Tuesday: Bowling Green to Louisville

We started with an early morning (packed and in the car by 7:30) so we could make our 9 a.m. tour at Mammoth Cave, the largest cave network in the world.  We took a 3/4 mile tour, which included 240 stainless steel steps down to the bottom.  Here's a visit that would have been impossible without Annina along: Natalie's not that good on steps and Annina ended up carrying her most of the way.  Natalie walked about 10% of the trek (the flat parts) and Tom carried her some too.  Another wrinkle we weren't expecting was that Konrad had a meltdown in the bus on the way to the cave tour, and then was less than cooperative for the first half of the tour (wouldn't listen to Tom, but would only walk with Tom).  He was tired and thirsty and we couldn't give him what he wanted right away, so we kept saying, "soon!" and he finally came around.

The caves were beautiful and large, but not spectacular with stalagtites and stalagmites...there's one large formation, the Frozen Niagara, which is a curtain formation.

After we came out of the cave, I put an eye patch back on because I could feel irritation coming on again.  :(  I was glad to make it through the cave because it would have been hard to safely navigate the cave with one eye.

Then we were off to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.  On the way there, we drove through a huge thunder and lightning storm with very heavy rain.  Tom got another thunder storm!  We also saw a sign that said "used cows."  I couldn't get a photo of the sign...but what does "used cows" mean?  Inquiring minds want to know.  BTW, I'm planning a special blog post on all the funny pictures we took..."used cows" would have made the post if I had taken the picture.

Lincoln's birthplace was nothing spectacular to look at, but more than we expected and still a momentous place to be.  And we needed something easy to do after the cave tour...and I needed a place to feed Dominik.  The quote of the day came from Tom:  "my son has suckled at the same place that Abraham Lincoln suckled!"

Then it was off to the Patton Museum near Fort Knox.  More thunder, lightning and pouring rain, with heavy rain timed for our arrival.  We paused to let the rain die down, and as we were changing a diaper, it did stop raining.  Then just as we were ready to go from the van to the entrance, it started pouring again.  But we were there, so we put jackets on and used our umbrellas and made it inside...quite wet, but it's very warm until you go inside with air conditioning.  The dark spots on our clothing IS RAIN!  The kids and Tom had a great time looking at the tanks.  I was along for the ride and I think Annina was as well...we find a lot of things interesting, but would never go there if it weren't for Tom's interest, and his knowing the kids will love it.  And admission is free, so how can you go wrong?

Hotel in Louisville, ordered pizza in (didn't find anything interesting on the way to the hotel) and went swimming.  We've been in so many hotels now that they're all running together.  We are ready to be home, but home is one week away!  I am amazed that the kids have really gotten used to going to bed in a different place almost every night:  at first it was too exciting for them to settle down and go to sleep, but they're finally used to it and cooperating very well.