DH & MIL should not travel together - IL. IN. KY. TN & WA, oh my! - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sorry, you missed out on seeing Lincoln's birthplace.... We went on a road trip over the summer that also included Mammoth Cave; we also seen a LOT of windmills and had never seen anything like it before.... The time changes really get you; it was hard for us to keep up with as well! I hope you made your tour and enjoyed Mammoth Cave as much as we did
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Carry on! Excellent update - you are such a positive spirit.
Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Hope you do get to the tour on time, but your MiL's driving would have made me nervous, too!
Driving over the speed limit and taking chances is not for me, my youngest brother died in a car accident and I have a healthy respect for being safe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I hope you make it in time - and safely too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad things have finally picked up!! I hope you made the tour!
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Sorry, you missed out on seeing Lincoln's birthplace.... We went on a road trip over the summer that also included Mammoth Cave; we also seen a LOT of windmills and had never seen anything like it before.... The time changes really get you; it was hard for us to keep up with as well! I hope you made your tour and enjoyed Mammoth Cave as much as we did
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
I hope you get to see Lincoln's birthplace on another trip. I hope you were able to get to Mammoth Cave with the crazy erratic driver in the lead!
Thanks all, it's too late for me to post an update but wanted to reply to all of you. Will try to get an update in tomorrow. I will get to what happened at Mammoth cave tomorrow..
We found the turn off for Mammoth Cave which was a 2 lane country road that had several twists and turns and MIL had the pedal to the metal. Her driving made not only me but DD hold on to whatever we could grab. I reminded her of the speed limit once I saw a sign and she slowed down a little. We found the Park Service building and MIL pulled up to the door so I could hop out, it was 4 pm and the tour started at 5. The parking lot was jammed. I entered the building to find what seemed like hundreds of people. I was looking around trying to figure out where to go and realized there were lit boards above the personel which stated the different tours available. I found the only one that was that day, the 5pm one and it was sold out. I checked but there was nothing else available until the next day and we had to leave for TN. I had given up Lincolns birthplace to make it here in time and wouldn't get the cave tour either. Needless to say I was quite disapointed. Dejected, I went back outside and found the jeep. I told them it was sold out and said let's just go check in. We found the main hotel and I went in to fill out paperwork, get the key and so on and I saw the clock which said it was just after 3pm. I asked if that was the correct time and they explained that there were 2 time zones in KY. If I would have known the cave tour was sold out I could have at least made the first stop I had planned instead of missing both things I wanted to see.
We drove to our room, it was a little cabin away from the main building. We unloaded, MIL immediately took a chair and began painting her nails. DH turned on TV and he and DD began to watch. I was too disgruntled to just sit around the room so asked MIL if I could take her jeep back over to main building to give them liscence number. I didn't know if she'd agree since DH told me she didn't like anyone to drive her jeep, but I would only be driving through parking lots! I told her I hadn't had an accident in over 25 years and that one wasn't even my fault; and I would be careful. She handed me the keys so off I went.
I gave hotel required information and headed for the gift shop. I figured since we had the tour $ money, I could go shopping and maybe feel better about the whole situation. I didn't bring my camera or I would have taken some pictures - there were 2 gift shops. The first one I went into had many pretties but most were over my budget, even so It was fun to look. I found a glass-blown butterfly that was beautiful and MIL likes them so I got that for her. Next I went to the other gift shop which focused on the Caves where I found a necklace for DD, a coffee mug for DH, a video postcard for me and fudge! I had been puttering around in the stores for about a hour and was feeling calmer. I checked where the restraunt was because we were going to eat dinner there. I saw a sign that showed several walking trails in the area and one caught my attention. It was the Mammoth Dome Sink, I thought if I walked it I could see part of the Cave system where the ground had sunk in, cool. I went back to the room to give the gifts I had found and find out if anyone wanted to walk one of the trails with me. When I pulled up in front of our cabin, I saw DH and DD walking on a trail up in some trees heading my way. I went to talk to them and found out they had been goofing around and MIL had told them they were too noisy and to go outside, so they did.
I asked them about going on the trail with me and they agreed, DH felt sorry that I didn't get to do the things I wanted and I think agreed to go with me just because of that; but first we went into the room. Everyone liked their gift and the fudge, which I shared and was very yummy! I filled up my water bottle, told MIL we were heading out, she didn't want to go and told us not to hurry back. The start of the trail was not too far from our cabin, in fact it was where DH and DD had been walking. They said they found a gravesite up there which I wanted to see too. We went over there,
It was really small, there were only 2 graves there, both people who had been very involved in the Caves for most of their lives.
After that brief stop we located the trail and began walking.
The beginning...
We sat on a bench for a bit, DH and DD were bird watching and then we heard a Katydid (spelling) a first for DD and I, it was a strange noise to our ears.
Our view from the bench.
The Dome Sink trail branched off to a series of switch back down a rather large hill but we were game so we set off. There were interesting things along the trail like this rock.
Although we were warm due to the humitity, we weren't in direct sun because of all the trees and we weren't hurrying so it was a nice stroll so far.
Continued.
__________________
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:44 PM..
So sorry about the caves tour. I want to go to Mammoth one day and that's something I'll learn and perhaps if we make it there, we'll aim for the first tour of the day. At least you got to see some of the trails....
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Aww... I hate that you missed the cave tour! I hope this trip gets better.... I'm glad you were able to atleast enjoy the trail...
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
So disappointing! Glad you decided to explore a bit on your own.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sherreexx1
Luckily, the area around the caves are just beautiful and perfect for strolling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
How disappointing you had to miss both things. It looks like a nice trail though and it looks like you had a nice time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
So sorry about the caves tour. I want to go to Mammoth one day and that's something I'll learn and perhaps if we make it there, we'll aim for the first tour of the day. At least you got to see some of the trails....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sorry about missing the tour!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
I was hoping this would turn out better for you, but it sounds like you are making the most of the afternoon.
Thanks for all your sympathy. Someday I'll get back and be able to take the tour.
I was trying to show how far down we'd come. We started at the top of the ridge.
I thought the trees growing together were interesting looking.
Quite a bit of green stuff growing around this rock.
DH had spotted a screech owl and I took a pic but it was too far away to see well. Later there was another owl sitting on a branch looking at us as we walked the trail. We were at a switchback, think of a U shape with the owl in the center of the U. Here he/she is.
Once we got around the right side of the U, the owl didn't like how close we were and flew off, but I was happy I got such a good
pic.
Continued
__________________
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:44 PM..
We had made it to the bottom of the hill which took us about 30 minutes. Followed sign to Mammoth dome trail but seemed to just be wandering along a trail at the bottom of the hill. Not really sure what I was looking for or where it was, DH reminded me a couple of times that we'd have to go back up since we came down. I was not looking forward to that. We were hot and sweaty and with the sun going down, it was starting to get darker under the trees as you will be able to see in the pics shortly.
I was surprised by this little building sitting in a field.
At first we didn't know what it was for.
As the trail wound it's way around the building we found this sign.
The sign explained that the building was part of Roosevelts Conservation Corps in the 1930s to create jobs and this Chlorinating house was one of the things that was built. I thought this was an interesting piece of history.
Well DH was right, shortly after seeing the building we started to climb again.
Continued.
__________________
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:44 PM..
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Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
. We found the Park Service building and MIL pulled up to the door so I could hop out, it was 4 pm and the tour started at 5. The parking lot was jammed. I entered the building to find what seemed like hundreds of people. I was looking around trying to figure out where to go and realized there were lit boards above the personel which stated the different tours available. I found the only one that was that day, the 5pm one and it was sold out
. I checked but there was nothing else available until the next day and we had to leave for TN. I had given up Lincolns birthplace to make it here in time and wouldn't get the cave tour either. 
Needless to say I was quite disapointed. Dejected, I went back outside and found the jeep. I told them it was sold out and said let's just go check in. We found the main hotel and I went in to fill out paperwork, get the key and so on and I saw the clock which said it was just after 3pm
. I asked if that was the correct time and they explained that there were 2 time zones in KY. If I would have known the cave tour was sold out I could have at least made the first stop I had planned instead of missing both things I wanted to see. 
but most were over my budget, even so It was fun to look. I found a glass-blown butterfly that was beautiful and MIL likes them so I got that for her. Next I went to the other gift shop which focused on the Caves where I found a necklace for DD, a coffee mug for DH, a video postcard for me and fudge! I had been puttering around in the stores for about a hour and was feeling calmer. I checked where the restraunt was because we were going to eat dinner there. I saw a sign that showed several walking trails in the area and one caught my attention. It was the Mammoth Dome Sink, I thought if I walked it I could see part of the Cave system where the ground had sunk in, cool
. I went back to the room to give the gifts I had found and find out if anyone wanted to walk one of the trails with me. When I pulled up in front of our cabin, I saw DH and DD walking on a trail up in some trees heading my way. I went to talk to them and found out they had been goofing around and MIL had told them they were too noisy and to go outside, so they did.
I filled up my water bottle, told MIL we were heading out, she didn't want to go and told us not to hurry back.
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