waitomo: pretty much the most awesome thing ever

After spending a restful night at Juno Hall Backpackers, we woke up early to a cool and dewy morning, and headed out to visit with the sheep and calves kept on the farm. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the hungry animals put up such a racket when they saw us that they woke up the rest of the Hostel's patrons. We headed from that small enclosure to a more open pasture, where a horse was grazing. After letting ourselves in to the field, we noticed a deer laying at the top of the hill. She noticed us about the time we noticed her, but rather than moving off, she made a bee line down the hill for us. My concern at being approached by a wild animal, even an herbivorous one, was eased when I saw she wore a collar. As we scratched it behind the ears, one of the farm owners passed by in his truck, and stopped and hopped the fence to talk to us.

He could see the surprise on our faces, so he explained how the deer came to be a family pet. In New Zealand, deer are invasive; all mammals are invasive, so, there are no hunting permits required, or hunting season restrictions. As a result of this, when the man shot a doe one year, he found her pregnant. He delivered the fawn and brought it home. And so it has stayed ever since, though she could easily jump the fence and leave. He then showed us a few deer tricks. She will stand behind him and put her front feet onto his shoulders. He then tried to get us to grab her tail, and when he found us reluctant, did so himself to show us how she can shuffle her hind feet forward.

After such an entertaining morning we headed just down the road to Waitomo Adventures to take the Lost World Epic 7 hour tour. Once all five tour participants and the 2 guides had arrived, we headed by van to a picnic pavilion and showers complex located on private property. There we suited up in heavy thick wet suits, rappelling harnesses, hard hats with light and white wellington boots. Not your every day outfit for sure. We then headed for a short walk across the countryside to a ropes course where we practiced using our two carbine clips to move along a rope trail while staying safely attached. Then we headed down to the entrance to the lost world.

A metal catwalk extends out over an open abyss. Over 300 feet below, the pit's bottom was a mix of misty green and wet rock. We were all safely clipped to a rope before being led onto the catwalk and being asked to sit back onto a bar that floated over nothingness. Once seated, our harnesses were clipped onto roped for the trip down. For safety, we were connected to our guides by a lead rope. And then came the hard part. Slide forward off the bar and sitting into the harness itself. Being supported over the drop by only a rope. Having done it, feeling the stability and solidness of the harness support, all fear was forgotten, and we began to feed rope through the clip to begin our descent.

For the first 10 feet or so, feet touch the rock wall. After that, the rock recedes and you hang in the open, the only contact to the solid earth, the rope, less than an inch in diameter. Through the mist below, the green became distinguishable leaves, individual rocks began to stand out, and then we were down, standing on our feet again at the bottom. And here we paused to eat before beginning the long journey out. Nothing fancy. Sandwiches and cookies in the strange light.

Our first task was to head across this gap to the far end, to scramble down boulders, to reach water level. The distance was not far, but the suits, designed to keep us warm in the cold water, heated up quickly. At the edge of the water, an eel, maybe a foot long swam, attracted perhaps by our head lamps. They live in the waters of the cave, and throughout New Zealand. But the lure of the cool water was enough to get me in, despite the dark surface and the eels it might hide. After all, the only other way out was a rather tall ladder.

The plunge into the waters marked my first wet suit experience. Cold water rushed in at the edges and stole my breath. The water here is deep, and we were headed against the current. Thick ropes lay hidden below the water, and we groped our way along as our suits held our bodies to the surface. The trip was an alternation of floating comfortably through deep water, and trudging through shin deep water with heavy water laden boots. In between we navigated across a churning basin at the foot of one falls, and attempted to climb right up another less dangerous one. We used a rope swing to climb into an upper chamber, then dropped through a hole back into the water below, with all lights out. We belly crawled beneath a boulder for the fun of it, and took a break on a sandy bar to have a surprise hot drink and a chocolate fish one of the guides had packed in all that way.

Finally, as we neared the end of the cave, too far from the entrance for

light, but near enough for insects to wander, we paused a final time. We turned out our headlamps and looked up. Scattered across the ceiling like a pale green milky way shone a thousand points of light. They are glow worms. Hunters that lure insects with their light, and ensnare them with sticky strings, I had read about them in one of those strange fact columns in a magazine growing up. Here they were.

After spending a long time looking, we finally got back to our feet, and before long we saw light, as the stream flowed out into the day. climbing up out of that small valley to the never ending expanse of sheep fields, we began our trek back to our start point. The walk felt long and hot, and was fraught with manure. Finally, we crested one of the many rolling hills and spotted our pavilion. While we hit the showers, our guides cooked up steaks, sausage, and potatoes, and set out salads and drinks. We ate our food and talked about our travels, and finally loaded back into the van to return to the main office.

This is one of the most fun and amazing experiences I've had anywhere. It was difficult for me, as I am not in great shape, but it was absolutely worth the cost, the time and the effort. I would recommend this as the number one thing to do while visiting New Zealand if you are physically able. Simply amazing.

The Cave, The Grand Hotel, and the Quaint Hostel

After a day visiting monster gardens and saintly churches, we took a little time to visit something that is of the more natural world. Italy's Grotte di Frasassi consists of large caverns and large formations. The tour lasts just over an hour, and the entrance lies in a scenic gorge. If you enjoy caves, you won't be disappointed, the cave is a somewhat inflated version of the many smaller privately operated caves in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Finally, we headed to San Marino. A small town perched at the top or a isolated crag San Marino is, like Vatican City, a nation independent woman greeted us in her own hallway, and let us into our room. To anyone visiting, I would recommend Affitta Camere Franciosi as a nice inexpensive place to stay. Our room was equipped with a kitchenette, and the front patio was covered in tropical plants. The woman directed me to smell the large trumpet shaped flowers hanging heavily from one bush. The rich sweet smelling flowers were wonderful, and when I asked for the name she answered in Italian, and I was able to figure out when I got back home that they're called Angel's Trumpets here.

from Italy. We largely visited just to say that we had. We arrived after dark at our hostel, where a small and wrinkled elderly

After this, we went on a search for food. This being a pretty small town, there weren't too many options, and we finally Settled on the Grand Hotel San Marino It was a prix fixe menu, but unlike the seafood incident, we knew what we were getting into. From crisp spinach filled appetizers to lemon basil ravioli, steak and sausage main course, and small and sweet chocolate deserts, this was one of the best meals we had within Italy.

Sadly, we hardly stopped to take a picture of San Marino, and we were gone with first light for new adventures. We barely paused to take a picture of the entrance after coming down the hill as we left. San Marino is more than just a place to sleep and eat, and for those whose travel is a little more leisure oriented than mine, it would certainly be relaxing to spend a few days.

Cathedral Cove

The town of Hahei, on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island, has some spectacular beaches. From a parking lot near the sea, a trail leads down to several bays and coves. Along the way, the trail passes through flax and fern, and even a small corner of pasture. The ferns were so thick that some children were using them as very effective camouflage. We skipped a stop at Stingray Bay in favor of reaching Mare's Leg cove, and the Cathedral Cove beyond it. The two are connected by a cave, which was very prominently featured in the early part of the Narnia movie Prince Caspian. Both Beaches are absolutely beautiful. White sand, surrounded by high cliffs, and fronted by some of the bluest water I have seen, and this even on a somewhat overcast day. We stayed briefly to explore, then made our way back, this time taking a slightly different route that led us through some unexpectedly mossy and dark forest.

Blue waters from the trail


Fern tree forest


Children in the Ferns


A Spot of Sunshine


Cave connecting mare's leg and cathedral cove


A Mossy Route Through the Forest

Syracusa: Paolo Orsi and the Ruins

After our night on Mt Etna, we took a route south to the town of Syracusa. Syracusa is both a modern and an ancient city. The modern city houses the Paolo Orsi Museum, full of Sicilian artifacts. We spent the morning visiting the museum and its extensive collections of Greek and roman artifacts. Statuary and pottery predominated the nonetheless varied collections. After the museum in the modern city, we were ready to visit the ancient city nearby.

As we approached the entrance, we saw the Altar of Hieron, a long raised platform, which was used in the ritual sacrifice of large numbers of animals.

After entering, we made our way to the Greek amphitheatre. The amphitheatre, rather than being built up from cut stone, was carved into the hill itself. In parts it has quite eroded, but in others is in surprisingly good shape.

Behind and above the amphitheatre runs a portion of ancient road, and niches in the rock, which were sepulchers, and possibly some also food vendors for audiences attending the plays below. One little niche even had water routed through it by the Greeks to form a beautiful grotto, and that water continues to flow today. As the road winds away form the amphitheater into restricted areas, it is rutted with ancient wagon wheels.

In addition to the ruins of structures, there is also an ancient quarry here known as the Quarry of Paradise, because withing this large pit's walls grows an abundance of tropical plants today. A path leads down into the quarry, which once served to trap Greek prisoners who mined the rock.

Towards the back of the quarry lies the curiously carved ear of Ear of Dionysus referring not to the god but to a ruler who was said to have put his ear to the trumpet-like cave to hear the plotting of the prisoners below.

Pictograph Cave

After spending the night comfortably in our car, north of Billings, Montana, we woke up with the sun and headed south into town. We stopped to get gas and breakfast at a little gas station. We then headed to the entrance of Pictograph Cave, but found we were a few minutes early, so we sat and waited for the ranger to arrive and open the gate. Meanwhile, coyotes could be heard yipping in the distance. Finally the ranger arrived, and we drove up to the parking lot. After the ranger settle himself in his trailer, he came out to take our entry fee and talk to us. I think he was a little curious why we would be there so early in the morning. When we mentioned we'd be heading to Yellowstone in the afternoon, he seemed skeptical that such a thing was possible.

The park is small, having just a simple loop trail, that leads up and past 3 shallow caves in the face of a cliff. There is a little guide book that describes what you see at various markers, as you make your way around. At this early hour, there was a herd of bunnies in the one flat area adorned with picnic tables. They were everywhere. You have never seen so many bunnies in your life. Despite the surrounding grasslands, this sloping area is still mostly scrub. There were also a lot of birds nearby, including cliff swallows, in their little mud homes, and circling hawks. The primary attraction here is the pictographs left on the wall by the former residents of the cave. After taking a leisurely walk in the early morning light, and just as other visitors were starting to arrive, we headed off for Yellowstone.

Sassi Di Matera

After our night among the
Trulli of Alberobello, we headed to the city of Matera to see another type of housing, the Sassi. Matera is a picturesque city with an ancient feel to it that is more middle eastern than Italian, a fact apparently noted by Mel Gibson, as this is where he chose to film the Passion of the Christ. In no small part thanks to that filming, this city has seen an increase in tourism lately and has been thus revitalized from a slum of 50 years ago to a vacation city today.

The city is built of many small buildings piled one atop another and wall to wall up a jagged rocky point, and many are actually built into that rock. Towards the top of the point stands a tiny church built mostly into the wall. Another, larger, church stands at the base of the point, separated from the jumble by a narrow cobbled street and wedged against the edge of a river's ravine that winds by the city. The town is all of one color and one stone, a pale tan tufa.

These houses, and their more primitive relatives on the hills across the ravine are the Sassi. From prehistoric times, man has been carving caves into these hills to live in. Over time, some had walls built in front of them, and the interiors developed into complex systems of living in small spaces, with all the conveniences of a bedroom, kitchen, living space, and even a barn all wrapped up into 1 room.

In the 1950's, many people were
thrown out, as the area had become depressed and something of a slum. You would never guess it from today's rustic splendor. We spent our small amount of time wandering the street and paying a cheap fee for entry to one of the Sassi, which, through a prerecorded message discussed many of the features of the sassi as they would have been used about 100 years ago.

While there are options to stay in one of these homes, and also many more individual places to visit here, our schedule dictated that we move on, but I was sad to leave so soon such a beautiful and interesting place.

Virgin Falls

South of Highway 70, halfway between Sparta and Crossville TN is the Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness, a protected region of forest in logging country. Here is a trail which, at four miles long ( eight round trip) provides a challenging and beautiful day of hiking, or a more leisurely overnight hike. The trail begins by winding smoothly across a region of flat forest floor, picking up and following along a small brook, which is surrounded by ferns in summer. The trail weaves in and among rhododendrons, which replace the ferns as the brook gathers water and becomes a small stream. After crossing this brook, the trail departs it and begins a moderate down slope, your footsteps cushioned by the spongy humus held together by the web-like roots of the rhododendrons. This leads into a drier forest area, with several fallen trees, before reaching another stream and crossing it, possibly assisted by a cable strung there

Turning left, the first of the camp sites is immediately ahead. The trail continues to follow the water downstream. Not much farther along the trail you come to the picturesque Big Branch Falls. After Big Branch Falls, you will pass a split where you can head to the right to visit a lookout. I have personally never followed this route, but this option will reconnect to the trail further on. The stream continues to go down the valley, while the trail remains level along one side of it. This area is characterized by the classic Tennessee limestone cliffs, and depending on the season, different wildflowers and plants can be seen in this area including trillium, sorrel, and even yellow lady slippers.

Continuing on you come to the Big Laurel Falls, which falls over a rock ledge, and disappears into the sandy ground. Behind the falls is a very large rock house. The scale of this falls is often lost in photographs, as the boulders, falls and trees fail to provide a point of reference for the size. The trail descends rather steeply at this point, so that you may explore the area behind the falls, and there is evidence of camping in the area beyond the falls, though whether this is a designated camping location I am not sure.

To continue the trail, you will once again be following along the edge of this valley, then crossing over a ridge and heading towards Virgin Falls. In this area the trail will split, with the right hand split being a longer trek, but in my opinion travels through a more beautiful section of the trail and has the added bonus of passing by Sheep Cave Falls, a unique feature which you can explore, at your own risk. From here you will cross over another ridge, at which point the falls should become audible. The trail will then come to the campground, and from there you can easily reach the falls, only a few dozen feet away.

The falls are fairly high, but the most interesting characteristic is the way the stream comes out of the ground, falls over the waterfall, and immediately goes back underground again. While the falls is beautiful and impressive from the flat camping area immediately in front of it, do not forget to walk around the far side and up to the top. Along the was you will see jack in the pulpit growing among the rocks, and at the top, wild iris may be in bloom. The easy climb is worth it for the clean cold air emanating from the cave the water emerges from. This is also a great place to fill up on water.

For those wanting to camp, it is probably better to skip Sheep Cave Falls in favor of the shorter hike in, and take that route on the return trip, so you have something new to see that day, and since you will likely have more time on the second day to explore. For those doing the hike in a single day, I recommend the opposite, mostly because it's better to build up to Virgin Falls.

Craters of the Moon, without all that pesky space travel

The second day of our Rocky Mountain vacation was spent at Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho. The park is large, and consists of massive lava flows, and just about every mountain that can be seen on the horizon is an ancient volcano. It is aptly named, as the craters of the moon are ancient lava flows as well.

The morning was spent warming up and watching ground squirrels play in the mound of lava rock around the campgrounds. It was cold. Our first act in the park was to climb to the top of the Inferno cone, which appeared completely barren, but which had some low bushes and scrub growing on the exposed top, which was completely hidden until you topped the crest. We ran back down, and snapped a professional quality photo of our strange little rental car, a Dodge Caliber. We the drove just a bit up the road to the spatter cones, where had magma piled up around the openings in the earth.

We then drove to the tree molds area trail head, and hiked a couple miles out to see these strange impressions in the lava, where ancient trees were encapsulated by almost cool lave, in some cases leaving clear imprints of their alligator skin like bark in the rock. Along the trail were some beautiful flowers, lots more ground squirrels, and a mountain chickadee that was just as curious about us as we were about him, who came right down to us, perched not a foot away from us at face level, and looked us over while he sang us a pretty song.

After our walk, we headed to see the caves of the park. These are lava tubes, which lava continued to flow through, even as lava has hardened on the surface, forming a roof, and leaving the large, well insulated cave behind. The spiky pumice like kind of lava rock called ah-ah is an exceptionally good insulator, such that, even in late august, icicles form in the damp back reaches of the caves. We saw something similar in a place called the land of fire and ice in New Mexico: an ice "pond" at the bottom of a cave, that even the Indians had made use of. We wandered through several of these, and then found our way back to the narrow paved trail by following piles of rocks on the otherwise monotonous surface of the lava flows.

Finally, we hiked the loop trail of broken top, which is a cone that has literally split in half. Along this trail we saw some very good examples of pahoe-hoe lava (the ropey liquid looking kind) and we saw a hairy woodpecker. Finally, it was time for us to leave the park, and make a long drive to the next day's destination: Glacier National Park.

Overall, the park has the appearance of being largely featureless and monotonous, but along each trail, we discovered something different. Different formations and types rock, certainly, but also different types of plants and animals. The park is large, but it is easily adapted to a single days visit, and is well deserving of its National Park status.

CA:06 From Deserts to Mountains

After spending all of our fourth day in the hot and dry deserts of California, our fifth day, spent mostly at King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks came as a cool relief.

Our first stop upon arrival in Sequoia was to pick up tickets for the cave tour. Then, it was a mad dash to visit the General Sherman Tree. The Sherman Tree is the largest living tree. It is not the tallest, nor the widest, but its overall mass is larger than any other single living organism. Over the winter, it had lost its second largest branch, had crashed through the fence surrounding the tree, and made quite an impression on the asphalt pathway around the tree. This branch had a diameter of about 5 feet. Its the size of a tree itself. No apparent attempts to remove it had been made at the time of our visit.

After seeing the tree, it was time for out cave tour. You must first drive to the location, then hike a short distance down to the entrance of the cave, first crossing over and then hiking to the foot of a beautiful waterfall. The gate which prevents unauthorized entry to the cave is in the shape of a web with a spider at the center, giving it the appearance of a superhero's (or villain's) secret lair. The cave is made of marble, which means that it is created the same way as a limestone cave, since it is simply compressed limestone. The most impressive feature is where the water is flowing through the cave, and you can see the smoothed surface of the marble beneath the water.

It was then time to take the touristy loop drive and drive through a (fallen) sequoia tree. They don't make tunnels through the trees anymore, in appreciation of the trees' rarity and age. We also stopped to view a tree bridge, which was wide enough to have accommodated our car, if we had still been allowed to drive on it.

The trees here are huge. Not so much due to their height, though they are quite tall, but the trunks are incredibly thick, as the above examples might demonstrate. The trunks of the adult trees are at least 10 feet wide. On the trail down to the General Sherman, they have a courtyard that is the size and shape of a cross section of the tree. It has a base diameter of about 27 feet. The tree is over 250 feet tall.

After Sequoia, we headed out for a nice drive into Kings Canyon. On the way out of Sequoia, I managed to spot a black bear very close to a visitor's center. This one was a good bit further away than the one I had seen in the Smokey Mountains, but with my binoculars, I was able to see him well. I got out onto the shoulder of the road, while Jake parked the car at the visitor's center across the street. Of course, our presence soon attracted a crowd, and a park ranger telling everyone to park their cars, and not to stand in the street. Meanwhile, the bear was standing in a small clearing up the hill, rolling over logs and rocks, looking for bugs to eat. He finally wandered off into the woods, and we were back in the car.

Kings canyon was beautiful, but other than to say it was a really deep canyon full of evergreens, with a rushing river cutting its way through the bottom, I don't know what I can say about it. There were a couple of nice waterfalls along the way, and a little country store which had what it claimed was the worlds oldest gravity gas pump, which we took a picture of. The drive in, and then back out again, took considerable time. Thus ended our day. The next day's goal was a big one for the American Road Tripper, and, as we found out, many other people from all over the world: Yosemite.

Forks and Honey

8:54 AM - Honey Creek Loop, Big South Fork River, TN

I first decided to visit this trail because of its mention in Hiking Tennessee by Kelley Roark, and it is definitely a new favorite of mine. The loop is 5.6 miles long, but it is bisected by a road, with parking lots at the top and the bottom of the loop. We started at the top of the loop, which is located at an overlook of the Big South Fork River. From there we left towards the Indian Rock House loop. First we descended 3 steep steel ladders, taking us much closer to the river. Technically, this is part of the inner loop, so we had to turn left to take the main trail a little beyond this point, just before a small cascade falling over the cliff face. The trail then turns almost immediately away from the river, to follow Honey Creek.

The creek ranges from 5-10 feet wide, and cascades over, under, and through the boulders which lay in its path. The water is blue-green, but is clear where the water is less than a foot deep. The path closely follows the creek, occasionally crossing it, and once, forcing us to walk up it, thought a narrow gorge. The path, like the creek, also goes over and under the boulders, several times leading us through small tunnels, where even I had to stoop a little.

The Indian Rock houses were caves in the face of the cliff by the creek. The first one we came to was the most fantastic. The entrance to this one was not level with the ground. First you have to climb a wooden ladder up about 10ft, into the opening. It is very large inside, and has a more sheltered area where the cave winds back to the right. There were about 3 more rock houses that the trail takes you to after that, all of them level with the ground, some larger, but none of which are quite as interesting as the first. The trail then winds up onto the ridge top, then finally cuts back to the creek and down. Along this segment there are 3 notable waterfalls.

Honey Creek Falls requires the hiker to take a very short spur trail, which is entirely worth it. The water falls about 15ft, into a deep blue green pool, with cliff walls surrounding it in a semicircle.

Boulder House Falls consists of 2 huge boulders (about 15, maybe 20ft) making an upside down V. at the back of the V, the water cascades about 5 feet to the "floor" of the house, which is a flat, solid rock, and spreads out to be only an inch or so deep inside the house.

Ice Castle Falls is the tallest of the three. It is a narrow stream of water falling over the cliff ledge.

After this, the trail begins its ascent to the parking lot at the lower end of the loop, and winds its way through what used to be a pine forest. The Pine trees are now all dead where they stand, because of this, and especially because many of them are quite tall, walking this portion on a windy day could be dangerous, as the trees could fall at any time, and indeed, we were continually crawling over and under trees that had fallen across the trail. The upshot to this was that we did see a Pileated Woodpecker which is about the size of a crow with a distinctive red comb on its head. I had never seen one of these before, so that was exciting for me. Finally we reached the bottom parking lot, and used the connecting road to get back to our car, rather than complete the loop, because it was starting to get dark, since we had started fairly late.

Some other bonus features: The lower part of the trail around the creek is otherworldly, surrounded by rhododendrons, mossy rocks, and ferns; The rock is sandstone, not the limestone which is so typical in TN, providing some unexpected color; the water is very cold, causing much of the trail to feel air-conditioned... very nice. A+

Wild on Mammoth (think Discovery, not E!)

The Wild Cave tour at mammoth caves is a unique experience, and doing it is an accomplishment I’m pretty proud of. The web site describes it as :

Physical Challenges: Free-climbing cave walls; lengthy crawls through areas as tight as 9 inches high; walking in a crouched position; hand and knee crawls over jagged rocks and dirt; crawling through wet areas; twisting into and out of tight crawlway openings.

It is a 6 hour tour, covering in that time only about 5.5 miles.

The tour has a capacity limit of 14, but when we went we were fortunate enough to have only ourselves and two other guests on the tour, with the 2 guides that made six people, and because of that we were able to more move quickly through the tour and see more of the cave. They took us through some of the easier parts of the tour first, climbing up round rocks and through narrow tunnels. They looped back into the same room 3 times, from different directions, demonstrating how easy it can be to become lost in a cave, and how difficult it can be to recognize that you are going in circles. Then there was a test of sorts.

Before they could take us to some of the other areas, they had to make sure we weren’t claustrophobic. We all had to crawl through a small section of the cave that was so narrow you had to scoot in as far as you could, let out your breath, and push through the narrowest section. If you had gotten stuck, you would have been able to breathe only very shallowly. If is scary for everyone I think, but if you can do it, nothing else on the tour will even make you feel uncomfortable. The location of this is right at a major tour route through the cave, so if you can’t do it, they just leave you there, to get picked up on a more conventional tour. We didn’t have any chickens with us, so we continued on our grueling path, which can more or less be described by the physical challenges above.

The part about crawling over jagged rocks isn’t talking about something like gravel. The rocks are very sharp and remind me more of the underside of volcanic rock. We stopped to eat some food, which we packed in our fanny packs (I know, but we had to buy some for this and it’s the only time we’ve ever used them). We even arrived at the bottom of a deep pit at one point. Everywhere along the route were large orange duffle bags with items for emergencies, a constant reminder to pay attention, and not get hurt down here. We had a great time, and because there were so few of us, we had plenty of time to ask questions and listen to stories. We arrived after 6 hours back on the surface, exhausted and dirty.

We then realized we hadn’t brought clean clothes, or even towels to cover the car seats with. Oh well. We were so tired that we only got as far as Bowling Green, before we pulled over in a Kroger parking lot to take a nap. I always tell myself I’ll do this again someday, but every time I think about it, my stomach knots up a little bit: “you don’t really want to do that again do you?” it says. Well, maybe someday…

Overall this is an awesome experience, and if you’re in reasonably good shape, you should give this a shot. You must be at least 16, and those under 18 must be with an adult. Hip or chest measurements should not exceed 42 inches, and the cost is $46 per person. Yeah, and don’t forget those extra clothes : ) A+

Kentucky Down Under

Kentucky Down Under is double well name because it has an Australian theme and a cave. My Husband and I went to Kentucky Down Under thinking it was just a cave, not really knowing about the other things it had to offer, so we was a little surprised at the cost, which was almost $20 per person. However, the woman at the gate gave us a map of the park, which has times for shows and the cave tours listed on it. From this, we were able to tell that there was a lot more to the place, and decided to go ahead. The first thing we did was head to the wool shed for a sheep show. On the way, we saw a dingo in his pen, and we passed through the bird garden, a series of large cages with kookaburras and cockateels. When we arrived at the shed we were treated to a show of many different species of sheep, which they brought out onto the stage. It was somewhat funny, and definitely educational. Then we went outside for a sheep herding demonstration by the speakers' dog, which went far out in the field, and herded the sheep to the fence by us. Then we went back inside for the real fun. They small kids from the audience were given large bottles to feed the babies. Every little child gets a bottle, and then they unleash the baby sheep. It is a stampede of minor proportions, as the small children are assaulted by the babies. It was fun to watch, but probably even more fun to do.

After the show we headed over to feed some lorikeets at the aviary. Along the way, I was able to get some very good pictures of a peacock with its tail fanned. Feeding the lorikeets is a lot of fun. You get to go into a large enclosure with a cup of nectar, and the birds land on you, on you hand, shoulder, or even head, to eat the nectar from the cup.

After the lorikeets, we went to the Kangaroo pen. This was my favorite part of the park. A park employee leads you on a tour along a sidewalk through an enclosed area with kangaroos, wallabies, and ostriches. We were allowed to pet the kangaroos and an ostrich. They are all very relaxed. At the time we were there a woman at the park had a joey in a special made pouch on her front, to simulate the Kangaroo pouch. She was mothering it, and kept it with her at all times. She let us pet him; he was very soft, like a rabbit. He was almost ready to come out, and doesn't fit into the pouch all the way anymore.

Once we had seen the kangaroos, we made a stop at the more traditional petting zoo, where they have miniature ponies and goats, which we brushed and petted. Finally, we were ready for the cave tour, which was a nice, basic cave, common in the area. The tour guide was king enough to take everyone's picture inside.

The only activity we missed was a visit to the reptile house, because we didn't get to it in time for a show, but I believe it is hands on as well. Kentucky is a lot of fun because it is so hands on. The staff all seem to like there jobs, and are very knowledgeable. I'll give this place an A. I will not give it a + because, in my opinion, it could have been a little cheaper. Still, it is a fun way to spend the day.

Diamond Caverns

Diamond Caverns are located within the Mammoth Cave National Park, but they are privately owned. My husband and I have been to a lot of caves, including Mammoth Caves, Lincoln Caverns, Cumberland Caverns, Kentucky Caverns, Ruby Falls, the Lost Sea, and probably more. This one struck me as pretty interesting as far as private caves go. It was a very wet cave, and had something we hadn't seen before: a honeycomb like rock, which we were told was created when pyrite was eaten out of the rock by sulfuric acid, which was formed when carbonic acid came into contact with the rock. The carbonic acid would be created by the limestone I believe. I think that's pretty interesting. Our guide was freindly, but didn't exactly seem to like his job. There was also a nice gift shop, with leaves dipped in silver and gold for christmas ornaments. We bought one of those, to go with a similar one we have, of an aspen leaf we got at Rocky Mountain National Park. Ultimately, this cave, as is any cave, is a good way to spend a winter day. I would give it a B.