This morning we woke up at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. This is our last National Park of the trip, last night in the tent, and last time we have to shower with shower-shoes on!
We woke up, paid for our showers one last time and got ready. We had bought tickets the day before for a guided tour called “Domes and Dripstones”. We heard that tours sell out so the day before we called and this tour, as well as the “Historical” Tour were the only two left! They have various tours in length, however for you to really explore the caves you have to go on one of these tours.
This tour fit into our schedule nicely because it was early in the morning and only last ed about 2 hours, and since we still had to drive to Asheville, this got us done and on the road at a relatively decent time. So we went to the visitor center, picked up our tickets and waited for the bus. Two rangers went on the tour and lead us through this portion of the caves.
Mammoth Cave is the largest cave in the world, with 405 miles or so of mapped caves. So on our tour we only saw about a quarter of 1% of the total cave system! This would defiantly be a place to go back to and so on a longer save tour, they have some that are 6 hours, some that are only lit by lantern, and one called the River Styx, where you are actually in a boat.
We got to see a lot of big vertical domes and towards the end of the your we saw stalagmites and stalactites.
After our tour concluded we headed back on the shuttle and to the visitor center. They make you walk through this foaming carpet thing that washes the bottom of your shoes to help prevent something called “white nose syndrome” that effects the bats. We then walked down to see the historical/natural entrance to the cave but you can’t really go much further inside unless you are with a tour group.
We headed out and started the drive back to NC. We were starting to get hungry for lunch when we saw the sign for the Original KFC in Corbin, KY. This is the birthplace of Col. Sanders and also the location of his first restaurant. It was not crowded and off of the main road by a 1 or 2. It is a regular KFC but has a little museum and case of original items from the Col. They also had a lot of pictures, place settings and furniture from the original restaurant.
It was not the best fried chicken that we ever had, but it was defiantly the best KFC we ever had. It has been so long since we went to one, there is a Chicken Sandwich there called “The Colonel’s Original” which might be everywhere but it sounded pretty authentic. so we got that and a regular 2 piece meal.
We then continued our drive into Tennessee before finally crossing back into North Carolina. We lost an hour, but needed to stop yet again. So we saw a sign for “World’s Largest Knife Store” somewhere outside Sevierville, TN. So we pulled off. It is defiantly a mecca for any knife enthusiast.
We got back in the car and a few hours later we were back in familiar territory in Asheville, NC. We got a a quick shuttle from our hotel into downtown and went to dinner at Jack of the Wood. It was ok, they were out of their signature brew (not sure how that happens) and then tried to charge us a $5 cover charge when we had already been inside for 30 minutes, uh no thank you. We at and then headed to some of our favorite spots and some new ones as well. Trying to make this vacation last just a little bit longer! Tomorrow all we will do is drive home, back to our house and back to reality!
Dietz Summer Road Trip 