We Explore Mammoth Cave, Again
And also deal with other mishaps while parked for a few days in Kentucky
In Mission: Wanderlust, I write and podcast about our family’s travel adventures and the things that we have learned along the way.
Our summer vacation in 2021 couldn’t have come at a worse time. We had started discussing our plans in late 2020, as my sister-in-law started making her own plans for a camping sabbatical across the United States. By the time she was ready to make the itinerary in early 2021, our lives had exploded in our laps. We made the decision to move back to Indiana less than two weeks before we were supposed to leave on vacation. In short, it was a disaster, and with focus on moving when we returned, all I could really write about it was a quick summary. Now that I have time, I’m going back to write more reflectively about each of our major stops. You can find the original summary of our whole vacation here.
We took two days to travel to Kentucky, making an overnight stop at a state park in Tennessee. On our way to the park, we got a phone call from my sister-in-law who informed us that our daughter had a sudden and inexplicable rash all over her hands, stomach, and feet. It was a situation that was going to throw one more complication into our travels.
But our arrival in Kentucky felt a little like coming home. During our years living in Indiana, Jeff and I had come to love traveling to Kentucky on the occasional decision to travel south. Since we would be meeting up with my family in Brown County State Park a few days later, we decided to spend a few days enjoying some of our favorite spots in Kentucky. It would allow for exploring and quick travel to southern Indiana when we were ready to head north.
Our first goal for Kentucky was a stop at Mammoth Cave National Park, a family favorite that we had visited with our kids right before we moved to Texas. The kids wanted to return and we were happy to oblige, but before we could go on this tour, we had to get an explanation for our daughters’ rash.
We love Kentucky and her rolling hills, but we had forgotten just how narrow and windy those roads can be. I spent three hours driving too many miles and waiting on prescriptions after an urgent care clinic visit that resulted in no answers (except perhaps the rash being stress related, which would have been completely understandable considering our circumstances, at the time). After an hour wait to fill a prescription for cream and steroids that the doctor hoped would get rid of it, we were finally able to return to the campsite in time to get back on the road towards Mammoth Cave.
Since the tours were still limited in the summer of 2021, we were only able to get on the main historic tour (which had been slightly abbreviated to accommodate for COVID restrictions) and enjoyed our two hours walking two miles through the main portions of the longest cave system in the world.
We love Mammoth Cave. We always have. Actually, we’ve always loved cave exploring, going all the way back to the summer before Jeff and I got married and we went to a cave while visiting his sister in Colorado.1 We had done the historic tour plenty of times, so much so that we probably could have given part of the tour, but our kids didn't remember it from their last trip and it was a first for Jeff's sister and parents, so we were more than happy to be back under the earth in the world's longest cave system.
The kids got replacement Junior Ranger badges from the last time we had visited the park (six years before) and we spent some time perusing the gift shops.2 We enjoyed a break from campsite cooking with a stop in the national park’s restaurant and decompressed from a busy day of running unexpected errands and exploring. We worked hard to make the stop a highlight of a vacation that was wearing on everyone, including Jeff and me, as we considered what waited for us when we returned to Texas.
But for the time being, I was just happy to be back in one of our favorite places. That had to be enough, for the moment.
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The same sister we were traveling with on this particular vacation.
I am the worst when it comes to saying “no” in NPS stores. Seriously, I want all of the National Parks gear. I have to keep reminding myself that I do not have the money or the space for all. the. things.
Mammoth Cave is really special. I would definitely like to do additional tours there.