Summer Trip-Wrap Up!

Serious Americana at the hometown parade! The Rand Paul float went by and I heard crickets chirping, this is some serious McConnell country!
Four wheeling at the farm!

Water park day, fun in the sun.

Fresh skyline!

Summer Trip-Makers Mark

Yes, I brought minors to a distillery, but DH was super excited and the tour was short and free, so we all explored! The grounds of the Maker's Mark distillery are beautiful, it was a long by pass through back roads and it ended up taking us twice the time to get home, but we got to see a lot of Kentucky. We came home to Skyline for dinner.

Summer Trip-Mammoth Day Hike

Sometimes we needed motivation to keep going. It was hot out, at least in the 90s!

You can see the river coming out of the cave.

Candy energy to get back up the hill!

We stayed in a cabin at Mammoth Cave National Park: four bedrooms, basic but a great deal. The kids made new friends and ran around catching lightning bugs and fell asleep exhausted. The next day, we hiked down to the River Styx to see where it came out of the caves. It was a full circle adventure! We drove back north, with a stop at Makers Mark Distillery.

Summer Trip-Mammoth

We drove down to Mammoth Caves from Northern Kentucky, about a 3 hour drive. We met up with my sister who drove from Florida. We rented a big cabin for the night. We did the River Styx tour, which is only offered 5 weeks out of the year and only one tour a day. It's a 2.5 mile hike and 2.5 hours. The tour guide was very informed and funny. The youngest rode like a princess the first half, she even fell asleep. But too many steps and once we hit Fat Man's Misery and she had to wake up and walk by herself. Both kids did great on the hike.

Tan Floridians in a dark and damp and cold cave!

The Flashlight-hours of entertainment!

Fat Man's Misery, worn smooth by years of people walking past, some wearing the rocks down more than others! The trip ends with 500 stairs up to the top, both kids walked every one. People commented on how well they hiked, but I never really used a stroller so I suppose they are used to it! The tour took you down to the lowest and newest part of the cave and you peer into a deep hole to see the river. This area floods as the river rises during rain. The Princess enjoyed the mud, singing, "Mud, mud, I love mud!" Both kids did not like Absolute Darkness. The highlight of the trip, my sister asking a Park Ranger where the "River Phoenix" tour starts!