Kentucky
Frozen Niagara, Mammoth Cave, KY
How big is that cave? It’s Mammoth!
In late April (2025), we headed out on a two-month journey to tour the mid-Atlantic region. Think the states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, etc. Our first stop was Cave City, Kentucky which is located right next to Mammoth Cave National Park. Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest known cave system with over 400 miles of explored passages. This would be not only another national park to check off our list, but our second cave-based park (see other post on our Southwest trip and Carlsbad Caverns).
Clash of the caves: Carlsbad v. Mammoth
Having now visited both, here is our perspective on the two caves. (For the record, John is writing this portion as Christina most certainly would have preferred to not go into either cave!) While Mammoth is the longest cave system in the world, we only got to see a very small portion. We took the Domes and Dripstones tour which covered less than a mile and lasted about 2 hours. This part of the cave consisted of fairly narrow passages that were occasionally interrupted by large caverns. Carlsbad is not nearly as long but is much more wide-open including having one of the largest underground spaces in the world. Net: Both caves were beautiful, in an other-worldly sort of way. Our (my) personal preference would be Carlsbad.
Check out the people in the background as they squeeze into the next tight spot!
Two for one photo: Descending the stairs through a good-sized cavern before heading back into another passage.
Caves aren’t the only thing in cave country.
While seeing the cave was the driver for us coming to this part of Kentucky, we wanted to take advantage of anything else of interest in the area. The highlight of the “not a cave” attractions was definitely the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. This is a combo museum/hall of fame/Corvette delivery facility. There was a Corvette show happening in the parking lot while we were there which greatly increased the number of ‘vettes we got to see.
And our Lucky Strike extra was……
Our dear friends, the Raby’s, drove up from Nashville to join us for the day. We got to tour the cave and the museum together. We found a surprisingly good Mexican restaurant for dinner (with the cheapest drinks you have ever seen at a restaurant), and we got to indulge with one of our favorite past-times…..Dominoes!
Great friends, dominoes, and a picture of our grand-baby. What could be better?
