Land between the Lakes used to be called Land between the Rivers, but many years ago, after repeated flooding, people were moved out of the way, dams were built, and Kentucky Lake and Lake Barklay were formed. After all that, the land between the two lakes became a national recreation area. After being here for 4 days, I want to say that there really isn’t much to do here, but that wouldn’t be fair. There’s not much to do here that Paul and I like to do. There is hunting, fishing, ATVing and not too much else. We drove the road that goes through the center of the peninsula and it was like driving down a toboggan run surrounded by trees. There wasn’t much to see along the way, except a few deer in the fields. Of course there is boating, and we did take the inflatable out a few times, but the wind kicked up pretty fast and we had to head back while dodging 1-2 foot “seas”. It calmed down later, but while we were out there, we did notice that the lake is murky enough that you can only see down about 2 feet.
We visited Fort Donelson yesterday to get an idea of the civil war history of the area. Before the civil war, no decision had been made as to whether this area really belonged to Tennessee or Kentucky, and no one cared, since it made no real difference. But Kentucky initially remained neutral during the civil war, and Tennessee fought with the Confederates, and the decision was made to fight against the Union with the South. Unfortunately for them, Ulysses S. Grant was the general who was in charge of the Union army and he quickly gained control of the fort, taking 13,000 men as prisoners. Securing use of these two rivers opened up Nashville and the surrounding area for the Union army to invade.
The weather has been hot and muggy, as it has been pretty much everywhere in the country. It’s been nice to have the air conditioning, although we have sat outside a lot, because somehow there are NO mosquitoes here at ALL. I have no idea why, but there weren’t any in Branson either. We’re not complaining about that, that’s for sure.
Tomorrow we leave here to head across Tennessee, bringing us closer to Smoky Mountain National Park, our next destination. We’re a little nervous because once we get there, we’ll have no electricity for 3 days, so I hope its not too hot and humid.
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Friday, July 9, 2010
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Mammoth Cave, KY
October 20, 2009
Driving through KY to Cave City, I was looking at the map and realizing that there is so much to see in Kentucky, most of which we’ll have to do some other time. We only have a couple of days here before we move on to Nashville. We got up early Tuesday morning and headed to Diamond Caverns- so named because the boy they lowered into the opening they found so many years ago, yelled back up that it looked like the cave was full of diamonds. Very disappointing for them to find out that it wasn’t really diamonds, but glittering stalagtites. The tour in that cavern was about an hour long, and I thought it was pretty cool, with great lighting. This whole area is full of caves- some are privately owned, some are in the national park. There was a landmark case years ago when a neighbor found out that the cave tours given by the people down the street went under his property. He sued, to get a share of the income. Many, many years later, he won, but he died before the decision was made, so his estate got the money. The court decision said that property owners own rights to whatever is under their property. Now there are rocks lined up inside the cave that mark the property line. Right from that cave we went to the national park to see what tours we might be interested in taking.
We decided to take the Great Onyx Cave lantern tour that afternoon. Paul also signed up to take a 4 hr/4 mile hike called the Grand Avenue Tour, the following day. I am not wild about caves to begin with and really wasn’t interested in spending 4 hours under the ground, so he’ll do that one on his own. The Onyx tour was even better than the Diamond Cavern. The whole tour is done by lantern, no electrical lights at all. This tour is only open to the public 2 months of the year, for groups of only 38 people per tour/day. That’s because its not cost effective to do this tour in the height of the tourist season when they need their resources for other tours that can accommodate over 100 people. Because so few people walk through this cave, the formations are in pristine condition, and more varied than the Diamond Cavern. We met a nice couple from Florida on this tour, and pretty much went through the tour with them. Wednesday Paul went on his adventure, and I stayed home and caught up on some cleaning, organizing, and phone calls. Before I knew it, Paul was back, and he brought the couple from Florida with him. We all sat outside and had a drink and traded life stories for a bit before they left to go home. Our last day here we spent above ground. We walked a 2 mile trail that was supposed to go to a spring, which it did, but there was nothing of interest there, so it was disappointing. We decided to walk the “Collie Ridge Trail” thinking it might have a view at the end. The trail was over 4 miles each way. Along the path we met a bicyclist, and chatted for a few minutes. He said the trail we are on is “pretty”. We also saw a small, but very old cemetery. After reading the gravestones, we realized that almost all of the graves were children- mostly very young ones. I looked around on the web and couldn’t find any information on it. I may try again when I have more time. Anyway, after hiking the 4 miles to the end of the trail, there was nothing of interest there. No ridge, no view, just an equestrian campsite. Sooo, we turned around after eating our lunch, and walked back 4 miles the other way. It was a nice walk but really, its nicer when there is something to see somewhere along the way. When we sat down that night to look at our itinerary for the next week or so, we decided to make some changes. Halloween in New Orleans is apparently almost as big of a deal as Mardi Gras, so we can't get a reservation near the French Quarter that weekend. I don't want to skip New Orleans, so we are skipping Chatanooga, and getting to New Orleans early. We want to spend one night actually in the city, so we can walk to and from the French quarter, and the rest of the time we will stay just outside the city. The rates for the one in the city are high!
Driving through KY to Cave City, I was looking at the map and realizing that there is so much to see in Kentucky, most of which we’ll have to do some other time. We only have a couple of days here before we move on to Nashville. We got up early Tuesday morning and headed to Diamond Caverns- so named because the boy they lowered into the opening they found so many years ago, yelled back up that it looked like the cave was full of diamonds. Very disappointing for them to find out that it wasn’t really diamonds, but glittering stalagtites. The tour in that cavern was about an hour long, and I thought it was pretty cool, with great lighting. This whole area is full of caves- some are privately owned, some are in the national park. There was a landmark case years ago when a neighbor found out that the cave tours given by the people down the street went under his property. He sued, to get a share of the income. Many, many years later, he won, but he died before the decision was made, so his estate got the money. The court decision said that property owners own rights to whatever is under their property. Now there are rocks lined up inside the cave that mark the property line. Right from that cave we went to the national park to see what tours we might be interested in taking.
We decided to take the Great Onyx Cave lantern tour that afternoon. Paul also signed up to take a 4 hr/4 mile hike called the Grand Avenue Tour, the following day. I am not wild about caves to begin with and really wasn’t interested in spending 4 hours under the ground, so he’ll do that one on his own. The Onyx tour was even better than the Diamond Cavern. The whole tour is done by lantern, no electrical lights at all. This tour is only open to the public 2 months of the year, for groups of only 38 people per tour/day. That’s because its not cost effective to do this tour in the height of the tourist season when they need their resources for other tours that can accommodate over 100 people. Because so few people walk through this cave, the formations are in pristine condition, and more varied than the Diamond Cavern. We met a nice couple from Florida on this tour, and pretty much went through the tour with them. Wednesday Paul went on his adventure, and I stayed home and caught up on some cleaning, organizing, and phone calls. Before I knew it, Paul was back, and he brought the couple from Florida with him. We all sat outside and had a drink and traded life stories for a bit before they left to go home. Our last day here we spent above ground. We walked a 2 mile trail that was supposed to go to a spring, which it did, but there was nothing of interest there, so it was disappointing. We decided to walk the “Collie Ridge Trail” thinking it might have a view at the end. The trail was over 4 miles each way. Along the path we met a bicyclist, and chatted for a few minutes. He said the trail we are on is “pretty”. We also saw a small, but very old cemetery. After reading the gravestones, we realized that almost all of the graves were children- mostly very young ones. I looked around on the web and couldn’t find any information on it. I may try again when I have more time. Anyway, after hiking the 4 miles to the end of the trail, there was nothing of interest there. No ridge, no view, just an equestrian campsite. Sooo, we turned around after eating our lunch, and walked back 4 miles the other way. It was a nice walk but really, its nicer when there is something to see somewhere along the way. When we sat down that night to look at our itinerary for the next week or so, we decided to make some changes. Halloween in New Orleans is apparently almost as big of a deal as Mardi Gras, so we can't get a reservation near the French Quarter that weekend. I don't want to skip New Orleans, so we are skipping Chatanooga, and getting to New Orleans early. We want to spend one night actually in the city, so we can walk to and from the French quarter, and the rest of the time we will stay just outside the city. The rates for the one in the city are high!
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