Mammoth Cave Day 2

6/14/2024

I woke up at 4 am (Central Time) which is my usual 5 am wake up time (Eastern Time) and Don got up around 5:15 am. We drove to Glasgow, KY to eat at the Cowboy’s Country Cookin’ again. We had a wonderful breakfast of 2 eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast (or biscuit), and a drink for $10 each. 

Since it was so early, we did a ½  mile hike near the visitor center. 

We got back in time to get organized for our first tour at 9 am. We did the Extended Historic Tour which lasted 2 ½ hours. As we started, we saw a deer and a copperhead. The end where we had to climb 155 steps almost killed me! Then we had to walk out of the cave and wash off our footwear to prevent White Nose Syndrome from getting to other places. Then we had to walk uphill to our room at the lodge! 

The first thing we did was walk over to the post office to mail some postcards. After we bought the stamps and put them on, the nice lady there canceled the postcards and returned them to Don. We decided to start with an ice cream for lunch and then returned to our room to eat salads that we bought at Walmart the day before. Don took a little nap. 

Then we had a 2:15 tour - the Violet City Lantern Tour. There were 12 lanterns and Don and I got one to share. The tour lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes but it was so dark, I hardly took any pictures. We walked 3 miles and once we left the paved path, the dirt path was very challenging to walk on in the dark. There were lots of steep up and downhills but the worst was at the end when we had a lot of stairs to climb! At  the end of the tour, we got on a bus that took us back to the lodge. 

Even though we were tired, we were hungry, so we headed to Cave City for dinner. We tried KFC but they were out of chicken legs. So, we went to Cracker Barrel and had a great dinner. The food and the service was excellent. When I went to pay, I was able to use my reward points for a free drink and a free entree. 

It was a great day but we are pretty tired. We walked over 8 miles today.