Weekend Trip - Mammoth Caves

The last portion of our trip over last weekend took us to Mammoth Caves National Park. Mammoth Caves is about 30 minutes northeast out of Bowling Green, KY (or about 3.5 hours from Murray). The Caves were naturally formed by the local watershed, and is the world's largest cave system.

We signed up to take the history tour, which was a 2 hour, 2 mile round trip hike led by a park ranger. Two of my favorite quotes of his: "I was born and raised here in Kentucky, so I speak Kentucky English", and "Many of you tourists are from the North. We appreciated you sharing your intelligence and money."He took us to the historical entrance to the cave, which was initially discovered in the 18th century. Originally, the owner of the land figured out that he could charge people to enter the caves, and started it as a tourist attraction.

Eventually, the US government purchased the caves and all the land around it, and made it into a National Park.

Inside the caves, the temperature and humidity hardly varies at all, year round. The temperature is usually within 1-2 degrees of 54 F all year, and the humidity is within 5% of 80% humidity as well.

The National Park service has begun the process of replacing all the lighting and wiring that is in the caves with LED lighting, so that they can help to cut down some of the costs related to bringing tourists into the caves. I thought that they did a pretty good job of lighting it well enough to be able to see things, but not to the point where it overpowers what you're experiencing.

People had tried to work in the caves during the 18th century, and one of the projects that we saw were the pipe system built in the caves to help bring water in from the surface. They essentially took long logs, which they had used an auger to drill a hole all the way down the length of. They then connected them to each other as well. This particular set of pipes was used to help drop it down from higher up in the cave, and was probably a couple hundred feet into the cave at that point.

Another view of the cave walls, near the same location as the last photo.

During the 18th century, a lot of people who went into the caves would use candles to burn their name into the walls of the caves. Sadly, there have also been people who have put graffiti over some of these signings in some other areas of the caves.

This sign was placed at a particularly tight portion of the cave tour. The area was approximately 15" wide at this point. But with the height and layout of the cave, it was a passable area at least.  There had also been other areas with either height restrictions or width restrictions, but nothing quite that tight. As the tour guide put it, "There are children on the tour, so if you go to name the rock after you've hit your head with it, make sure it isn't one of those nice 4-letter names."

As we approached the end of the tour, we started ascending back up toward the top of the cave, and were left with this view of the cave walls to our sides. As you might imagine, it was a long way down.

The view looking out over the stairs' railing.

Overall, the tour was extremely interesting. While we didn't see any stalactites or stalagmite, we knew that we were unlikely to see those on this particular tour before leaving the visitors' center. Brynn tells me that there are a lot of caves/caverns back in California, but that none of them are nearly as intense or large as the ones here in Kentucky. The tour guide did tell us that they offer tours of 11 miles of the cave, but that they have mapped over 365 miles of the caves over time.

Weekend Trip - The Grand Ole Opry

After leaving Clarksville, we were bound for the heart of country music, Nashville, Tennessee and the Grand Ole Opry.

Some history about the Opry - the short version anyway (You can find the long version here): The Grand Ole Opry was the brainchild of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company. They wanted to start their own radio station back in 1925, and they started a program on Saturday nights called the WSM Barn Dance. The program was broadcast from a studio in the Insurance Company's building. Over time, the show's popularity grew, and eventually required a move to allow for the live audience. They spent until 1974 at the Ryman Auditorium, when they moved to their new home at the Opry House. The Opry is actually a radio show that is broadcast nationwide now, and also includes a television show as well.

We were there to go on a backstage tour of the Opry. The Opry House is a part of a larger complex, which includes the Opry Mills shopping mall. So we made our way over there. Fun with the GPS unit reminded us that while the thing is usually pretty good with directions, it's not always quite right about pronunciation. As we drove up, we "arrived" at the "Grand Oh-Lee Opry". Not quite. The more interesting thing on this road was this:

Yup. That is a 24 mile per hour speed limit. Not a 25. Not a 20. 24 mph speed limit. The things you see sometimes.... Anyway.






As we walked around, we saw that they had a Charlie Brown on Ice program nearby. The program had ended in early January, but was still setup on the outside. Can anyone guess what this picture is supposed to represent?

Once we were done with the Peanuts, we headed to the tour of the Opry.  The tour was lead by a very nice elderly woman who was most likely in her 80s. The funny part to us was the fact that she had been good friends with both Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff.  Minnie Pearl is to your right. And both her and Roy, sadly, have been deceased for almost 15 years. So it was a bit unusual to see a person that knew them both, and was still working at the Opry. Both were Opry performers, but Pearl was probably a little more famous, known for having left the price tag on her hat (which you may be able to see in the photo).


Some of you may recognize this next picture. The following is the stage at the Opry. It is pretty well recognizable at this point. There is also a round portion from the original stage of the Opry that they placed near where the spotlights are pointing. We didn't get to walk on the stage, since they had just finished polishing and redoing the floor.

Every year, the Opry, from November through January, returns to their previous home at the Ryman Auditorium to allow for some maintenance to be done at the Opry House.

The thing that I really found interesting with the Opry is that they don't really have any specific criteria for admitting new members. Musicians from multiple genres have been admitted, but there is no set timeframe, career length, or success level that determines how they get in. As they put it, it's basically a relationship that is built between the artist and the Opry. So you'll see artists who have been around for only a few years (Carrie Underwood) who are in, but artists that have been around for a long time may not be (Faith Hill). Opry artists, by being admitted, are making a commitment to perform at least 10 times at the Opry each year.

All in all, it was actually a very interesting tour. I didn't really think I'd enjoy it particularly, but I was pleasantly surprised. A big piece of history there.

Tomorrow: The last of this weekend's trip posts: Mammoth Caves

Weekend Trip - Clarksville, TN

Since we are going to be leaving the Kentucky/Tennessee area sooner than we had hoped, we decided to do some semi-intense exploring. Over the remainder of this week, I'll be writing up our travels last weekend:

• Today's post: Clarksville, TN
• Coming soon: Nashville, TN
• Coming soon: Mammoth Caves, KY

Clarksville is home to Fort Campbell, which is home to the 101st Airborne Division. The road into town off Highway 24 runs parallel to the main edge of the base, and leads you past what seems to be an unending string of small strip malls. You see many half-vacant sorefronts and buildings. This road eventually leads into downtown Clarksville.

Downtown Clarksville is not a particularly large area, probably only encompassing a 4-6 square block radius at most. We stopped into a local brewpub to eat a snack and try their beer. They had a reasonable mix of brews, but nothing really that stood out as worthwhile of making the trip back to Clarksville. The food wasn't terrible either. All in all, a reasonable expectation of a brewpub. Probably wouldn't not go back there if we had to do it over again.

Walking around downtown Clarksville, we stopped into Blondie's Sandwich and Coffee Shop. It was a pretty standard coffee shop, except for one thing about the coffee cup itself. On the left side of the lid, is an open-close switch. For those of you who have seen that before, that's wonderful. But it was new to us, and we thought it was awesome.



The downtown area is a lot of brick buildings, some of which appear to be extremely old. A plaque near City hall said that the town was founded in 1785, making it almost 230 years young. Prior to leaving town, we drove past Austin Peay State University. Quite a bit more brick buildings, and we could clearly make out which ones appeared to be dormitories.

Anything for 9 Weeks

Apparently, I should have named this blog You Can Do Anything for 9 weeks. For the 2nd time in as many assignments, the hospital Brynn is working at has given a 30-day notice, and shortened her contract. We will be leaving Murray about a month sooner than we had initially expected, but we knew that this was a possibility (just like any other assignment).We are obviously a little bit better prepared to handle it this time around, as we've been through this process before.

It is a bit of a mixed bag for us, as we are just starting to explore the area around Murray. We have, realistically, 3 more weekends with which to explore the Kentucky/Tennessee area. Over the next couple of days, I'll have a few posts up about the exploring we did this past weekend.

So of course, the next question is: Where are we headed now? Well, Brynn has licenses in California, Michigan, and Kentucky. Also in process are licenses for Maryland and Georgia. They are still working on getting her next assignment lined up for her, so hopefully we will have a better idea in the next few days here. In the mean time, enjoy the upcoming posts about our travels to Nashville and Mammoth Caves.

Weekend Thoughts for 1/17/10

Well, the weather has finally gotten better here in Kentucky. We've been experiencing "normal" weather for Kentucky for the majority of this week, getting temperatures up into the high 50s most days. Which has allowed us to venture out of our warm house a lot more than in previous weeks.

We attended our first Murray State basketball games on Thursday. That brought all sorts of entertainment:

• MSU games are only $7 for general admission seats, which are higher up but still probably within 100 feet of the court. Realistically, we can see everything involved in the game just fine.
• When I started looking for tickets, I checked online. Once I got to Ticketmaster's website, I stopped checking online. They wanted the same $7, along with a $3.50 per ticket convenience fee. And if I wanted to print them at home, it would cost another $2 per ticket. So for those keeping score at home, for a $7 ticket, and to use my own printer and ink to print them out, I could pay another $5.50. So I went over to the ticket office (about a 5 minute drive) and bought them in person instead.
• Murray State's mascot are the Racers, what with being in Kentucky. Which translates to a live version as a man in a horse costume. And also a man in an inflatable horse costume, with a jersey that says "Air Dunker". It was interesting to say the least.
• It was also $1 night at the game in this particular case - hot dogs, soda, candy, and popcorn all for a buck!
  
• They actually won both games (womens' and mens') pretty handily, which has apparently been the norm for the teams this season.

Some other thoughts from our travels this week:

• We went out to Land Between the Lakes this weekend, and you can read about this in my previous post.
• On our way back, we stopped at an EXCELLENT barbecue joint. Hutchens BBQ has been there since 1946, and serves some excellent barbecue. Their sauce is fair, but the ribs and brisket were both amazing. And it came with a trio of sides and a bread. Throw in a RC Cola for each of us, and Peach Cobbler for a total of $31 with tip!
• We're just now starting to get some rain here, which should also be nice. Frankly, I'm just happy that the humidity is going up again so we won't keep shocking each other due to the static electricity.
  

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area

We went to go see Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area today, and found an amazing park. The LBL was originally a much larger area of land that was originally between a pair of rivers, the Cumberland and the Tennessee. You can read more about the history of it here, but basically, as a part of the New Deal, the Tennessee Valley Authority planned to construct two dams here. The dams proceeded to create Kentucky Lake, and Lake Barkley. The area was finally declared a National Recreation Area in 1963 by President Kennedy.

The area is about 25-30 minutes away from our home in Murray, and lies partially in Kentucky, and partially in Tennessee. The weather has finally cooperated enough for us to want to be outside for longer than 5 minutes.

There is also a lot of wildlife here, including a reserve for bison and elks. We took these from about 100 feet away from the animals.











We also went on a scenic drive near the north end of the park, and saw a bald eagle too! I'd never seen one before, and very surprised to see one at all.






The place was very beautiful, and we're very likely to go back and explore some more! We spent the better part of 2 hours driving through only one half of the park. Definitely warrants further exploration.

I'll have some Weekend Thoughts up tomorrow hopefully.

Weekend Thoughts for 1/9/2010

I had hoped to go out and explore Murray and its surrounding areas this week, since we're back from the holidays and there was not going to be any rain or snow until Thursday. Well, cold is officially a weather condition in my book now. All week, the temperature has not gone above 25 degrees, dropping below 10 on numerous occasions.

When we read that the average weather for Murray was going to be similar to California's for winter, we were looking forward to the fact that we weren't going to be in an area that was super cold, or that would get a ton of snow. This nice Arctic front has decided otherwise. On to some thoughts...

• I am amazed at how much money I save at Walmart. I've written before how I know understand why people like it so much, but it is still a surprise to me when I go shopping.
• I just finished reading a really good book about the history of In-n-Out Burger. An excellent read, both for the topic and in general. You can find it here. 
• It snowed here on Thursday, as a part of that wonderful Arctic front. We got about 1-2", at most. In Kentucky, this causes the cancellation of schools everywhere. And the ice related to it on the following day does the same thing. It was an interesting process to watch. But they were definitely ready for it. 
• RC Cola is much more popular down here than anywhere else I have ever lived. Which is wonderful. And Walmart had another version: Cherry RC. Which is also wonderful.
• We had Kentucky Fried Chicken a few days ago. Which tastes pretty much the same here in Kentucky that it does anywhere else we have been. And no, the sign does not say "Fried Chicken" outside the place.
  

Part of the way I've been staying busy since arriving in Kentucky is to write. Since there hasn't really been a whole lot to write about here yet due to this lovely weather, I've actually been writing a second blog about baseball. You can find it here if you're interested.

Travels and the Holidays

We spent a little more than a week back home visiting with our families in California. It's really hard to argue that air travel is inconvenient, since you can catch a flight from one coast, and arrive almost anywhere in the country within 8 hours of leaving.

• I really look forward to living somewhere closer to an airport than we have in the past two assignments. Murray is just shy of 2 hours from Nashville, and that would definitely qualify as the closest airport. As a result, to catch our 8 am flight back to California, we left the house at 3 am. Not a whole lot of fun to be sure.
• Nashville has a really nice airport. I think I may have been through there before once, but I can't be sure. Either way, it was very comfortable waiting for our flight there.
• Our flight stopped over in Las Vegas, and the slot machines do not take change in the airport. Not that we had remembered to bring any, but I guess I could have gotten some cash out of the ATM, but I was not really feeling it. Probably saved myself some money that way I imagine.
• It is amazing to me how many flights end up being early arriving. I know that they leave themselves some leeway, and it seems like something I probably shouldn't be complaining about.
• Leave it to air travel to cause me to get sick. I spent the majority of the week being sick, and a large portion unfortunately sharing as well. Sorry to all my relatives that caught this. It's awful.
• We had a great Christmas, and really enjoyed the time spent with the family. It had been a couple of months since we had seen them, and was definitely enjoyable.
• We flew American on our return flight, which was our first time flying with them. They actually provide a pretty good experience in terms of a flight. The plane was comfortable, the seating not too close together, and the staff very easy going. All-in-all, a very pleasurable experience.

Now that we're back, we're hoping to really start exploring the surrounding area.