We went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I thought it was going to be a lot like Carlsbad, boy was I wrong! It was NOTHING like it. If you are afraid of heights, like I am, I do not recommend that you attempt to visit the "New Entrance" like we did. I was not a happy camper at all. We had to go down into the sink hole 280 steps, very steep high steps. By the way did I mention that I was afraid of heights? I was shaking and freaking down all 280 of those stairs. I had Hailey joking behind me, and Maddie worrying about me, and Doug was trying to support me. OMG! It was very nerve racking, even though the cave was about 50 degrees, my anxiety had me sweating like it was 80. When I made it to the bottom I cried because of the anxiety - who says facing your fears is good? The thing is, I did make it to the bottom, I did not freeze (although I wanted to), and I was able to see the cave in its entirety - Go Me! Will I ever do that again, definitely NOT! We found out later that 2 other guys in our tour did not make it down, so I did better than them. Whoop Whoop!
The rest of the cave tour was great. It was beautiful to be able to see it. One of the best parts was when the turned out the lights so you could really see how dark the cave was. We saw cave crickets, Frozen Niagara, beautiful limestone formations too. It was amazing!!! This was different from Carlsbad because water doesn't seep in from above (except where the Frozen Niagara formation is), some would call it plain. But this is the largest cave system in the world with 400 mapped miles and an estimated 600 more that haven't been explored yet.
After we finished the New Entrance Tour we hiked down to the Natural Entrance to the cave to see it. It was pretty cool, the most amazing part was feeling the temperature change near the cave and at it's entrance. Doug and the girls went several hundred feet into the entrance and said there was a strong wind coming from below. It was pretty wild.
After we were through with that we went through the exhibits at the visitors center and learned more about caves and how they are formed as well as bats and how to protect them.
It was then time to head to the next campground. Not before we made a stop for Hailey, she was determined to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken in the state of Kentucky. Which we did, we found one and had an early dinner. On our way to Virginia, Doug also found where the first KFC was, so he even made a quick pit stop there to show Hailey where the very first one was. He is such a good Dad!
We finally made it to Natural Tunnel State Park Campground at about 11. We were all tired and ready to sleep.
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