Mammoth Cave National Park

When we were looking at going to Mammoth Cave National Park, we saw that they have onsite lodging.  We love a good rustic cabin and were super excited for the chance to stay inside the park.  There was only an opening for one night, so we snatched it up and headed in that direction...

Once we got there and got checked in, I asked at the desk if there had been any cancellations for the following nights.  Nope, but check back in the morning.  Ok...

Guess what?  Bright and early the next morning...after a wonderful night's sleep in our woodsy little cabin...I checked back in with the reservation desk.  Annnnd, there was a cancellation on our EXACT cabin!  How completely awesome (for us) is that???  Of course, I snatched it right up again (haha!) and we enjoyed a few lazy days of legos (yes, we travel with legos), long walks, and simply hanging out around our cabin :)...

The cabin itself had no a/c so we were forced to throw open all the windows and even the wooden doors, leaving just the screens shut.  Sitting underneath the trees provided shade and a nice breeze that kept us plenty cool.

For all of our meals, we just walked over to the restaurant that sits near the Visitor Center.  Sometimes we ate there, sometimes we got it to go and took it back to our cabin.  The servers were all extremely nice and it was always pleasant :) (and surprisingly very affordable).

All the lazing around was great, but we also wanted to check out the caves while we were there.  You have to buy tickets for the tour of your choice and apparently you should do it as far in advance as possible.  Several of the tours were completely sold out, but we still had a few options.  We chose the Historic Tour...2 miles, 2 hours, enter and exit through the natural entrance...

It was ok.  I didn't love it.  The tour group was very large and the guide kept up a really fast pace.  I think if you could manage to be at the very front (so that you could actually hear the guide talking) that it would be better than just ok.  Anyway, the times that the guide stopped and waited for everyone to gather around before he talked were great (and no, we weren't at the back...somewhere between middle and front) and we learned some neat history on the caves.

old saltpeter mine...

marks on the ceiling from tour guides many, many years ago...they would throw up torches to light the room...

it was also acceptable way back when for folks to "sign" their names on the cave ceilings and walls using their candles...

They do warn you that it is a tough walk and anyone with issues should bow out.  We had seen on the description that part of the passage winds through a narrow cut in the rocks called "Fat Man's Misery".  That part was really cool, the tough parts were the tiny little stairways that you had to scrunch up and bend over to navigate...and at the very end the long walk back up out of the cave to the Visitor Center.  No elevators here folks ;)...

a picture of a picture showing the Fat Man's Misery portion of the cave

The kids participated in the Junior Ranger program while we were there (of course).  They picked up their books the first day and worked on the puzzles and fun stuff while we hung out at our cabin.  For the parts that required some studying to answer, we headed over to the Visitor Center...

Overall, we had a great time at Mammoth Cave National Park.  Their "summer camp-ish" cabins were our favorite part...I just love finding neat little places like that :)