Nationals and some sides....
We were just excited for her to have the experience. She did not make it out of her heat (4th) but she did get to skate and we were thankful.Along the way....
YOU know how I am... I had to stop at something. I am always looking for an adventure to get into. We decided we would spend our first night on the road at Mammoth cave National park.
They have there own hotel. We tried to get a cabin but they were sold out. Later we heard someone talking and they said the cabins had no A/C so--for the Daddy's sake it was better we had cool air. The hotel was still very rustic. We got our keys and checked out the rooms... REAL KEYS not cards LOL. It was like high end camping.
Upon arrival we secured our tickets for the following day tour called The Frozen Niagra. Nothing frozen about it, just a catchy name to focus on the geological cave formations that look like Niagra falls. The Ranger said it was the best tour because it took you straight to all the good stuff without the walking. Matthew has a very short attention span and we felt the shortest tour was probably the best idea. Mammoth caves is the LARGEST cave system in the WORLD. It spans a documented 360 miles of cave. They believe that other caves are linked to a total of 500 miles of cave. It is not spanning across the state of Kentucky but in layers upon layers on top of each other. The way the Ranger explained it was a bowl of spagetti with the caves being noodles..you turn the bowl over and that is the cave system. Way back they even had Church services there because the cave stays a temp of 54 degrees spring or summer.
Here is a picture of the Cave entrance. It has an air lock on it because it was created by man in 1920 and they are trying to preserve it's natural state.
That is not really a good photo of one of the formations. It is a cave folks! Plus we had other people in the way who were whining about the flash on the camera... grrrrrrr....
As we were getting ready for the tour Matthew took one look at our guide and said, " Momma Ranger Kate.... uhhh she is PRETTY"! I laughed and asked her if we could take a picture. The boy loves girls I tell ya! Look at his face!
On the trip home, I whined until the spouse finally stopped at the Tennessee Aquarium.
I swear he can be a cow to the barn. It was a vote of 3 to one and he lost.
I am always looking to give the kids more Science and just MORE!
For those who are wondering... the Tennessee Aquarium has come a long way and is in my opinion much nicer then the Georgia one. It is in a safer neighborhood, better flow, volunteers working the exibits, good parking, good food, nice folks and good variety. Thumbs up here!
Matthew was very interested in the Penguins. At the Georgia aquarium you have to pay extra to see the Penguins. We saw them for free at a very nice exibit. Some of the birds were sitting on nests made of rocks. Matthew was tuned in and learned a good deal about the birds. It was funny watching one of the nesting pairs. The Momma was on the nest and the Daddy kept fussing at her trying to make her get up off the nest and let him have his turn. She kept pecking him back. Finally he just stood there and she waited a second then got up and stretched and let him take over. I wish I could of understood that conversation.
Male: Get up, my turn.
Female: I will get up when I am good and ready.. go away.
Male: (the nice approach) Honey I can see you are tired and hungry, why don't you get up and eat, stretch your legs..
Female: Shut up! I will get up when I am good and ready.
Male: waits quietly
Female Ok I am ....................ready.
Male: Yes Dear..... whatever you say
Female is on the left-- male is getting ready to sit.
Matthew loved the shark cage. He was giving me a visual demo in this picture.
They had an area where you could look up at the sharks. Pretty relaxing.
Not to offend any of you Illinois folks but that state is BORING to travel in. OY! People say Kansas is boring. --- Kansas has a special warmth to it.. with all the farms and windmills....
It was a good trip!
Your penguin story is so cool. I couldn't stop laughing.
And thanks for the wonderful "guided tours"
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