Part Two of the Mini-Vacation!

At last! Even though I have talked to my friend Julie, I never did get around to telling her the big thing I wanted to tell her. Here it is Jules: We came to your city and before we did, we turned this computer and our house(I know I printed your info when you sent it) upside down looking for your phone number. I called information and got one wrong number and one no answer. I had imagined our kids swimming together at the hotel pool while we lounged in the hot tub and visited. Another time we will do just that!!

So anyway, we went to Kentucky Down Under which is an awesome zoo in our fair state. There we saw lots of exotic birds, petted a kangaroo, milked a goat (at least Lilly and I did), touched an emu, watched snakes eat their dinner and saw cave salamanders in the cave tour. It is a very hands-on place and we had been there before but our kiddos numbered two and one of them was aged that as well. We decided it was time to go again. Some things had changed but mostly it was the same and we enjoyed it.

We toured the longest cave system in the world, which also is found in our state, Mammoth Cave. We have no pictures for this outing because I thought cameras were prohibited. Purses and backpacks were. Oh well. There are plenty of wonderful pictures at the website. We planned our day around this trip. We were going to do the earliest historical tour and we pulled into the parking lot at start time. No big deal, we thought, we'll just get the next one. Well, it just so happens that the Sunday before Labor Day is a very busy day for Mammoth Cave and so we took the "New Entrance Tour" instead. It was great. Lots of steps and heights, both of which really freak me out, but I managed. We had a guide who was very skilled in storytelling and she made the tour very interesting. I don't particularly enjoy caves, but it is a must-see. At one point in the tour, the guide asked who was from KY-we were the only ones. That still amazes me. The license plates were from all over! Call me a redneck, but it was reel kool.

The grand finale of the trip was Beech-Bend Park in Bowling Green. Oh my it was a blast. It's no Disneyland, but it was great fun. If we lived closer, I would have me some season tckets and spend most of a summer there. I rode the Tilt-a-whirl about 5 times and loved it just as much as I always have. We rode almost all the rides and loved it. Even Kayla who is a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat had so much fun. It was so good to finally see her enjoy riding the ride.

So there you have it, we vacationed from Aurora, the tiniest resort in the world to Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world. We had a great time and never had to leave our state. Good times. Good times.