Mammoth Cave

       Three years ago, we finally got to go to Kentucky to attend Horsefest. It was great, and when I learned about Mammoth Cave being so close, I really wanted to go. But Cave City is a little over 2 hours from Lexington, so I would really need to plan that in ahead of time. So I planned for us to go last year. Instead, American Airlines stranded us in Philadelphia. So we didn’t get to go to Mammoth Cave. Again. But this year, we finally made it!

       I try to remember to take a lot of selfies with Travis while we travel. It’s part of what we do. This one was right outside the cave.

     The day was very hot and humid, but once you got close to the entrance, it felt like there was air conditioning in the woods. That was really cool (no pun intended)! The entrance reminded me a bit of the entrance to Natural Bridge Cavern, in San Antonio. At least in how you get into the cave. 

     There was a bit of a waterfall at the entrance, which was very hard to photograph. Especially with a phone. 

     There is no flash photography allowed in the cave, so I did the best I could to get pics of Travis. There are so many lights in the cave that getting photos wasn’t too hard. 

      Mammoth Cave is a dry cave. And it was very cool. For awhile, we kept our sweatshirts on, because it’s only around 50 degrees inside. But after a lot of walking, 50 degrees wasn’t horrible. 

      The cave was really nice, but I haven’t seen a cave I don’t like.

     Mammoth used to be used for mining salt peter, and a lot of the old equipment is still in the cave. 

     There were lots of deep crevices tucked under the walls. It was pretty cool. Sometimes I wished we could explore off the paved path. 

         There were plenty of very large rooms in the cave. 

      There was also plenty of cave graffiti. I have no idea why I find that cool. If the signatures were added up to 1941, the are considered historic. If they are 1942 or later, they are a felony. 

     This looked like a black bear to me. 

      At one point, our guide lit a lantern and turned off the lights. Then she (warned us) and blew out the lantern so we could see the absolute dark of the cave. There were more than 100 cell phones on that tour, and lots of Apple Watches, so we still had bits of light from lit up screens. 

      Somewhere on this wall is a felony signature. 

     Going down these stairs you really had to watch your head. It’s kind of hard to tell from the angle of the photo though. 

   Felony. 

       Kind of a deep crevice. I had to really force myself to take this photo. I am very afraid of heights. 

    More head smashing stairs. 

     This part of the cave was called tall man’s torment I believe. 

    More dark spaces I wished I could go and explore. 

    A really narrow section of the cave where we had to kind of shimmy through sideways. 

     Some beautiful flow stone. 

      The kind of scary fire tower stairs. I just looked up as we were going up them. It made it so I could do it. 

     Another selfie. This one barely worked, but I can still see Travis’s smile. 

     The exit, back into the humid woods. 

    I am very glad we finally made it to Mammoth Cave. This was only one of the tours, and there are many. I think we might have to go back and do another one next year. 
 

Kentucky Renaissance Faire

      On July 5th, Travis and I drove out to Eminence, Kentucky, so we could go to the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Faire. It was hot, I knew it would be, but I have been to faire’s when it was hotter. I went with a sleeveless dress to make things a bit more comfortable, and wore my hiking sandals, because I couldn’t fit my boots in the luggage. 

      Travis met this very cool beared man. He taught me all about beards and beard care. I bought some stuff to see what I can do with Travis’s beard. We’ll see what happens. 

     Travis didn’t get to bring his sword, because it was also hard to fit in the luggage. He also didn’t have his boots, but he seemed fine with it. 

     The faire had some nice shady areas, and a lot of the vendors were in actual buildings. It was a really nice area. 

     As with so many faires, there were a lot of vendors. I barely looked at them though because I was trying not to spend a whole ton of money. Especially on the first day of a lengthy trip. 

      We did do a quest, because I love quests. They are a fun way to spend time at a faire, and are usually really affordable. 

     There were some parts of the grounds that were wide open, very sunny spaces. I did go back to the car, almost immediately, to get my parasol. It was a gorgeous day. But hot.

      Even with signs, it was very easy to get lost. We spent a lot of our day trying to remember where we saw the water faucets. It was very important to keep finding those. 

      I love that the entry to the faire (and the exit) was through the woods. It was even more like entering another time than usual. 

     It was a fun day and a great way to start our trip in Kentucky. And it was only the beginning of our fun. 

 

Horsefest day 1 and 2

Yesterday, Travis and I got up ridiculously early (about 3:30) so we could get ready to leave and finish the last minutes things that need to be done before leaving for a trip. We got to the airport early so I could get him a new sunflower lanyard, since I misplaced the old one. We got through security super fast and then did a lot of waiting. We found some rocking chairs and I sent a photo to my sister, Cathy, because the rocking chairs are such a big thing at the Charlotte airport.

     We got our airplane selfie and then Travis fell asleep. I took a good amount of napping done myself. 

     I have never seen Travis fall asleep on a plane. But we did get up super early.

       We had a long layover in Charlotte and Cathy came to hang out and brought lunch. So we had a picnic in the airport. 

      We got a selfie and Travis refused to come closer, so he kind of looked like a creeper. Which was why we were laughing so much. I got a bunch of hugs, which still wasn’t enough. This was the first time I saw Cathy in 6 years. That is just way too long. 

        We got to Lexington, got the rental car, and headed to the hotel. This flock of geese was in the way, and stopped traffic on both sides of the road for several minutes. 

      Today, we headed out to Eminence, Kentucky, to go to the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Faire. I forgot a couple of things we needed for the trip, but I remembered faire clothes. We couldn’t bring Travis’s sword, it didn’t fit in the luggage, and neither of us could fit out boots, but we at least had some of our usual stuff. 

     We met this really cool beared guy and he taught me all about beard care. He gave me a scoop of beard balm to try out on Travis’s beard, and it did do some nice stuff. I guess if Travis is going to keep his crazy long beard (which he is) then I should take care of it properly.

      My photos aren’t in the order I would like them to be in, and I can’t figure out how to fix it on my iPad. But this is a photo of the really nice entrance into the faire. It was cool that we got to walk from the parking area, through the woods, into a different world. 

       The faire was shady in a lot of spots, and a lot of the vendors were in actual buildings. It was pretty cool. 

      There was so much to see, and it was all a bit confusing to find things. I would see a vendor I was sort of interested in but I couldn’t always find them again. Which is a great way to save money. 

     We did a quest, or really, I did, and with a bit of help from the quest organizers, I got it solved. We got to pose with signs and this one made me laugh! I love faire quests (it’s a great way to spend a good amount of time not spending money.) 

       There was a lot of space that was very out in the open, and it was very hot. I had my parasol and there was a bridge with misters on it. But it was still very hot. I have been to hotter faires, so I knew to move slowly and drink a lot of water. The problem was, we kept not being able to find the fountain to refill our bottles. The faire was quite large and quite confusing. 

     Things might have been easier with a map, but we didn’t have one. I don’t even know if they had them anywhere. But we had a good time wandering. I found a lot of other trinket traders (the symbol really is very helpful) and met some cool people. I really love how a simple symbol makes it pretty easy to approach a stranger and talk to them. And I love interacting with other people at the faires. I have no idea what I got from people, but I’ll figure that out at some other point. The trinkets I get is not the point of trading, interacting with people is the point. 

      This statue was really pretty, so I had to take a picture. I only thought of it on the way out, so I didn’t get a picture from the front. 

       We decided it was time to leave and headed back through the woods. 

     It really was a beautiful entry/exit to this faire. And it was a really nice faire. Though having done 2 faires in 90 degree or higher temps, I definitely enjoy them more when it’s moderate temperature. And when I have my boots. Though super hot is weirdly more enjoyable than when it’s cold. I went to one faire when it was kind of chilly and I really wished I had another layer or two.

       The first day of the trip was traveling, as usual, and was totally exhausting. Today we went to the faire (and then the mall, because Travis wanted to go to the mall) and it was also tiring. Tomorrow we are going to Mammoth Cave. Hopefully, my writing will get better tomorrow.