Tuesday, April 6, 2010

All Hail...

Late Sunday, my husband, two of the kids, and I went down to Cave City, Kentucky, home of Mammoth Caves, the longest cave system in the world. Reportedly, it has over 400 miles of explored caves--of that, we went on a tour of four of those miles yesterday.

The caves are really amazing. It's hard to believe people in the 1800s actually went down there with torches to explore. Um, no thanks. And spent tons of money to take 15 hour walking tours. Again, no thanks. But I can highly recommend the Grand Ave tour. 4 miles, 4 1/2 hours. Lunch break. It ends in the Niagara room, which is breathtaking with its enormous stalactites and stalagmites. Wow. Just wow. I'll post pictures when they're downloaded.

So, when we left Cave City for home, a mere 3 1/2 hours, it was 87* and sunny. By the time we made it home (survived the drive), it was 68*, pouring rain, and storming. Just north of Louisville, the weather turned on us in a snap, and we were stuck in the worst hail storm I've ever seen. My car was pounded for at least ten minutes, if not more, by pea and gumball size hail. WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM. I honestly thought the windshield was a goner. Dozens of cars were pulled off on the side of the road, and the highway itself looked like it had gotten a dusting of snow--all little ice balls. My daughter took video from her phone, but I can't figure out how to upload it here. The sound alone is amazing. The whole experience left me shaky to say the least, and I kept looking around for tornadoes.

Ahh, spring. Gotta love it, right?

Though, there was a bright spot--a gorgeous rainbow just after the worst of the storm. Mother Nature is forgiven.

~Heather

3 comments:

  1. That rainbow must have been pretty.

    I've never been on cave tour, but it does sound like fun.

    Mother Nature has been playing games with us. I think I would have freaked out in your hail storm and tornados frightens me more. Glad you arrived home safely.

    Have a good Tuesday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The caves are amazing, Dru. If you ever get the chance to see them, do it! Just breathtaking in a lot of ways.

    My car has dents all over it now, but I'm SO relieved no windows broke. I really thought there was a chance. I like a good storm--from the safety of my house!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The caves freak me out a little when they turn out the lights!! Especially when you have a kid who's deathly afraid of the dark.

    We are heading to Hocking Hills for the first time on our spring break. I know their caves aren't as great as Mammoth Cave, but...

    ReplyDelete