Another good reason to stay at the in-laws is the food. Barb is a great cook! They threw one of their famous barbecues while I was there. Mmmmm! Mmmmm! There was also a birthday party for my daughter-in-law with excellent ice-cream cake.

My granddaughter has sure grown in the last year. My grandson was finally back for awhile with his father and is so tall now. He’s playing sports I hear. I got to see my newest granddaughter who was born while I was gone. My son is handsome as ever (when he tries) and his wife is looking really great too.

I got them geocaching. We went out for a day of fun and found a few. One night after dinner at their house, a geocache popped up on my gps screen as I was leaving and that led to some night caching fun for me. I skipped the one in the greenbelt next to the bank. Going after those at night tends to upset police for some silly reason. Snicker. I did nail the virtual at the high school though which would be easier at night. I found one in a mulberry tree that night as well that was interesting. You don’t look for the cache but rather a rope to pull the cache up out of the tree.

I stayed at the Blue Anchor RV Park in Osburn once again. The owner is very nice and friendly. The price is right. My site was great with full utilities, cable TV, and wifi. I really enjoy staying at this park when in the area and will continue to come back.

I made it home in time for Pig out in the Park in Spokane, WA. My friend, Bernie, took me over there with her for the yearly food fest in Riverfront Park. There’s lots of food to choose from and really make a pig of yourself. There were some booths selling other things but not nearly enough. We didn’t make it on to the gondola over the falls in time before the weather turned bad. It was nice to finally get to go to this festival but not something I would want to do every year I think.

I got my best friends together and got them out geocaching right away. Bernie and her husband took to it like ducks to water. They really love spending the weekends out chasing caches in the mountains and I hear they even took a picnic lunch on one outing. I did more geocaching in the area while I was there than I have done anywhere in my travels. I guess having a friend along makes a difference. There were several locals we seemed to be competing with and following like the Pirates of the St. Joe. We kept finding their caches or caches they had been to. I got Bernie out one day to drive the outback and go after our first First To Finds (FTF).  I found mine so fast it made her head spin. I spotted it as I was getting out of the car. I know my odd rocks. She found hers fairly fast too thanks to another cache we had been to with a similar hiding spot. Woohoo! My friend Cindy and I went after several near Mullan, ID. Saw my first bison tube and we nailed one up on the pass.

I discovered while I was in town that the local Rails to Trails – Route of the Hiawatha bicycle trail was nearly all downhill. 15 miles of downhill through 10 very dark train tunnels and over 7 high trestles. After some serious reflection on whether I might be crazy to even consider it, I called my youngest son and enlisted him as both a babysitter for me and a companion in craziness. We rented bikes, helmets, and lights at Lookout Pass, bought bus passes, and paid the trail fee there. They also let us borrow a bike carrier to drive the bikes to the trail. We opted to bypass the trailhead at Taft Tunnel due to the late start we got and because I could not ride uphill 2 miles on the way back through it to our car. Instead, we drove over the steep dirt mountain road to Roland where the bus would be bringing us back to from the trail end at Pearson. We loaded up our backpacks with water, lunches, my GPS, a map, and coats (tunnels are very cold) and off we went. It really was much easier than I ever thought it could be. I just had to sit on the bike as it rolled downhill and enjoy the gorgeous back country scenery. The tunnels were fun. Some we could ride through but longer ones we got off and walked due to the darkness. We found that riding side by side gave us better light through them. We had to hustle a little at the end to make the last bus back but even that was fun. Mark another item accomplished on my bucket list.

Now you would think that would be enough adventure for us but of course not. We took along the 10 clues to stops along the trail at local history signs which contained numbers we needed to get the coordinates of the final geocache. That really added to the fun and made us get some education along the way. Unfortunately, we missed the first number so I had to take what we had home, play with some possible numbers in GoogleEarth until I got the most likely spot, and then go back to the East Portal trailhead parking lot to find the cache nearby. I did find it and it was a nice fat ammo can, my favorite.

I noticed a lot of changes in Wallace. A lot of the stores have changed in 2 years. One big change is that Wallace has declared itself to be the Center of the Universe and has erected signs to that supposed fact and has a plaque in the middle of the main street to mark the exact spot now. They did this to protest the EPA and government in general figuring since they are allowed to make up facts and flawed so-called studies, why shouldn’t Wallace be able to do the same thing. ROTFL. Gotta love a town with spunk and grit.

For more pics click here.

I found my missing brother living in Salt Lake City. It’s been a long, long time. We got to spend a lot of time together while I was there for a week and I had to promise to come back for the winter so we could help each other out with various things.

I went out to Antelope Island one lovely day. Another of those long drives out over water where you hope the road actually is intact all the way and there is something at the other end. Being a state park, you have to pay to go out there. It is an island in Salt Lake that is full of wildlife including bison and has bunches of camping sites though no utilities. I stopped at the Visitor’s Center to get oriented. The birds love the Visitor’s Center too. They flock all around it and it is covered in bird you-know-what. I got some great pics of the bison herds in the marsh and out on the beach flats. There is an old ranch there you can tour which was pretty interesting. I liked the cowboy wagon, the cold house with a spring that runs through it, the picnic area, and the outside bath that was added on to the house for ranch hands to use.

Another day, I introduced my brother to geocaching. We hit 3 and he seemed to enjoy it even while teasing me about how silly it can look.

We had to go out to Promontory to see the Golden Spike Museum. While the museum is not on the exact spot where trains from the east and west met up as the last rails and spikes were laid, it is very close. Actually, the silly men in charge couldn’t decide where to have the tracks meet up so both competing companies kept laying track miles past each other until a decision was finally made. They have an excellent movie about it and some of the original track runs past the museum with 2 working replica locomotives of the two that were at the original ceremony. Of the Golden Spike, there were actually about 6 ceremonial spikes donated by different interests and none remained there after the ceremony nor were any of them really driven in. The one we all think of is currently at Stanford. Most of the rails in that area were later bypassed when a better route was found and the rails were pulled up during WWII due to the steel shortage. Better to use them for tanks and planes than just leave them out there for nothing. My brother, Dale, and I had some fun with George. You know how George loves trains and engineers. Dale walked around with George on his shoulder there and found it to be a great way to meet women. Believe it! We got one of the train engineers to pose with George. Then we both got wicked ideas. We found some rope in the car and tied up George then placed him on the tracks. Oh the horror! We have some great pics of the Perils of George for you all.

We went out to Salt Aire. It used to be a fabulous resort with swimming in Salt Lake. Trains brought thousands of tourists to this lavish spa. Today it is used as a concert venue.

Rode the Trax train around downtown Salt Lake City. Toured Temple Square, the Conference Center, and the Tabernacle.  Good to see how other religions do things. Fascinating how the Tabernacle was designed to amplify sounds naturally without microphones.  Conference Center is quite a  theater complex and it has a rooftop garden/prairie with fountains.  It also contains an LDS art gallery. Checked out Brigham Young’s house and saw movie on origins of Church of Latter Day Saints.

For more pics click here.

Moab is another active spot for river rafting and ATVing. Don’t expect a lot of trees. It’s red rocks for as far as you can see and beautiful. I took a drive over to Arches National Park first. The first thing you learn there is to bring a bottle or two of water as there is none in the park except at the Visitor’s Center. You have no business being in the park without your own water on board. The other thing is to use the bathroom before you go because again bathrooms are in short supply. I suggest wearing hiking boots too if you have them as well as a hat and a walking stick or cane is nice to have. Don’t forget to bring your camera and extra batteries too because photo opportunities abound there. Since the park is huge and you can drive through quite a bit of it, be sure to fill up on gas before going in. There is a campground or two  in the park with no utilities which were pretty full.

Most of the arches are not visible from the road. You are going to have to get out and walk if you want to see them. However, there are plenty of other great natural formations to view along the road through the park.  Once upon a time, people did try ranching there and mining.  That’s all gone now. I did get out and walk a bit. They have some great trails and there were plenty of others on the trail at the same time even though it was very hot out. At one point I had walked too far for me and dearly wished there was a tank of oxygen at the lookout point. I was not alone in that thought. It is easy to get lost in the beauty and push your limits.

Another day, I went to Canyonlands National Park. The formations are a bit different than the Arches so don’t skip either. Both drives are fairly easy with lots of turnouts and picnic spots. Again, take plenty of water. One thing I noticed about both parks was the accents of the visitors. There was a little French, a little Japanese, and a whole lot of German.

For more pics click here.

I needed a place to stay for the night and stumbled on Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch in Gunnison, CO. Very lucky for me I noticed in the office it was a member park in one of the other discount camping clubs which had just become re-affiliated with my Coast to Coast group. They had no problem with me just showing up without a reservation and happily provided me a nice space cheap for the night.

The campground is built on a hillside overlooking a lake. My site was still level and the tiered spaces let everyone have a great view of the lake which is very popular for boating and fishing. The park has one outdoor pool and one indoor pool with a hot tub. There is a hall to gather in and eat. They do have wifi. I wish I had more time to stay there. Will definitely have to go back some time.

The next day I moved on to my cousin’s place in Westcliffe, CO. Cousins Pam and George have a 35 acre spread with a beautiful western theme house there in a gated community. You had better know the magic password before you get to the gate as there is no cell phone coverage outside of town and happily I had thought of that.  Having previously run a campground themselves, she and her husband put in 2 RV sites with full utilities on their property for family and friends to stay with them and the price to stay is really good (free)! While I was there, we added wifi as well since my aircard did not work there either.  I had only planned on staying one week but we hadn’t seen each other in so long and were having so much fun that I stayed another week.

I introduced cousin Pam to geocaching right off. My aunt and other cousin had already told her about our exploits in search of hidden treasures worth nothing and she was excited to learn. Westcliffe only had one geocache in the city at the time which we found easily and it appears to be quite popular. I am hoping she can convince others to add many more since it is a great place for it and geocaches can bring in business to establishments with caches on their property such as the hot dog shack with unique wooden furniture and delicious hotdogs that fill the air with temptation all around it. We placed a new geocache ourselves before I left.  There are many other caches in the surrounding areas and mountains. We did have fun going after those. One we had to give up on because it requires a jeep to get there as do many others there. I finally ran into other geocachers while in search of one near a castle and joined forces to find it. The minute I saw them way up there on the hill I knew what they were up to and told my cousin to follow the humans. LOL I got them searching in the right spot with my GPS while one of them managed to walk by it at the right angle to spot it.

We went to Royal Gorge Park one day. Supposedly the bridge over the gorge is the highest in the world and many people like to walk the very long expanse. We rode the aerial tram across. My cousin would have liked to go on the sling that swings you out over the gorge but that was a bit much for me physically so she will have to wait for another intrepid soul. We checked out the film on the Gorge then were ready to catch the trolley back across the bridge but that turned into a major endeavour thanks to poor planning by the park which is anything but handicapped accessible due to the steep topography and attitudes. They only run one trolley for a park full of guests and they do not have clearly marked trolley stops. We were told to wait at one spot which we did for half an hour then when the trolley came over the bridge, it dropped riders off on the opposite side of the street from us and allowed numerous others to board there. By the time it got turned around and back to us, it was full. We got the girl running the ice cream stand to see if  other transportaion could be arranged back over since the aerial tram was now up a steep hill from us and we could not get on the trolley. What we got instead was a snotty security guard who came racing over to tell us no way and we should wait another half hour for the trolley again in hopes that one would not be full. He also proceeded to tell us we could could have walked across in the time we had waited despite seeing I was walking with a cane. My cousin spotted some other employees who managed to get us across the bridge with them instead and were much nicer. We had just enough time to ride the incline/funicular to the bottom of the gorge and back then we rode the children’s train which has numerous good jokes stationed along the tracks.

After a day at the gorge, we just had to chase down a geocache nearby in the picnic area on the edge of the gorge. We found it hidden in some rocks and left a travel bug in it that I had found in Kentucky.

Another day we went off to see Bishop’s Castle. My what men with too much time on their hands will create. It is a huge, beautiful structure and fun to climb all over. If you are not afraid of heights and have the stamina, you can climb to the top and ring the bell as many did. There were a lot of families there that day. We found the owner and master craftsman laboring down in the moat to ask him some questions to fulfill the requirements of a virtual geocache. Hey, we were there anyway so why not nail a cache or 2 as well? He definitely has some issues with government which he will be happy to discuss with you if you ask.

Afterward, we went across the street after another geocache. That is where we ran into the other geocachers I spoke about. Score another one for us. We hit a historic homestead cache on the way home too.

Seeing a golden opportunity while I was driving along the Arkansas River to get to cousin Pam’s home in the first place, I decided to knock one more item off my bucket list and go whitewater rafting since I had never been. The river is one of the hottest spots for river rafting in the country and loaded every day with bunches of rafts from numerous area outfitters. I chose to go with Raft Masters out of Canon City, CO on their half day Bighorn Sheep Canyon tour which includes lunch, safety gear, and wetsuits or booties. That tour has class 2-3 whitewater which is definitely better than the little kids tour on placid water but not too much for a first-timer. I did have to wear my back brace to do it but hid that under my shirt to fit in. Shorts and tshirts or bathing suits and tshirts are the uniform of the day for this in the summer. You will get soaked! I advise sunglasses with a restrainer cord too. You can wear a cap with visor under the helmet if you like. After lunch, they fit everyone with helmets, lifevests, and booties then they bus all up the river with the rafts. Personally, I found the lunch at their own restaurant to be quite good and I had a blast in the raft. I opted to man a paddle to get the most out of the experience. Follow the calls of your guide and watch the paddler in front of you or to the side to coordinate your strokes and you will be fine. At one point we did get hung up on a rock in the middle of the river but our guide’s expertise quickly got us off it. She also helped us go for a thrill in one of the rapids. At some points they may let you hop out for a swim. We didn’t bother due to the difficulty in getting back into the raft. They have a photographer stationed on the river near a larger rapid to get a some great shots of your trip for you. Be prepared to pay a hefty price for one or all of those when you get back but they are worth it. I had to get the Tshirt too but they don’t have any whitewater rafting patches or pins at most of the outfitters it seems which was a real bummer. They really ought to have those. I’m ready to do the tour through Royal Gorge next time with class 3-4 rapids.

My cousin and I decided to try the Royal Gorge train one day since she had never been on that. It starts at the depot in Canon City and winds its way down through the bottom of the gorge. They have food and tables on board, regular seating cars, and open standing only cars for the best pictures. We moved back and forth between all of them. It does have some very nice views.

For more pics click here.

I happened to get lucky again and arrived during the annual Dodge City Days celebration. I was able to find a site at Watersports Campground which is right in the heart of Dodge. While not particularly pretty or probably as nice as the other park I looked at, it was reasonably priced and has the best location. It is right on a small lake and has a beach though you can’t put a boat or kayak in there. They do have quite a few permanent residents and the sites are not large. With a little maneuvering around a tree, I got my satellite dish to work. My aircard worked fine there. The staff were nice. This campground is not one I would go to play in but is certainly good enough as a base for touring.

I headed to the visitor’s center first thing. They have tons of brochures on both Dodge and Kansas. They also sell the Dodge Days pin needed to get into some events and get into the big drawing for cash prizes. I met Marshal Matt Dillon there and got my picture taken with him. From there, you can also catch a tour bus of Dodge which I definitely recommend. The tour shows you Boothill, the local sights, the fort nearby, the Santa Fe Trail, the stockyards, the giant steer monument, the Wyatt Earp statue, etc. You may even get held up by bandits.

A tour of Boothill next door is a must. The cemetary and museum are quite interesting. I got thrown in the original jail (all I did was call Wyatt Earp a sissy!). I had a drink at the Long Branch Saloon with Miss Kitty. They had a gunfight outside the saloon. There was a very good homestyle dinner in the restaurant there. A nice RVing couple on vacation  invited me to come sit with them for dinner and swap travel tales. Afterward, we retired back to the saloon for drinks and a show with can-can girls. Both men and women enjoyed purchasing garters which you take right off the can-can girls and handsome young barmen with a blush. I got a kick out of the rowboat song the barmen sang which was out of the old Bob Hope movie “Eddie Foy and the Seven Littel Foys”.

You may want to stroll the downtown walk which was the heart of Dodge in the old days and the original location of well known saloons like the Longbranch. You can also get a genuine stagecoach ride by signing up at Boothill. I can’t imagine riding in one of those for days even with the padded seats.

Across the street at the train station is the Harvey House tour which unfortunately is only available when they can get volunteers to staff it. Learn all about the Harvey Girls and how Mr. Harvey got started with his fine restaurants along the railroad lines. Boy did he make a great business deal! The girls were paid very well, got a chance to get off the farm, and found husbands. They had to sign contracts to not marry or give up half their accrued pay. They lived in a dorm on the property. They had secret codes passed with the position of coffee cups on the tables so they knew what each customer wanted to drink before they got there. Orders were taken aboard the trains and wired ahead so patrons had time to eat before their trains pulled back out.  Originally men were hired but after finding all the men at one restaurant had gotten drunk the night before and failed to show up for work, Mr.Harvey switched to women, many of them school teachers off for the summer months or farm girls.

I went outside town to see remaining ruts of wagons headed west along the Santa Fe Trail. It takes a human eye to spot them with all the overgrowth so pictures don’t do it justice but you can see where the trail cut into the sides of the hills and there’s a failed attempt at irrigation.

For the party hounds out there, a couple of local hangouts have street dancing long into the night during Dodge City Days. For others, there is quite a bit of cash given out as prizes near the end of the festival thanks to Wendy’s. Everyone gathers at the local civic center in hopes of their pin numbers being called. There is also a world class rodeo in town during the festival. Pay a couple bucks more to be in the covered section and either bring a stadium chair or rent one for a couple bucks there. I booked my ticket online very easily and got my choice of seats. The food is pretty good there and they have really cheap fare one night there at the rodeo with your Dodge City Days pin and over in the park on another day. The parking was easy enough on open grass with men on horses as attendants.

For lots more pics click here.

I was very surprised at how nice Osage Cove Campground is. It is right on Kaw Lake and has excellent sites that are very long, have BBQs, prep tables as well as picnic tables, firepits, and electric. I was able to find a site in the clear for my satellite dish. A dump station and water are nearby. Swimming is available at a beach. This is a great park and I have heard many of these are just as nice. I would definitely stay there again and in other such parks.

Heading into Branson, be ready for steep hill driving. Even without the trailer attached, the hills of Branson make driving a challenge. Everything inside the car slides here and there. Per everyone I have spoken to who has been there, I avoided taking the trailer through downtown. It is no place for RVs. I stayed on the 65 past the Escapees park, Turkey Creek,  in Hollister then got off and came back up to it. Like all Escapees parks, I was met with hugs and how-do-you-dos. They gave me a great spot near the front so I was close to the wifi which is provided by Tengo for a charge. My new aircard I bought off Ebay to replace my dead card was to arrive the next day care of general delivery.  The park is right on a creek that runs into the nearby lake and has a boat ramp. In the clubhouse is tons of brochures on everything you could possibly want to see while there and the park gave me some free tickets and discount coupons for some shows. They served a nice pork chop dinner one night with the most excellent pudding and also got one of the Branson Mall entertainers to come in one night to sing the songs of Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Englebert Humperdink, etc. He was pretty good. The park also provides cable TV and a jam session one night a week.

The first thing I did after arriving and setting up camp, was run up the 76 through town to the Titanic museum. They gave me a boarding pass of someone who was on Titanic which included the name and background of that person. At the end of the tour we would find out if we lived or died. They have a big sheet of ice you can touch on the way in to set the mood. Inside they have lots of pictures of the building of the ship, original plans, items from the ship, and info on life aboard for the different classes. The ships bridge was well done and stepping out onto the deck you can feel the  cold of that night. Sit in the life boats and feel how large they were though most were launched half-empty and listen to the talk of the panicked crew and passengers. Many passengers refused to get in the boats because they honestly believed the hype that the ship was unsinkable and thought the captain was just being too cautious.  It was very cool standing on the grand staircase though they didn’t allow picture taking in the museum so no pictures of it. The outside of the museum is very well done and you can control a camera on the web to view it at http://www.titanicbranson.com/titanic_webcam.php . And good news! I was a first-class passenger who did survive.

Now before doing anything else, I studied up on the alternate route system through Branson. The 76 is the main street through where most of the shows and things to do are located hence it is also extremely crowded. Thank goodness I did too. Showtime is the worst time to be driving in Branson. Don’t even think about driving the main route from one side of town to the other then. Use the alternates and do go out of the way to go around downtown if you have to get to the other side during showtime.

I went to a wonderful dinner show called Island Fire at the Duttons Theater. While most of the shows in Branson are very good, this one was my favorite because it was different from any other. They served a wonderful polynesian dinner followed by a polynesian show with music and dancing from the islands (Samoa, Hawaii, etc.) I liked the pre-show previews on the large screens, the emcee was perfect, the dancers were very talented, and the whole layout of the show going from one island style to the next was excellent. I enjoyed them playing around with video cameras on the audience during intermission and superimposing sunglasses and hair or licking dinosaurs on us. They sell a DVD of  the show you attended afterwards. I bought an island fan and serapi during intermission for those hot days when I’m relaxing around my trailer home. The serapi is very comfortable and can be worn numerous ways. Go see this show when in Branson!

My next dinner show was aboard the showboat Bransonbelle. Good food, good entertainment, and a cruise around the lake all combined. It isn’t cheap but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone. I chose the cheapest fare with dining in the main room rather than above it or in the Paddlewheel Club and it was just fine. The view of the stage was great from there too. After dinner, we got 20 minutes to walk about the boat and go up on top to meet the captain or watch the other boaters and ski jets. It was a beautiful day on the lake with lots of sunshine and activity. The show included singing 50 award winning songs and a magician.

I took some time to go see Dick’s 5 and 10. It is very old and loaded with both souvenirs and everyday items for the townsfolk. There’s a Bass Pro store just down the road as well that is always busy.

For my third show, I went to see the Dutton’s at the Dutton’s Theater. You get half off by the way if you present your Island Fire ticket. I had heard they were really good and I was not disappointed. The whole family performs from parents to kids to spouses to grandkids. They all play up to 6 instruments and even play them behind their backs or while held by the person next to them. OMG! They threw in some classical for us as well as country and of course some comedy. It was a very nice touch when Mom came out to talk to us for a bit and tell anecdotes about them. The best was when the little grandkids did some of the Wizard of Oz with costumes and scenery. The young fella who played the Cowardly Lion has to have seen the movie because he nailed the Lion perfectly. Rrrruff! He had us laughing like crazy every time he growled during his song. It’s a wonderful show with a very talented next generation coming up and certainly another must see.

There is plenty more to see and do such as the Ducks car/boat tours, Six, Jim Stafford, the Osmonds, Silver Dollar City theme park, waterparks, etc. I left plenty to come back for and will definitely stay at Turkey Creek RV Park again.

I did get the new aircard while there so that was a big relief with more choices in campgrounds again though I still try to stay in those with wifi available when I can. I also had to replace another tire on the trailer while there due to one losing air constantly and being old anyway.

For more pics, click here.

I first drove back south to Bowling Green to see Lost River Cave by boat tour. I very much enjoyed the boat and ducking to slide the boat under the entrance. It was sooooo cool in the cave on a very hot day. Morgan’s Raiders used the cave to hide out during the Civil War and Jesse James may have also used it to hide out after a bank robbery. Locals have always used it to stay cool and party in it’s ballroom at the entrance. A walk along the paths outside past the blue holes and butterfly house is interesting. They even have some geocaches there and are kind enough to provide both information on geocaching and a Magellan Explorist 200 handheld gps device already programmed for the caches.  It was my first chance at using  a handheld since I use my car gps device for hunting normally. Maybe it’s a matter of familiarity but I still prefer my Garmin C330 car gps. I found 3 including a travel ingot/bug, a change purse, and a winner’s medal.

I ate at White Castle before heading back just to see what the big deal is with their hamburgers. The look of the bun and the small size did not appeal to me (Size matters, at least when it comes to hamburgers!) but the burger did taste very good. I still would not spend a whole night going through everything Harold and Kumar did to get one. Get a life!

Later in the week I went to Mammoth Cave National Park. Naturally, I got my park passport stamped. Good thing I am leaving this region since my passport is full for it. The park is so busy that I highly recommend getting tickets for cave tours over the internet in advance so you can get on a tour when you want. There are many tours to choose from for all different levels. I chose the shorter tours. I would love to have done the lantern and historic tours but 2 miles and more each was just too much for me. I did the Self-Discovery tour first which was very easy due to the wide paved paths. For the New Entrance tour, I had to hop their bus to the entrance. We descended down a series of scaffolds 260 feet. It was awesome! There were fewer stairs going up and not that bad since they were not all at once. We had 3 stops along the way through the cave for rest and ranger questions. We only saw a small amount of the cave when you consider it is over 367 miles long (explored that is, possibly 600 miles long), the longest cave in the world. On one of the tours you can see the remains of huts built for tuberculosis patients for a health experiment a doctor tried a long time ago and you can see candle writing on the ceiling where people including civil war soldiers signed their names and date. It was definitely worth the visit. Be advised they want to know exactly what is going in the cave to protect it so you may not bring in bags of any kind including backpacks, purses, or even camera bags.

I also geocached in the area. I found a virtual cache in the park which was the grave of Floyd Collins, famous cave explorer who died nearby in Sand Cave. I also found a nice fat ammo can along the road with great stuff. I traded out a shark’s tooth, a geocaching postcard from Wisconsin, dropped my travel ingot in, and took a new travel bug out to take back west for fun.

On the way home, I stopped at the Alpine Slide for a nice ski lift ride up the mountain and a slide down as I had done in South Dakota. It’s fast and fun. You control the speed.

Other things to do here are Dinosaur World, horseback riding, GunMountain theme park with can-can dancers and gunfights, other caves, Kentucky Down Under australian theme park, Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace, Beech Bend amusement park, and more. Fort Knox is north about 50-60 miles. Kentucky Downs is around 50 miles down by the Kentucky-Tennessse border at exit 2 off the I65.

For more pics click here.