From Elizabethtown, Tamu and I headed down to see Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world and Kentucky’s most popular tourist attraction. Our first stop was Mammoth Cave National Park, which offered a very large guest center with helpful staff. I opted for the historic tour, and was glad I did because the guide was the best storyteller I had encountered so far and he was expert at blending the history with the science. The two hour hike through the cave was just enough for me. We walked downward to the amphitheater at the bottom for the first half. Once the guide finished his talk there, he reminded us that our step out of the seating was our last step down for awhile. The cave itself was an interesting hike, at times visually stunning and others almost impossible to pass and still others where grand caverns opened up and small openings for sunshine showed off the stalagmites and stalactites. I never felt claustrophobic, and the guide kept us moving.
My plan had been to head toward Bowling Green to take the Underground Boat Tour at Lost River Cave at another entrance outside the National Park. I decided to stop in Bowling Green for lunch and to walk Tamu, who had been sheltering from the cold and rainy day in my car. Bowling Green is the home of Western Kentucky University and I was sorry I had not planned far enough in advance to connect with friends who are on the Folklore faculty there. Tamu and I took a pleasant walk around Fountain Square Park during a break in the rain and we pressed on.
I made my way to the tour, but learned there that the cave had flooded from rains, so the tours had to be stopped until the water level dropped. By the time I found this out, it was mid-afternoon. There was not enough time to run back up the Lincoln Birth Place. Instead, I took on something considerably different: the National Corvette Museum and Corvette Assembly Plant. Truth be told, cars are not my thing. But the Corvette has a long history in the area because it was manufactured there, so it was worth a stop. The biggest thing I learned is that the car almost failed initially because the engine was not very powerful. A Russian engineer and his German wife redesigned it so the Corvette became the sports car that is loved by so many. I wandered amidst the various iterations of the vehicles and even I had to admire the beauty of them, and appreciate the story of their role in Bowling Green. There has been talk of doing a similar thing in Toledo, Ohio because it is the birthplace of Jeep. I hope they do it, since its history is so rich and its contribution to my home town has been great.
I enjoyed the museum, which exhausted all my plans for the town. If I had a few more days, I would have turned further west to see Paducah and a few other sites. As always when traveling these states, I have to make choices about whether the one or two things I want to see are worth the time I will take to get there and back. It was now Friday, so it was time to begin circling eastward for the remaining days of my visit. After a week of budget hotels, I booked a night at the DuPont Lodge at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, which was a bit of a splurge. I hoped to see a moonbow, which is a rainbow formed by light refracted on water in the period around a full moon when the sky is clear. It is a rare natural event (if I recall correctly, the only other site where it can be seen is at Victoria Falls in southern Africa), and I was eager to see it. Unfortunately, the sky was too cloudy that night, so I’ll have to go back. The resort was a luxurious find and I was glad Tamu and I could visit, with or without the naturally occurring wonder.