Mammoth Cave and Lincoln

It didn't get dark until nearly 10:00 p.m. so the boys played at the playground area until nearly that time.  Hunter and Keegan both played Gaga Ball and met some nice kids who shared their love of the game.  Needless to say, we all were very tired and sleep came easy.   This morning we ate breakfast at McDonalds (yes, that is what I said) before going to Mammoth Cave.  We didn't realize that the Cave is in CDT but even with the extra hour, the cave tour we wanted was sold out.  We were able to enter part of the cave through the historic entrance so the boys got to experience being in a cave.  At one part of the cave, the ranger told us about how this cave was used to gather from the dirt a chemical similar to gun powder and it was used during the War of 1812.  The men who worked in the cave were slaves and his five times grandfather was one of those men. How neat to hear their story from one of the descendants.  There were 160 steps down into the cave and, of  course, 160 steps out.  It was a good test for Carol's  bionic knee.  He took it slow and steady and made it.

Carol heading down into the cave.

Caves are dark and wet and this water was at the entrance.

It is lush and green at the entrance of the cave.

Next stop was Abraham Lincoln Birth Place National Historic Park.  This park is built on the land that Abraham Lincoln was born.  The house is no longer there but a memorial was built in 1909 to commemorate the event.  There are 56 steps leading to the memorial for the 56 years Lincoln lived.  There are 16 windows in the memorial for the fact that he was the 16th president.  Inside the memorial is a replica of the cabin Lincoln would have been born in.  It was mentioned that even though Illinois likes to call itself "The Land of Lincoln,"  Kentucky was where Lincoln was born and lived his first few years.

The farm Lincoln was born on was called Sinking Springs.  They were lucky enough to have a natural spring from which to get water.

By the time we left the park and arrived home, it was nearly 5:00 p.m.  Carol and I had work to do to get ready to head home.  We loaded the car and hooked up the sewer so we could dump our tanks tomorrow morning.  The kids went swimming and played in the park until a big rain storm came in about 8:00.  The winds blew hard and there was lots of thunder and lightening.  I think we are in for the evening.  We will probably play some Crazy 8's and Old Maid on our last night of the trip.  We are estimating that it is about 400 miles to Decatur so we won't be up too late.