Day 18 Mammoth Caves to Columbus

We had reservations for a 9 o’clock historic tour at Mammoth Caves, so we were on the road at 6:30 to make sure we made it in time. We arrived with a half hour to spare. We were meeting Shari there. Due to some unexpected delays she got there just in time! The tour was fun and even more so with Shari. These caves are so different from Howe Caverns in NY. No stalactites or stalagmites! I just realized I didn’t get a picture of the park. Pictures of the caves were taken with my phone. There are some tricky walking places so I was glad I didn’t take my camera. Our tour was two hours long and advertised as a family tour. I think they should change it to no kids under four. They were noisy and not big fans of the dark. It was distracting and made it hard to hear the guide. 

Just about ready to enter the cave and get cooled off!

Shari and I in the cave-thanks Kira!

Heading out of the Cave

In the cave

After the tour we headed to Bowling Green and went to the Mellow Mushroom for lunch. Kira and I had a Shiitake mushroom and caramelized onion pizza and it was one of the best I’ve ever had! Shari loves it because they have gluten free pizza and beer. We had fun catching up and then it was time to head back to the road. 

Amazing pizza!!-Thanks to Kira for the pic

Fun sculptures out front

Mellow Mushroom 

We decided to stop at the White Squirrel Brewery right there in Bowling Green, Kira is trying to stop at one brewery in each state. Unfortunately, they were not open until 4. 

So we started on our way to Louisville. When we got there we stopped at another brewery. This one was not doing flights because they had switched over to all plastic due to a music festival in the area. There was another one right down the road but it didn’t open until four so we picked another brewery across town that also opened at four and we figured it would be close by the time we got there. What we didn’t know was that the time zone had changed and we could have gone to that other one. Oh well… The Cumberland had great dark beers, a nitro porter and a coconut. When we left it was a quick trip to the highway and the traffic was better. Just before we got to the highway we saw an older Krispy Kreme. Kira pointed it out and we were in the wrong lane to stop. I was looking at it and debating whether I should take a picture for Duane but I was holding the GPS. Then all of a sudden Kira hit the brakes, I thought she was breaking for Krispy Kreme! She wasn’t, someone had stopped in front of her. But she liked my thought and laughed so hard she cried. It’s one of those traveling moments you just had to be there to understand. 

Against the Grain-no flights

Finally a brewery that was open!

Cumberland Brewing Co

Fun water tower

Driving into Cincinnati there was lightening all around

We had planned on camping tonight but the campground never answered their phone and since it was hot and humid and the temp wasn’t dropping and we were concerned about a storm we gave up on that idea. So I used Hotwire and booked a hotel in Columbus. The funny thing was I got the same hotel Duane and I and rest of the family stayed at when we were there a month ago. We drove there with no more stops and went for ice cream for dinner. First we went to one in Dublin but there weren’t many flavors so we went to a different one right by the hotel.  It reminded us a bit of Whitey’s in the Quad Cities. We both had Buckeye and it was great!

When we got to the hotel we found out we got their last room, their computers were down and so was their main elevator. Luckily the back elevator was working since we were on the third floor. 

All my pictures from today are posted here.
Click here to see all the pictures from our trip.