Mostly, it was ecstasy. We breakfasted from our cooler and drove to Mammoth Cave National Park. We took a walk to the Old Guides' Cemetary, then did our 11:15 New Entrance tour. It was a much larger group than the last time we came (36 people), but we had a great time. The highlight was the Drapery Room.
After the tour, we grabbed a quick lunch at Wendy's. We spent the afternoon working on Livy's Junior Ranger Badge. I love this program so much! They give you a free activity book with lots of info about the park, geology, careers studying caves, animals in the caves, etc, and it is filled with games and activities. Some were typical worksheet type things (crossword puzzles, word searches, etc), but some were more unusual. We did a nature scavenger hunt hike, counted deer (24 today), and ranked nature careers in order by which Livy likes best (1st-paleontologist, 2nd-wildlife biologist, 3rd-botanist, last-out-of-6-choices-historian). At the end of the afternoon, she turned it in and talked with a ranger, who gave her a shiny gold junior ranger badge that looked a lot like a real one. It was a lot of fun, and it gave some shape to our wanderings in the park. I think I might arrange some scavenger hunt activities for hikes at home too.
We took a short walk around a pond/marsh, and then we went on our second cave tour of the day, completely by lantern light. It was a less exciting part of the cave, but it was cool to be in the dark. Awesome things: a naturally mummified bat, a live bat, and tons of graffiti from the 1820s and 30s.
Next came the agony part. Livy was tired (she did walk miles and miles today) and cold, so we finished up the night with a ginormous tantrum (I cannot remember the last time that happened!), which I handled nearly as badly as she behaved. One long, warm trip to Taco Bell, a long talk, much crying, and a fair bit of Narnia later, we are both sorry and both tucked tight into a much beloved bed.
Tomorrow we head home.
