Why Mammoth Cave? Why not? Stephanie and I started talking in January about where we wanted to go, and it seemed close, domestic, and a little different. And it was!
Day one - Detroit to Nashville to Mammoth Cave National Park
Kate, Stephanie and I were in the very back seats of the plane, and ... there weren't windows. It was so disconcerting not being able to see where we were! But we made it just fine and stood in the long line for the rental car from Thrifty.
I'd like to note here that renting a car is never quick or easy. Even if you have a reservation, it takes forever. I just heard about Turo, which is like Airbnb for cars, and I'm going to try that next time. But it made it all worth it when we walked out to our car and it was a ... Chevy Spark! It was the smallest car I've ever driven. Luckily Kate is a little pocket person and she could fit in the back seat. That thing could turn on a dime!
We drove immediately to Kentucky, close to our lodge, and ate at El Mazatlan in Cave City. It was great, and as we found out later, the only real restaurant in town.
We stayed at the Mammoth Cave Lodge right inside the park, and after we waited out the rain, we started off on a hike from our hotel.
There was some police tape over what looked like a really cool path, so we chose to ignore that and check it out. It led us to an amazing opening to a cave! There was fog hovering over it, and a waterfall over the opening! It had stairs leading down into it, and we went down them as far as we could until there was a locked door. There we saw - this was the entrance to Mammoth Cave! The fact that we didn't know where it was and it was just a little way from our lodge was extra cool. We later found out this path was called Heritage Trail.
We went on a hike to Sunset Point, Sinkhole Trail, and the River Valley Trail. It was green, lush, and humid - sort of like a rainforest. The most amazing thing to me was that we stood on top of Mammoth Dome, which looked like a sinkhole, but we knew that not far under the earth, there was a giant, 192-foot deep hole!
(In Yellowstone, I was amazed that everywhere we went, the ground was bubbling, steaming, and simmering. In Mammoth Cave, the ground kept trying to sink in everywhere, because there are over 400 miles of caves underground. The sinkholes looked like giant drains that had sucked in all the trees and dirt. So cool!)
We wanted to eat dinner at the Green River Grill at the Mammoth Cave Lodge, but it was only open 5-7 p.m. (So short?!) We got there at 6:45 p.m. so they wouldn't seat us did let us get takeout, which was great.
Day two - Cave tour and hiking at Mammoth Cave National Park
The only way you can go into the cave is to book a tour, and you have to book them as soon as they open the tours - like a month ahead of time. (They didn't have any open tours for another week.)
I chose the Extended Historic Tour, and we really enjoyed it! Highlights included Mammoth Dome and Fat Man's Misery - which was a small area we weaved our way through. Also, even though I'm not a fan of graffiti, people have been touring the caves forever, and at one point the guides would help people nail a candle to a stick and write their names and the date on the ceiling of the cave. So we saw dates from the 1700s and 1800s, and even the guide that mapped out a lot of the cave. If I were to go again, I would have booked two or three tours of different areas, because you really can't see it all on one tour!
The Spelunker's Cafe at the lodge had everything we needed for breakfast - candy, sandwiches, etc. We grabbed some food there and drove and parked to go on three hikes just outside of the park - the Cedar Sink Trail, Sloan's Crossing Pond Walk, and Turnhole Bend Nature Trail. (We got a map at the Visitor's Center and the parking lots for all of them were well-marked.) Cedar Sink Trail was my favorite, and as we were looking at the sinkhole with a tiny pool of water at the bottom, we actually saw part of it break off and drop into the water. Sinking!
We went back into Cave City, went to Reyna's Tavern and Grill, and then ate again at ... El Mazatlan! It's hard to beat good Mexican on an outside patio, and also there were limited choices.
Day three - Kayaking on the Green River and Nashville
We rented kayaks from Adventures of Mammoth Cave. We went there, followed them in our car, parked, then got in their van pulling the kayaks. That way it didn't matter when we finished, because our cars were where we ended. We chose the Dennison Ferry to Green River ferry trip.
I really enjoyed the kayaking. We got to go into a little cave! Stephanie pointed out the worms on the walls and ceilings, which added to the adventure! The owner had told us where to spot an eagle's nest, which we did and it was giant. Kate later spotted the eagle, which was perched on a dead branch right along the river! We saw lots of turtles, too. The current was quick, and it was a nice paddle down to the Green River ferry.
We drove straight to Nashville, where we had rented an Airbnb. We changed from hiker/kayakers into city girls, and we had a great time! Kate had been in Nashville the weekend before, and she suggested where we should go on Broadway. It seems like it would be hard to go wrong, because Nashville is similar to Austin, New Orleans, and Memphis - every place is wide open, with great bands playing in every bar! We went to Whiskey Bent Row, Tin Roof, Kid Rock's Honky Tonk (we ate here), Miranda Lambert's Casa Rosa, and Mellow Mushroom. All good bands and dancing - of course!
Day four - Nashville to Detroit
We ate breakfast at First Watch, which was right next to our Airbnb, and it was fantastic. We went to a few shops and boutiques because we had a little time before we went to the airport, then it was back to the airport and home sweet home.
