After my Dad and Julia left we continued to do a lot of unpacking and organizing. It's hard to feel motivated to be settled when you don't know how long you will be living somewhere.
Paul had a couple of weeks before he started work and so we tried to make the most of our time by getting out and exploring. These are a couple photos from our first trip "up to the mountains." We stopped in Nederland, the first town you get to after going up Boulder Canyon. We found a sandwich shop with good Yelp Reviews and a view of the creek and talked with the person at their local visitor center who gave us a bunch of maps and brochures. Then we loaded back up into the car and hit the highway north towards Estes Park.
My two favorite people.
Mountain peeking out!
Highway 72 (which turns into Hwy 7) is knows as the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway. It takes you right into the mountains, the continental divide and you really feel like you are driving at the edge of the world. It's really beautiful, but that's an understatement. And of course I like to geek out about the history of the area. I feel like I barely scratched the surface of Chesapeake Bay history when we lived there, and now I am jumping forward 100 years to the pioneers and gold mining. So many interesting stories to learn.
We found our way into Estes Park, which is sort of the gateway into Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't go into RMNP, but parked and walked around Estes Park, had some ice cream, bought a book on Colorado wildflowers, then took the faster freeway route back to Boulder.
Ice cream break in Estes Park
Driving through the mountains you see the endless possibilities for exploration and we are so excited to get out there and experience it!
Well, we started the morning refreshed from our night in hotel beds (well, I was refreshed because Lucia slept in Paul's bed and I got a queen bed to myself! - the "perks" of having spent all day in the car with her :-)) We hit the road fairly early, again, not sure how far we would actually get today, but hoping to definitely cross into Colorado.
Another day on the road, she is an old pro.
Cool moth at a truck stop
When you drive cross-country you are reminded of where all the crap you get at Wal-Mart, Target, etc...comes from. A real, live person drives it to you! I used to work at a trucking company, and I've got a soft spot for those rough guys (and gals)!
Saw quite a few of these in Kansas and Colorado.
Nothing like leftover pizza in the car so we don't have to stop for lunch! She didn't complain!
Kansas. Although, surprisingly not as flat as the Eastern Shore :-)
We totally did see this sign when we crossed into Colorado, but were too focused on making progress to stop and recognize our accomplishment. Source: www.colorado.gov
We kept checking in with each other over the radio, and initially were aiming for Limon, Colorado.
We hit the scariest storm EVER between Limon (after deciding not to stop there) and Louisville. Couldn't see the road in front of us for a few minutes, everyone crawled to a stop. I was praying to not see a tornado.
But we arrived safely, and now that we had internet, Lucia could play the games that required Wifi, that she had wanted to play in the car but couldn't.
This day of driving is really just a blur of sky, wind turbines and feeding Lucia snacks and movies. We made it to Limon for "dinner" and decided to press on to Louisville (a more affordable suburb between Denver and Boulder) that put us within 20 minutes of Boulder the next morning. Our plan was to drop us and the truck off and scope out where our unit was and park the truck accordingly, then Paul would go get the keys and my Dad and Julia (who were already in town) would meet us to start unpacking. We were too exhausted to really let it sink in that we were almost there. All in all we clocked 10.5 hours in the car today, which was by far our longest day of driving.
Google took us through some country roads to get from Mammoth Cave NP to the interstate. We really enjoyed our time in Kentucky, despite the humidity. Mammoth Cave is a busy National Park for its size, but we would definitely recommend checking it out if you have an opportunity to go. The campsites were really nice, the tours were well done, the visitor center is nice (and air conditioned).
Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri = 6+ hrs
Headed towards the interstate
Lucia settles in for a long day in the car
Didn't realize it until we compiled all our photos but Paul and I both took pictures of this nuclear power plant during our short time in Indiana (seen from the bridge crossing the Ohio River).
The rain finally caught up to us just west of St. Louis
Gnarly looking storm clouds.
I had randomly chosen a hotel off the freeway in Columbia. Not five minutes after checking into our hotel (after fantasizing about taking a hot shower all day in the car), there was a tornado warning. Everyone in the hotel, and a group of softball players and parents from a nearby field all crowded into the interior laundry room of the hotel. Uh, it was pretty darn scary.
Things calmed down enough to smile about it and snap a photo in the laundry room. We went out to the car to get our luggage and then not five minutes after getting our luggage upstairs, there was another tornado warning, so we went back downstairs.
Just hanging out in the hotel laundry room, nbd.
We finally got our showers and pizza...and they were both amazing.
We also got to talking over dinner about the next day and how far we thought we could go. Our original plan was to stay the night in Kansas, then enter Colorado on Monday, the day that we could get our apartment keys. But the more we though about it, the more we wanted to get as close to Boulder as we could so that we could start unloading the truck as early on Monday as possible. We went to bed that night, not really knowing what the next day would bring.
I was the first one awake in the tent, so I sneaked out to do some solo birdwatching around the campground. I was hearing so many new birds and was dying to see them! Indulge me for a minute with some birds. Here is the list of the birds I was able to successfully identify:
Red Headed Woodpecker (Very exciting for me as it was a first sighting. They have them in Maryland but I was never able to spot one at Blackwater).
Red Bellied Woodpeckers (including a juvenile being fed by parents. I've seen these plenty of times, but never a juvenile - and I never get tired of seeing these beautiful birds).
Pileated Woodpecker (again, I have seen these at Blackwater where they were knocking huge chunks of bark off of trees, this one was doing the same, but along the base of a tree very close to me. They are huge compared to other woodpeckers).
Wood Thrush (These were all over the place at the campground. They are in the same family as Robins and exhibit very "robin-like" behavior. They aren't afraid to come right up to you in your campsite.)
After my bird wanderings I came back to camp where Paul and Lucia were already starting breakfast. We packed our food into the car for lunch and headed to the Visitor Center to see about cave tours and what else there was to do besides caves.
We bought tickets for the Historic Tour after lunch and decided to explore the exhibits at the Visitor Center and have a picnic lunch.
The audio at each exhibit was a big hit with Lucia. Did she even realize that all phones used to look like this?!
Any easy tunnel for a little girl - future spelunker!
Papa has to get in on the microscope action
Our amazing guide on the Mammoth Cave Historic Tour. He grew up near the park.
Junior Ranger in training, listening intently to instructions before entering the cave.
Looking back at the "natural" cave entrance.
The exhibits and Visitor Center were great. We had lunch in the grass and shade near the parking lot. It was around 90F and humid at the peak of the afternoon. We were genius to go on a cave tour in the afternoon because as we approached the natural entrance to the cave you could feel the cool air start to wash over you. The cave stays in the mid 50's to low 60's...the perfect way to stay cool in Kentucky in June! As you may guess, taking photos inside the cave is a challenge, but we did manage a few that sort of turned out, and they definitely don't do the cave experience justice.
It really is spectacular. And the history of the cave, the many ways it was used and exploited and the many people (slaves) that were used and exploited, was fascinating and haunting, as you stand there, seeing their names, the tools they left behind, experience the darkness. I can't even imagine.
There were many African American cave guides in the early days, many started out as slaves or came from slave families. They had a technique of "smoking" people's names into the cave wall which is what those dark letters are from. Many of these African American men were the ones doing the exploring, deep into the cave, but of course the white men who owned the cave got to name the routes or take credit for various discoveries.
There's a Tall Man's Misery too.
Staying cool!
One of the few pics that sort of turned out, you can get a sense of the scale of the cave.
After our cave tour, we were ready for some above-ground exploring of Mammoth Cave NP. The park is not very big, but it does have a lot of above ground hiking/biking trails, some backcountry camping and several rivers, including the Green River which wind their way through the park. The above-ground influences the below-ground, and vice versa. You have to experience both to understand how they work together. So, we went for a drive.
We basically cut through the middle of the park, then circumnavigated our way back to the main entrance.
The Green River Ferry, can take two cars at a time. Not quite like the huge Puget Sound ferries we are used to. Very cool.
Our happy little Ranger :-)
Yes, I wanted pictures of hay bales.
And cows.
And finally! Some Kentucky horses...and Paul wouldn't stop to take a proper photo. I'm too lazy to edit.
We circled back around to the entrance with the welcome sign.
Why not make a GIF of our photo attempts?!
Then, because I am OCD, we went around the other side of the park, because I had to know whether it looked the same or different than the part we just drove through. And I wanted to see the area where our tour guide said that his family had lived. I was again fascinated by the stories from the creation of the park and the many families that made their homes farming, or involved in the cave business in one way or another, who eventually became displaced when the National Park was established. Most homes were dismantled and the properties were allowed to return to a natural state. As we drove along, you couldn't help but look out for signs of an old road or drive, perhaps a clearing, something to give a clue to the past.
This photo is a premonition of my new obsession with wildflowers. Just wait till you see the Colorado ones.
One of the few structures in the park that pre-dates the creation of the park.
Floyd Collins, one of the early explorers. For 18 days he was trapped and rescuers tried to reach him.
After our drive, we headed back to the campsite to relax and have dinner.
Toasted garbanzos with Old Bay made for an excellent appetizer
After fire-starting successes at Shenandoah, Paul struggled to get one started in Mammoth.
Finally got enough of a fire for some s'mores action! Caving makes you hungry!
Satisfied customer.
Tomorrow our plan is to find a trail to hike in the morning, do another afternoon cave tour (stay cool!), then hang out at the campsite and get packed and organized for the next day of driving.
