Day 4 of We Crave Caves: The Drive Home and the Analysis

We got up this morning, refreshed and reconnected after our little incident, and we ate our breakfast from the cooler. We packed up, checked out, and hit the road.

We drove straight home, about 5 hours. We finished The Silver Chair and started The Magician's Nephew. Livy played games on her phone. It's lovely to be home, and I will probably be satified with my normal routine and not having any adventures for about 3 days. :)

The highlight of our trip was definitely Dinosaur World. The cave was wonderful, but we had been there before. Dinosaur World was a monumental surprise. Both of us thought it would be a dinky, cheesy, roadside attraction, and it turned out to be both ginormous and exciting. As we drove by it on our way out of town, Livy yelled out the window, "Goodbye, T-Rex! Goodbye, stegasaurus! You have such lovely skins!" That sounds weird, but really, it makes perfect sense.

We almost always see dinosaur bones. You get used to these creatures as skeletons, without flesh, without life, without skins. To see them all live-looking, with skins on, was a treat. Yes, we know that scientists don't have much idea what their skins look like (they do have some impressions left in dried mud), but even an educated guess at a whole, fleshy dinosaur made us happy.

Next adventure (the weekend and week before Thanksgiving) will be a trip down the Natchez Trace. No dinosaurs, but Indians, highwaymen, and Mississippi River traders will be great too.

Day 3 of We Crave Caves: The Agony and the Ecstacy

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.

Day 2 of We Crave Caves: Dinosaur World

We woke up in our hotel and started a long and rainy morning. We filled our cooler with food at the grocery store in the rain. We drove 4 hours through the rain. Rain, rain, rain.

But then it stopped, and we went to Dinosaur World. No amount of rain, not even 40 days and 40 nights of it, would keep me from this amazing place! It was a walking path lined with life size dinosaurs, probably 50 of them! What could be better than that? Even if we didn't do the caves, the trip would already be worth it.

It was freezing, but I just imagined that we were living in the age of Mammoths. (There were life-sized mammoths!) Tonight, dinner in our hotel room, Little House on the Prairie on TV, snuggling. Tomorrow, Mammoth Cave.

Day 1 of We Crave Caves: A Little Drive with a Big Spirit

Livy and I set out tonight at 9:30. We only drove for an hour and half, but I wanted to get started today so that we would feel like our adventures had begun.

On the way, we listened to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I think is an excellent soundtrack to an adventure trip. Caspian and crew are on an adventure to the eastern edge of the world, and we are on an adventure to Kentucky. Pretty much the same, if you ask me, especially since we have a noble, voyaging kind of spirit.

Our trip is called "We Crave Caves" because our destination is Mammoth Caves National Park. We aren't just driving straight there, though. We are going to take in the interesting island stops on the way, just like true Narnians.

Tonight we heard a quote from my dearest Reepicheep himself that seemed a good motto for our adventures. They have found the island where the 3 lords sleep at Aslan's table. Reepicheep declares that he will stay the night at the table, and Eustace asks him why. "Because," said the Mouse, "this is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear."