Mammoth Cave National Park ~ Summer Adventure

One morning last week, Brian was getting to leave the house for work.  He told me that "we were going on an adventure" when he got home.  I thought he was gonna say that I needed to be prepared to get home late, rather he said that we would not be back until Saturday.  He did not say exactly what we were going to be doing, but I had a feeling that "rough'n" it was going to be involved.  I spent the entire day doing laundry and packing for five people.  That is no easy task, especially when I didn't know exactly where we were going.  He finally told me that we were going to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and that we would be staying in a little cottage that was a "step above a tent." 

Once he was a home and the car was packed, we were off on our adventure.  The GPS had us take some back roads...lots of back roads.  It would not have been our first choice, but I'm so glad that thing took us down those two lanes.  Rolling hills, lush and green, were filled with horses and blooms.  Garrison wanted to know where the "blue" grass was.  Haha!  We skirted past some Amish ladies walking home at dusk.  The lightning bugs appeared just as we approached the park.  Deer grazed along the side of the road. 

We made our way to the quaint little cottage...much nicer than what I expected...until the roach crawled across my bed.  I sucked it up and we went to sleep.  The night got chilly and the cottage had not ac or heat.  We bundled up the remaining nights though and made it through. 

We took hikes, took a cave tour, and rested in the cottage.  The first day the sun was out and it felt so nice.  The breezed blowing through the windows was refreshing for an afternoon nap.  That night it stormed.  So cool to go to sleep to!  But the next day was cloudy and cool.  We made the best of it though.  Garrison completed a task to become a Jr. Ranger.  He was so proud of that pin.  Brody got a complimentary pin as well.  Hey, being the little brother has its perks!

The cave tour we took was really cool.  Mammoth Cave is a maze of 392 miles worth of cave, and we only so a teeny tiny portion.  Of course, both boys had to pee while we were on the tour.  Thank goodness for plastic water bottles!!!  Anyone watching on surviellence camera had to have been laughing. 

The best part was watching the boys learn and explore.  They loved finding things on our hikes.  Brody talked endlessly pointing out the trees that were dead and "composing" as Garrison called it.