“Getting to the bottom” of things in Kentucky
Monday, March 31 – We got off to a comparatively late start because we had to renew the license plates for the Aerostar before setting off. We followed I-71 through Louisville to I-65. At Park City we stopped to look over the Best Western Park Mammoth Resort. Lynne and Jim found it charming and nostalgic with its sweeping balconies, woodwork and rustic design, but Scott said it was scary. We would have booked a room there, but there were no designated non-smoking rooms and the two rooms we were invited to look at both smelled of smoke. Michelle wanted to stay at the Howard Johnson’s in Bowling Green so we headed south to highway 31W. After winding through miles of Bowling Green, we came to the Howard Johnson’s and found it was boarded up. Plan B was the Best Western, the only other motel we knew had an indoor pool, so we drove back to the expressway and booked two nights there.
The Best Western featured a whirlpool, swimming pool, wading pool, pool tables, and video games in a two-story atrium with tropical plants. Both kids were happy. We put away our clothes in our room, then went for a swim before dinner. Scott had a fit because the whirlpool had a sign prohibiting children under the age of 18 from using it and tried to make himself miserable, especially after he saw other children climb in. We figured the sign was there to protect the motel from liability and let the kids get in. Scott’s unhappiness vanished like magic. After our swim we ate dinner at the Denny’s restaurant in the motel. The kids played some video games before we returned to our room where the TV flipped back and forth between the NCAA basketball championship and “The Ten Commandments”.
Tuesday, April 1 – Breakfast at Cracker Barrel was followed by a visit to an oil change place. Back at the motel, Jim called to make reservations for a tour at Mammoth Cave only to find all the trips were sold out except for the self-guided Discovery Tour. Undaunted, we headed north to Mammoth Cave National Park to find the parking lot jammed with cars and a huge line waiting at the ticket window. Lynne took Scott and Michelle to the souvenir shop while Jim queued up for tickets. Lynne was fighting a respiratory problem so she opted to stay above. Jim and the kids descended the steps into the natural (historical) entrance to the cave. They saw a mummified bat and some of the saltpeter works in the Rotunda, and walked down Audobon Avenue to the end of the tour at one of the cave’s “bottomless” pits.
Michelle had complained all morning about having to visit “some stupid cave” but both kids were awestruck by the scope of the caverns and vowed to return sometime to take a guided tour. Jim discovered the camera’s batteries were dead when he tried to take some pictures so we had to buy some postcards as mementos of our visit. While Jim and the kids were underground, Lynne took a trail through the woods that led to a cemetery where many of the early explorers and guides are buried, and ended up at an overlook of the forest where silence reigned. We stopped to look at one of the old engines and railroad cars that had brought visitors in earlier days before heading back to Bowling Green.
After lunch at Shoney’s, it was back to the motel for more swimming and relaxation. We played miniature golf at Otte’s and had dinner at Pizza Hut. Back at the motel, the kids played a game of pool with Lynne before spending the rest of our quarters on video games. We turned in early to catch up on the sleep lost the night before.
Wednesday, April 2 – The Best Western offered continental breakfast poolside. After a light breakfast we headed back north on I-65, bypassing Louisville on I-265. We ate lunch at a Taco John’s (except for Michelle, who opted for McDonald’s), then drove back home.
Milestones on this trip: The kids’ first visit to Mammoth Cave.
States and provinces we visited: Ohio, Kentucky.
Capital cities we saw: none
