August 1, 2011 Day 59 KentuckyAug 3, 2011
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Leaving Harmonie State Park
Evansville, IN
Crossing the Ohio River
| We’re up at 6:00AM and off by 7:15AM. We take the back roads to Evansville, IN and stop at McD’s to catch up on the blog. No time to add pictures but at least we can let folks know about where we are. We cross the Ohio River into Kentucky. KY is green with rolling hills. We see tobacco fields for the first time since returning to the Lower 48. At 10:30AM, we stop for gas. At 10:40AM, it’s 87 degrees. Clear skies. We enter Mammoth Cave National Park at 11:30AM. We go to the Visitor’s Center and purchase tickets for two cave tours. ($19.50 total). We check in and find a campsite for $8.50. The America the Beautiful pass is saving us lots of money! Our first cave tour is at 2:15PM in Mammoth Passage Cave. It lasts about 1.25 hours. It is about 56 degrees in the cave and it sure feels good! The ceiling starts out around 6’ and opens up in to the Rotunda which is 40’ high. Very nice. Part of the walkway was built in the 1930’s by the CCC. This tour starts from the Visitor’s Center. After we come out, we head back to camp which is a short 15” walk. It is very hot though. Our second tour is at 5:30PM. We ride a bus to get to the Frozen Niagara Cave. This cave has stalactites and stalagmites and is very beautiful. We even see a small bat. This one is also 1.25 hours. Jan manages to take a few pictures but it is quite dark. We both enjoyed the ranger’s story about the cave. On the way back, we see several deer and wild turkeys. We walk back to camp and decide to go eat in Cave City since it is getting late. We have a good meal at the Waterwheel Restaurant then head back to camp. Tomorrow we will head for home! We have really been impressed with the National Parks and especially their Junior Ranger Programs. We would love to see our grandchildren experience these programs. And you learn so much from the Park Rangers and their programs. Very good programs! |
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