one versus a state park (by the bathrooms alone in my experience!).

Glad I'm not the only one who wants to just move along fast.

Catie: Mammoth Cave is a few hours from me (3 or 4 I always get confused because there's a time change. It's right on the edge of the central time zone). So it's probably kinda far but there's a lot to do around there. There's the caves, some adventure type parks, a themed Yogi Bear campground, a place with replicas of Dinosaurs, and not far from there is Kentucky Down Under (Australian animals & caves, random but AWESOME).