We spent two weeks in Park City, Kentucky at Diamond Caverns RV resort. It is a Thousand Trails park so it has all of the amenities including putt-putt, game room, two pools, playscape, golf course, laundry and more. It actually sits within boundaries of Mammoth Cave National Park.
Jacob declared this park as the “best place ever!”. It's funny to hear him say it because he has said that about nearly every place we have been to. There is always something a little different that he falls in love with.
BUT I can tell you one thing in particular that I did NOT love. I am quickly learning that I will take the Texas scorpions and fire ants over some of the insects in these other states. Here, they have sweat bees.
They look like ants but they fly and they will sting! Because they look like ants, my instinct was to shoo them and knock them off. Rookie mistake. After two stings, I had to do some research on these pesky little bugs! The locals told me to just leave them alone and they will fly off on their own. Doesn't sound too bad, right? I mean if a fly lands on you, just about any movement will send them away. I can do that! WELL, that is not how it goes with sweat bees. They land on you because they are attracted to the salt in your sweat and they can spend MINUTES licking or rubbing or whatever they do to collect the salt! I really don't like bugs and am totally creeped out by sitting still and watching a bug or several bugs crawl and lick all over me for that long! NO THANK YOU! So sadly, I didn't spend as much time outside as I would have liked. It was hot and just thinking about the bees made me sweat!
But we could go out early and late and move from place to place without being bothered. And of course swimming was always a possibility.
During the first week, Jacob got poison ivy and lost his second front tooth,
Jordan got an adorable haircut,
they both had their first root beer floats,
AND they both completed their first year of homeschooling!! Jacob has completed first grade and Jordan has completed Kindergarten. We had our own little celebration. They received their diplomas and a couple small gifts.
Since it was Jordan's first graduation, she wore a cap and gown (aka a haircutting cape, but she was none the wiser). I had her decorate a piece of black construction paper for her art project one day, then I later transformed it into her cap. I especially love the little bird on top.
I had also made them a brownie cake which turned out to be a perfect addition to the ice cream they were serving that night at the campground! We took our brownies and shared them with the others there. They then got to pick the movie to be shown at the pavilion that night and enjoyed popcorn served by the campground host. It was a great day!
Also that week, Jacob and Jordan made a friend named Lucas from South Carolina. They played together as much as possible until he left midweek. He was traveling with his grandmother, Linda, who I enjoyed visiting with too.
Our first trip into the park was to the visitor center.
They had some great exhibits there with a lot of good information on the caves. There were plenty of hands on things for the kids and they had some other fun things like cavers hanging from the ceiling and cave crawl-thrus.
Behind our home in Austin is a Karst Preserve. Well, I just thought that was someone's name! Here, I learned that a karst is actually landscape in which water moves rapidly underground by dissolving rock. How about that?!
The kids and I decided to go do something very touristy. We went to Big Mike's Rock Shop and Mystery House. What kid doesn't like rocks? And they have tons of them! The only thing though is I do hate the idea of paying for rocks!! But the kids each picked out 3 rocks to take home.
And for $2 total, we took a trip through the mystery fun house. It was pretty short but it was fun and the kids really enjoyed it.
On Tuesdays and Thursday nights, Hardin Planetarium on the campus of West Kentucky University, in Bowling Green, offers a free show. It was about an hour long and while the screen was a little pixelated to me, it was really good. There weren't many people there and they had designed an interactive program for naming and identifying constellations. It was a fun learning experience. And outside of the room, they had some enjoyable hands-on exhibits.
We tried to take a bike ride to explore the park some. They have a biking and hiking trail that is something like 12 miles long and there is access to it from the campground where we were. Unfortunately, it was soooo sandy. There was no way Jordan could ride her bike alone through it and it was too hard and scary with her on my bike. We had to go sooooo slow because we were sliding all over the place. We turned back after a mile or so and gave up but not before finding a turtle.
I went alone one morning and had a good ride. Along the way I found this little graveyard up on a hill in some trees. There were only 3 grave sites. This one is dated 1866.
The campground also had some nice rolling hills for some bike riding...
On Sunday, we finally made our first tour into Mammoth Cave. We took the Domes and Dripstones tour. A ranger led the tour and did a good job discussing the caves. There are 400 miles of caves in 7 square miles. The pictures are a little hard to see since they do not allow flash photography.
Here is a picture of the Frozen Niagara:
Here is a picture of the Frozen Niagara:
And a couple other formations: (most of them were near the end of the tour)
We saw cave crickets but no bats. The bats here are dying of White Nose Syndrome, the reason that most caves across the country are closed.
Since the kids enjoyed the tour so much, we decided to take the tour at Diamond Caverns, which is across the street from the campground. We took the last tour of the day and were the only ones! It was our own private tour!
The cave was just beautiful!! There were stalagmites and stalactites and domes everywhere! The original owner thought the calcite crystals were diamonds, hence the name. The cave is still very wet and the formations are still growing.
(ceiling)
This was the most appetizing part of the tour. Cave Bacon!!
Here is a stalagmite that has been sawed in half and polished. Looks like the inside of a tree!
And, here is a handkerchief that has turned to stone. It is thought to be from one of the original cave workers when they would wet their handkerchiefs in the waterfall to keep cool. (Look closely, it's right in the center above the darker area)
This cave is very close to Mammoth Cave but since a connection to Mammoth Cave has not been discovered, it remains in private hands. For obvious reasons, Diamond Caverns is not exploring their cave further. And according to our guide, caves on private lands are sometimes kept secret since if there is a connection to Mammoth, the land would be taken for the National Park.
The guide also discussed the cave wars that took place in the 1930s that resulted in the destruction of many formations in many of the caves. So sad!
Afterwards, we headed back to Mammoth Cave to pick up the kids' Junior Ranger badges and for the Historic Tour. This was Greg's favorite tour. The kids and I enjoyed Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery where the cave walls get very narrow and then short so that you must crouch over to walk.
On the way back to the campground, we detoured and crossed the Green River on ferry. It was an extremely short ferry ride but who doesn't enjoy a ferry?! We took a short hike and then headed back across the ferry to home.
I so wish you could see the turkey that totally cut in line and ran up to the water ahead of all of us but it is too small. So, here's a picture of a few more. They were fairly common and I would usually see a couple of them at our campground while I was on my morning walk.
Our last adventure was supposed to be a ranger-led hike from the Green River ferry parking area but we never found him so we went on our own.
Our last adventure was supposed to be a ranger-led hike from the Green River ferry parking area but we never found him so we went on our own.
Hike from Green River Ferry passed Echo Springs to River Styx. It was a beautiful day and hike and we didn't know what to expect when we started. River Styx was a treat as it is where a river that is still carving the cave flows on the surface. It's easy to imagine how it got its name!
We reached the River Styx then turned around and made our way back.
So despite the sweat bees, we had a good time! Next, we're headed to Yellow Springs, OH.
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