This weekend we took a day and drove to Mammoth Cave National Park. Only an hour from where we're staying in Greensburg, KY, it was an easy drive. I did a little planning ahead and checked out the tour options and some restaurants nearby in Cave City and made snacks to help the day go a little smoother.
We left at about 9:20am and arrived at about 9:30am (after the switch to Central Time.) Since we have four little kids with us, we opted for the Frozen Niagara Tour, due to start time, tour length, and ease. It was only about $36 for the six of us (Kids 6 and under are free). The park wasn't very busy. It was a Friday, in November, and one of the first tours of the day. Temperatures got up the high 70s in the afternoon, but cave temps stay about 60 degrees so a light jacket or sweatshirt is a good idea.
The Frozen Niagara Tour was perfect for our family. We started with a short little introduction before loading the bus for the quick drive to the cave entrance. Our guide was knowledgeable and patient with all the kids' questions. Our group was small (11 people, 5 of which were kids). The walk through the cave was fairly flat and only 6 steps (another staircase that was optional). We saw cave salamanders, cave crickets, and a few other bugs. The kids had a great time and we'll probably do more "cave adventures" as they get older.
After the cave tour, everyone was getting pretty hungry and we headed back to Cave City (about 11 miles) for lunch. Instead of hitting up fast food or a chain restaurant, we ventured just a little farther into town to Bucky Bee's BBQ. Let me tell you, it was worth it! I had the BBQ pie (pulled pork on top of cornbread covered in baked beans). Kids had cheeseburgers and fries. Chad splurged and had the BBQ sampler platter (pulled pork sammie, beef brisket, baby back ribs, pork shoulder, corn bread, baked beans, and onion rings.) His came out on two plates and was enough food that we probably could have split it between all of us! Our total was $35, which is pretty good considering we were still so full we didn't eat dinner and we're a family of six!
On the way back to the National Park, we stopped at the park sign to snap the photo at the top. We also noticed there was a trail to Sand Cave off the small parking lot. Of course the kids wanted to do it! The trail was only a tenth of a mile long and and fully handicap accessible (wide wooden walkway) and ended with a wooden overlook with benches. The view from the overlook is above and a photo of the overlook below.
At the overlook, I was like, "wow, that's cool, lets go back to the visitor center area." My kids, "LET'S GO DOWN THERE!!!" Me, "No, we can't, look how far down it is. This is the end of the trail." Chad (the adventure enabler), "There's a trail right there."
One guess, who won. Confession time: I'm scared of heights, and tight spaces, and the dark...and animals (snakes, bears, cougars) that may be lurking where I can't see them. So we hiked the little trail down into the cave. The trail that went right around that top rim of the cave (see above photo).
Here's a nice photo for the size reference of the cave. It was big. I will admit: It was worth it to climb down in and around the cave.
My gorgeous family.
Someone had a fire in the cave.
Big kids in a tree and Quinn and I behind.
Big kids in the tree.
Exploring and pausing for photos.
Chad insisted on some photos of me with the kids, since I'm usually taking the pictures.
Minus Chloe.
"silly faces"
After the Sand Cave, we headed to the Gunnison Ferry day use area. This would be a great canoe launch area with picnic area for lunches. My kids snacked on pumpkin muffins and again pushed me into adventures.
The Green River runs through the National Park and also right by our campground in Greensburg, KY.
My family does not casually observe nature. My family jumps right in. So instead of just standing by the edge of the "cliff" next to the river, they start climbing down and end up sliding down this near vertical incline. I reluctantly followed while my loving husband laughed at me sliding down this hill.
What goes down, must find a way up again.
How we do this stuff with a 2 year old and an infant, especially when we leave our carriers at home.
How normal people get to the river.
We met this other family here. They stopped on their way to Florida and there four boys were doing this, and it looked like a good photo op.
It's a little easy with four boys (youngest 5) than when your youngest is 2 months, but we made it work. ;-)
Finally, we went back to the visitor's center to pick up a magnet and now my family was reluctant to do more trails, but I really wanted to see the historic entrance to Mammoth Cave. I mean, the Frozen Niagara tour is nice, but the entrance is just a metal door. It's nothing grand. So we took an little detour on the way back to the truck and found it! Look at that cave! Now that's a grand cave entrance.
Now, all the known entrances to the cave system (the world's longest) are closed/locked off so that people don't go in and get lost. We were able to go this far into the historic entrance and then it's blocked off with a gate. It may not look like much in this photo, but it is HUGE. I'm thrilled that we were able to see this part, along with all the rest.
The husband and baby.
A much less traveled trail back to the truck.
I told him more male modeling should be done holding babies while hiking rocky terrain.
Mammoth Cave National Park was a great day trip with the whole family and I feel like while it would take much longer to experience the whole park, we were able to see a good sample of it. I highly recommend taking a tour (the Drips and Domes tour got a good review from the family we met, but has lots of stairs and it's about twice as long) and doing some exploring on the many trails.
