A Cross-Country Family Adventure with Two Teenagers, a Camper, and a Cat
First Stop: Mammoth Cave National Park
I selected this stop after a request from my son who completed a science project on Mammoth Cave National Park in 7th grade. A kid excited about a school lesson??? Yes, please. (Hey, Mrs. Lammers!) Also, Mammoth Cave was an easy five-hour drive from our house which leads us to your first tip…
Tip #1 - KEEP TRAVEL TIMES BETWEEN DESTINATIONS to 5 or 6 HOURS AT THE MOST. Trust us.
We booked a site at Cave Country RV Park in Cave City. It’s a "Good Sam Campground" which means it must meet certain standards to receive that designation. The public bathrooms were really clean and the sites were nicely groomed. So why would you need a bathroom if your camper has one? My husband was adamant that all things involving a number "higher than 1" be completed away from the RV. Never mind that stores sell these nifty things called RV toilet tablets which are dropped in the toilet to break down all that's solid while leaving a pleasant, blue-colored water and minty smell. But that’s his issue and the boys obeyed. Plus a nice shower in a public bathroom campground comes in handy when you forget to turn on the hot water heater for the RV shower.
Cave Country was a nice and clean campground but it’s location was, as my 15-year-old son says, "bleh." We were behind the hotels and next to a farm field. Because temps were extremely hot, we chose not to grill out that night and had supper at the local Mexican restaurant, El Mazatlan.
It was your typical small town Mexican restaurant where, as my dad always said, every plate is a circle of rice, beans, and something brown. But like most small town Mexican restaurants, it was surprisingly delicious. It was here where we saw the unique fashion of Cave City, KY. A fellow diner walked by in a baseball hat that read “Tattoos, Titties, and Tacos.” Nice. Welcome to America, boys.
The next day we headed to Mammoth Cave National Park for two tours I reserved for that day - Domes and Dripstones and the History tour.
Tip #2- RESERVE CAVE TOURS IN ADVANCE.
The more popular tours sell out. Because we waited to reserve our tickets, we ended up with two of the “classic tours” with larger groups. “Domes and Dripstones” was our first.
We boarded the tour buses (school buses with fancy logos on the side) and were dropped off in what appeared to be a random spot in the woods. A quick walk down a path led us to the cave entrance.
Big brother gave little brother important advice only big brothers can give little brothers - “Don’t fart in the cave. There’s nowhere for it to go.”
And we were off! Or down.
The start of the tour included an immediate descent down into the cave with lots of stairs and narrow passageways. I’m not sure if there’s a size requirement for the tour but my backpack was hitting the sides as we walked. And the walk down can be rough on knees. (Note: There is a handicapped accessible tour for those with mobility issues.)
The descent was amazing. A quick peek over stair railings showed just how deep we were going. We stopped at the bottom for a quick lesson by our tour guide. Lights were turned off to show what life was like in the cave when it was first discovered. Kids screamed. Lights were turned back on. And a bat flew over. Fun times below ground.
(Flash isn't allowed inside the caves so it was important to work with whatever light you could find which meant shadows and silhouettes. The quality of the last image isn't great but I wanted to show the details inside the cave.)
As we left the cave, we all walked through a soapy solution to clean our shoes and help prevent the spread of white-nosed syndrome in bats. Read more here.
The tour lasted about two hours with most of it walking. The history was fascinating and I was looking forward to the next tour. But after two hours below, the boys were tired and we cancelled the second tour.
Tip# 3…WITH FAMILIES, ONE CAVE TOUR A DAY IS ENOUGH.
Mammoth Cave will allow you to cancel a tour as long as it hasn’t started, for a $1 per ticket charge. Not bad.
Once back at the campsite, I knew it was time to make the dreaded visit to Super Walmart. We needed a coil tube to empty the gray and black tanks. (Side note: Gray tanks hold water from the kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet and showers. Black tanks hold the yucky stuff. When emptying the tanks, always start with the black water tank. That way, the gray water can wash out the "stuff" through the coil. What goes down, must come up!)
Back to Super Walmart. I absolutely detest that behemoth of a store. I prefer a cozier, regular-sized Wal-mart that can easily be traversed at a reasonable pace and doesn’t raise my pulse if I forget a food item while in the auto aisle. Is it really necessary to have something that large?! And then to have one cashier on duty? (I'll save that for another post.)
But we made the run, burned several hundred more calories going through ALL the aisles, side-stepped the numerous mobility scooters (I get it) and headed back to the campsite.