Mother's Day at Mammoth Cave

     We both had a good night sleep and woke up ready to hit the caves today.  We packed a picnic lunch, water, some warm clothes for in the caves and my knee brace and cane.  You may notice something missing - the camera.  We were quite a few miles towards the caves when I remembered the camera.  Oh well, you will just have to visit here to see it too.
    Mammoth has many options for cave tours.  From easy to "groan."  We wanted to get tickets for one of the easier tours so I could make it with my bad knee.  We chose the "Frozen Niagara" tour which had some optional  stair climbing for those who wanted more adventure.  The tour was an hour and a quarter a took us to one of the newer entrances to the cave complex.  There are over 390 miles of explored cave passageways- the longest in the world that we know of.  Only a small portion of the cave is damp.  The rest is very dry due to a "roof" of sandstone that does not let water seep through.   Several rivers run through the lowest levels, but much of the rest of the cave is dry.
   The tour was great.  Some pretty steep and slippery walking, some crouching to get under low ceilings and some sucking it in to get around tight corners.  But we saw some great cave formations, a waterfall and a cavern that was many stories high and dropped very low into a pond.  It was amazing.  After returning to the Visitor Center Rick walked down to the historic opening to the cave - discovered and used by Native Americans over a thousand years ago.  The cave is a National Park, a World Heritage site, and an International Biosphere Preserve.
    After a relaxing picnic lunch (did I say that it was a perfect warm sunny day?) we drove around the park.  One road crosses the Green River with a small ferry operated for free by the park.  It took two cars at a time.  Really interesting to see a ferry operating using ropes and pulleys to guide it across the river.  Then we took a few pretty rough back roads to get further into the park.  It is beautiful, green and wooded.  A lot like northern Minnesota.  Our drive back was on a narrow highway through small horse and dairy farms.  Rough old wood buildings, small fields full of wild flowers, new calves and foals.  Very picturesque - oh yeah, the camera is back at the camper.
    We got back and turned on the AC since it was 85 in the camper.  It cooled down very quickly. .  I LOVE my new Winnebago.  Rick pressed a button and the awning opened out.  We sat in the shade as I iced my knee  and watched several salamanders skitter around.  I got to read some text messages from my family to wish me a good Mother's Day.  Then Rick grilled some brats for my Mother's Day dinner.  A very good day, indeed.