We started off our week in Louisville, KY with a trip to Mammoth Cave National Park. John participated in a special guided tour for 8-12 year olds called the "Trog Tour" (named after troglophiles, which are animals that live both above and below ground). The kids were given coveralls, kneepads, and headlamps so they could crawl through narrow tunnels and passages that the adult tours are unable to access. Eric and I had both done similar "wild cave" tours in our younger years, so we knew it would be both a challenge and a thrill for John. He was excited at first, then nervous when it was time to leave, but when it was over he was proud of himself and full of chatter about the cave.
A couple of days later, I took the boys to the Louisville Slugger Museum, which was a must-do for John. He was excited to hold Babe Ruth's real game bat and pose with statues of other baseball legends. The boys also tried out the batting cage. They are used to aluminum bats so a wood bat was a new experience, but John did surprisingly well for his first time.
After weeks of being in rural areas with limited grocery options, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit Costco while we were in a larger city. It wasn't entirely necessary, and we couldn't buy much due to our limited pantry/refrigerator space, but it was mostly just for my and Eric's amusement since the boys HAAAAATE Costco. We told them that they'd had their fun outings, and now this was ours!
After weeks of being in rural areas with limited grocery options, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit Costco while we were in a larger city. It wasn't entirely necessary, and we couldn't buy much due to our limited pantry/refrigerator space, but it was mostly just for my and Eric's amusement since the boys HAAAAATE Costco. We told them that they'd had their fun outings, and now this was ours!
Later in the week, we took a day trip up to Dayton, OH so Eric could visit another KOA property. This was no little excursion - we had to leave at 5:30 am to make the 3-hour drive. While Eric was meeting with the campground manager, I took the boys to the National Museum of the Air Force. This place is absolutely MASSIVE - it spans 19 acres of indoor museum space and has over 350 aircraft. It was overwhelming! Throughout the museum I saw small groups of older men chatting; they were strangers to each other, but had the common bond of flying these aircraft, so they stood together and traded stories. It was humbling to overhear snippets of their experiences as young men in wartime.
While the boys' favorite area was the space exhibit, I was most eager to see the retired Air Force One that was used by John F. Kennedy and several presidents after. This was the same plane that carried Kennedy's body from Dallas to Washington, DC after he was shot, and where Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office to succeed the presidency during the flight. Despite the awe and history associated with this aircraft, I was disappointed by how bare and inaccessible it felt when we went inside. There were plexiglass walls creating a very narrow passageway down the aisle (so narrow that claustrophobia made me start to feel panicky as we shuffled along). Eisenhower's plane was casually staged with items such as paperwork, playing cards, etc., but the Kennedy plane had none of this. However, there was an exhibit just outside the plane displaying various presidents' artifacts such as a dinner menu, flight itinerary, candy boxes, and so on. In addition, there were three other smaller Air Force One aircraft used for lesser-scale travel. It would be easy to spend a full day touring this museum, but we were tired from walking and still had a 3-hour return trip to Louisville, so we headed back.
While the boys' favorite area was the space exhibit, I was most eager to see the retired Air Force One that was used by John F. Kennedy and several presidents after. This was the same plane that carried Kennedy's body from Dallas to Washington, DC after he was shot, and where Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office to succeed the presidency during the flight. Despite the awe and history associated with this aircraft, I was disappointed by how bare and inaccessible it felt when we went inside. There were plexiglass walls creating a very narrow passageway down the aisle (so narrow that claustrophobia made me start to feel panicky as we shuffled along). Eisenhower's plane was casually staged with items such as paperwork, playing cards, etc., but the Kennedy plane had none of this. However, there was an exhibit just outside the plane displaying various presidents' artifacts such as a dinner menu, flight itinerary, candy boxes, and so on. In addition, there were three other smaller Air Force One aircraft used for lesser-scale travel. It would be easy to spend a full day touring this museum, but we were tired from walking and still had a 3-hour return trip to Louisville, so we headed back.
One would think we'd had our fill of museums by this point, but there was still one more to go: the Ark Encounter. The boys requested this months ago after hearing about it from friends who had visited.
Although the ark itself was impressive in its scale and adherence to scriptural specifications, I was also pleasantly surprised by the zoo which was small but well-kept. Reed got to ride a camel and both boys had close-up interactions with goats and kangaroos.
On the drive back from the Ark Encounter, I totaled up my step count from the days we visited these attractions. We walked more than 17 miles!! After such a busy week, I plan on taking it easy for a few days!
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