Don't Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys!: And Their Off Again!

Now let's see, where was I? We were in Mammoth Cave National Park and had enjoyed a toasty fire right before retiring for the night. I have to admit that we were camping a little like a Rockefeller might have.

We had a tent that stood 7 feet high and easily fit 3 extra wide cots side by side. It was pretty posh if you ask me and was the first camping trip I have ever been on where I slept elevated off the ground. Why the heck didn't I do this sooner?

Rise and shine, it was a beautiful morning and we made the most of it with blueberry pancakes and sweet Kentucky ham cooked over an open fire. Ahhhhhhh, that is the life! The morning turned into a scorching day, 96 degrees with crazy humidity. The best cure for that kind of heat was a long trip into a cold cave, so off we went to venture into the darkness of a cave that snakes over 700 miles. We would only see about a 1/2 mile of it on our self-guided tour.

First we had to hike down to the entrance of the cave, it was a steep downhill path and the heat was ridiculous! As we came to the bottom of the hill, we rounded a corner and..."Holy Moly! Do you feel that!?" The air coming up out of the cave was about 53 degrees, the air outside was 40-50 degrees hotter and the point at which they met made me a little giddy. It was such a weird sensation to have your front half chilled while your back side was sweating. Down we went into the abyss. As you can see, we were all loving the cool air, but nothing lasts forever.

Once we were inside, Max was in awe of where he was, "MOM! We are under the whole earth!" Then all of the questions began; How did this get made?, What did people do down here?, What is that?. We did our best to answer the barrage that was being sent and then it happened...."I AM FREEZING!". For the next 20 minutes Max wanted out of that god forsaken place, "I don't have enough clothes on, why did we come down here any way?, and so on.
I am always amazed at the way that a child can change their opinions about things so drastically. One minute they are in awe the next they hate you for making them come down here and then they say it was the coolest (figuratively speaking) place ever! Well we were in the middle of this opinion Oreo cookie and just had to wait out the disgusting creamy middle. Please hum the tune of your choice while I display some of the photos we took. For your pleasure, I am leaving out the whining and moaning about how frickin' cold it was.

Salt Peter Mining, used for gun powder

Very windy due to the down drafts

Corridor as you go deeper into the cave

When we had our fill and Max had discovered that running off by himself in a dark and scary place wasn't quite the display of independence he was looking for when he ended up freaking out and yelling for mommy, we slowly climbed out of the cave and into the oppressive heat. Yippee?

"Now What do you want to do?"

At this point we did our camping thing some more and played and ate and had a pretty good time. I was having some issues with congestion but I had a cold before we left so I was OK with it. I had my nasal lavage and was hosing out my sinus passages for good measure. Did I tell you that I love putting liquid up my nose? Really, it is better than, well, than...........OK, I don't know what it is better than but it IS really good! It is wild to see what comes out. What? I am still on topic! Cave passages, nasal passages really, it all makes sense in the end, just go with it. Next topic!

Now, we didn't exactly wake up to this but we did run into him and all his friends in the forest. Next time you are in Cave City, KY and you have a kid of the dinosaur loving age, you will have to go to Dinosaur World. You can't miss it, you have to drive past it every time you enter or leave the area. Yup! From the first time your child gets a glimpse of the T-Rex you are in for it. Kiddie crack is what this kind of marketing is, well that and parental abuse. So you listen to the kids beg and plead and promise that they will be good and clean their room when they get home. When you don't jump on the "Yes" train they will swear to become independently wealthy and to support you in your old age and so on and so on, until you can no longer resist and you give in. "I am not going to promise anything. If you can listen and do what you are suppose to for the rest of the morning, MAYBE we will stop there as we are leaving." Well, Max was an angel, for the most part, and earned his trip. I will spare you the 50 or so Dinosaur picture that I have, on this post anyway.
OK, just a couple of them.

There ya go. Dino heaven, the short version.

Before I sign off for tonight, I want to give my dad a gift of sorts. A long fought battle on his part occasionally yields a reward that he is not there to observe. Dad, this one is for you.