My Big Kentucky Vacation Part 1: Honest Abe and Tight Spaces

It's been a few years, but we finally took a family trip last week. My husband's only request was that it not involve sitting in an airport, watching our flights get cancelled. Neighboring state it is then! When I told people we were going to Kentucky, the first thing everyone asked was, "Are you doing the Bourbon Trail?" No, we actually don't like bourbon, but it ended up being unavoidable! More on that in Part 2.

Day One one of our seven hour journey took us through Lexington, KY which was quite picturesque, with rolling hills of green and horses behind white fences. We drove by Keeneland Race Course, which was an imposing structure that sat up high from the road. We also passed by The Kentucky Castle (unfortunately, I didn't get a photo) which is a hotel/wedding venue and something out of a fairy book.

Further south was our first stop, Knob Creek Farm, home to Abraham Lincoln from ages 2 - 8.

This is the Knob Creek Tavern Visitor Center. Inside was a detailed timeline of Lincoln's life, including that of his parents and grandparents, who were pioneers in the area. Lincoln's father, Thomas, was a farmer and furniture maker. The family moved around quite a bit from Kentucky to Indiana to Illinois, due to landowner disputes. This influenced Abraham to become an attorney, studying mortgage and real estate law. Not much is known about his mother, except that she and her church were anti-slavery, further influencing the life of the future president.

This is a replica of the family's log cabin on the property. Though it is not the original cabin, the logs used were from the home of Abe's best friend who lived nearby. Lincoln's earliest memory was of planting pumpkin seeds behind the home.

Ten miles from Knob Creek is the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln in Hodgenville. As you can see, a memorial is built on the knoll (hill) where the log cabin stood.

Upon climbing the stairs to the memorial, you enter through the back. Inside is what they call the 'symbolic' cabin where Lincoln was born. There is some sort of backstory there, as the replica was recreated in 1895 and was originally believed to be the actual logs, which later proved to be false. Scandalous! Ha!

To the left of the memorial is the sinking spring, which is also the name of the farm. It was about 30 degrees cooler down there, which we appreciated on a hot day.

We then drove to Cave City, where we feasted on smoked meat at Bucky Bee's BBQ and then played 18 holes at Jesse James' Miniature golf course. Yes, they were both as weird as they sound. Not a whole lot is happening in Cave City, but holy cow on the accent down there!

The following morning we drove to Mammoth Cave National Park. I hadn't been there since I was a young teen. In the morning, we took the Frozen Niagara tour, which lasted 1 hour 15 minutes. This is just a small portion of the cave and does NOT represent what most of Mammoth Cave looks like. 

Lots of stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone.

A scary view down into the depths of the cave.

These are called columns. That's your geology lesson for the day.

In the afternoon, we took the Historic Tour, which lasted 2 hours and covers 2 miles of the over 400 miles of the cave that has been explored. How crazy is that? As you can see, when you enter the cave at the main entrance, it is wide open. This was named Broadway.

As you get further in, it gets darker and you have to bend over quite a bit if you are taller than about 5 feet.

There are also 540 stairs on the tour. This happens to be where I hit my head, not looking where I was going.

One of the formations, called Giant's Coffin.

Saltpeter mining area from back in the day, used to make gunpowder.

Parts of the cave are difficult to navigate, like this area called Fat Man's Misery. I was irritated during the tour, as there was a man about my age who was there with his father, who had to have been in his 80's. There are many warnings beforehand about the difficulty of this tour, and this poor guy was really struggling. Fortunately, a park ranger brings up the rear of the group and was able to keep on eye on the old guy, because the son was no help! (**This is the only photo not my  own, courtesy of the NPS. I couldn't take pictures while walking parts of the cave.**)

The end of the tour, where you can finally see light again. It was quite an adventure and we were so happy that we did both of those tours. There are a dozen tour choices, some at night and include carrying your own lantern. I purchased the tickets ahead of time online and all the tours were sold out the day we were there. 

My next post will be about our three night stay in Louisville.

Have you ever been to Kentucky or toured a cave?