At the end of a week of adventure, all three of us were ready to take things a bit slower on Wednesday, so we searched for a few letterboxes near our route, including one on a trail near Mammoth Cave that we had missed on our way north.  The insect factor was high, so we skipped the box on another trail nearby because Ken was the only one who prepared by wearing Permethrin-treated clothes.  Steven and I offered to slackbox in the air-conditioned car while Ken retrieved the box from the other trail, but strangely he declined.
     
Remembering the great meal (and especially the dessert) we had at the Tex-Mex Chuy's in Bowlng Green, we stopped there for lunch on the way back south.  Steven and I could hardly eat our lunch in anticipation of the creamy goodness of the tres leches cake.
     

Chuy's Tres Leches

When it finally arrived, it was just as wonderful as we remembered, delectable without being overly rich.  Soaked in a mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream, the sponge cake and topping are drizzled with caramel and crowned with fresh strawberries.  Like before, the portion size was huge, more than enough for the three of us.
     
Before we reached Franklin, we calculated that Steven was very close to his 100th letterbox find.  The last box of the day was Two Scoops, Please, a terrific Cheekee Monkey carve outside the Pied Piper Creamery, an independent ice cream shop in Berry Hill.  Just in case it was the 100th, and we thought there was a good chance it was, we celebrated with an ice cream cone.
     

F-100!  Hooray!

Over the course of the last few miles between the creamery and Steven's home in Franklin, we discovered that his first letterboxing anniversary would fall on the following day.  The coincidence was too good to pass up, so we checked and double checked on his finds, discovering that he actually needed three more to reach F100.  Ken had to be back in Atlanta the next day but I was staying on, so Steven and I braved the 105° heat on Thursday to enable him to find those last few boxes and record his F100 on his AQ-versary, the day he joined the Atlas Quest letterboxing community.  

     

It's soooo hot, but I'm still boxing!

A celebratory lunch at the Franklin Mellow Mushroom wouldn't have been complete without a chocolate brownie sundae, of course.  More sweets consumed in the last 24 hours than in the previous week!
     
On Friday, Nanamama was returning to her home in Alabama after visiting Woodie and family in Franklin for a couple of weeks.  Since he missed the last week of her visit, Steven was going with her to spend some time with her in his dad's hometown, and I was along for the ride, too.  As we moseyd south, we stopped for an occasional letterbox or to check out a barbecue restaurant.  Approaching Cullman, we began seeing signs promoting Ave Maria Grotto, a place we had long heard of but never visited.  What better day than today?
     

The miniature world at Ave Maria Grotto

Located on the grounds of St. Bernard Abbey, the only Benedictine monastery in the state of Alabama, the grotto represents the lifelong handiwork of Brother Joseph Zoetl, who served as a monk at the abbey for nearly 70 years.
     
Brother Joe was born in Bavaria and came to the abbey in 1892, where he worked in the power house.  When he was not busy shoveling coal into the furnaces, he began constructing miniature buildings from whatever materials he had.  Originally these painstaking creations were scattered in the gardens, but as the number of visitors and the size of his collection increased, the current site was carved out of a former quarry.  Today 125 small stone and cement structures line a pleasant two-block pathway.  After the grotto was opened to the public in 1934, Brother Joe's reputation spread, and the donations of materials to his project increased.  From marbles to shells to empty cold cream jars, he incorporated them all into his tiny architectural masterpieces.
     
When we finally arrived at Nanamama's house, her cat Freda was delighted to see the car pull up but had a lot to say about Nanamama staying away so long.  Having completed his task at home, Ken met us there so I would have a ride home the next day.  As we drove away Saturday morning heading toward Georgia, we could see that Steven and Nanamama were cooking up some fun plans for their time together.  No doubt she'll enjoy her time with him as much as we did.

          

WEDNESDAY, 27 JUNE—FRIDAY, 29 JUNE 2012

These two are up to something!

With its Dayton location and a collection begun in 1923, the Air Force museum's extensive gallery of flying machines from the early years came as no surprise.  The work of the Wright brothers is well-documented and a couple of their original wind tunnels are on display.  Also included is a Curtiss 1911 Model D (pictured above), the second airplane purchased by the Army Signal Corps.  An entire gallery is devoted to meticulously restored aircraft from the World War II era, both American and foreign.  

     
In the Cold War gallery, the star was clearly the Northrop B-2A Spirit, better known as the stealth bomber.  This manta ray shaped aircraft is designed with special materials, coatings and technologies to make it virtually invisible to defense radar systems.
     

Galleries in the museum are spread among three large hangars and connecting halls.  The National Aviation Hall of Fame, with its own interactive exhibits, makes its home in a facility between hangars.  Steven pronounced this a difficult museum for him to visit, as he felt compelled to take photos of every aircraft.  He obtained the last two stamp cancellations in his aviator passport for the Wilbear Wright prize, which he'll receive at home by mail.
     
At more than twice the size of Pensacola's Naval Aviation museum, the Air Force museum's collection is far superior in both breadth and depth.  However, the Navy facility includes numerous well-conceived vignettes that put the visitor in the context of where some of the aircraft were used.  For example, an authentic "ready room" on a World War II aircraft carrier lets you sit in the seats where pilots perched while listening to orders for their next mission.  The Air Force museum emphasizes such experiences less but offers plenty to keep visitors engrossed.
     
Our assessment:  we really like them both.  But you can decide for yourself.  If you don't have time to make the trips to Dayton and Pensacola, both museums offer outstanding virtual tours on their web sites.  When you have plenty of time to spend, check them out and see which you prefer.

   
After a late lunch at a Dayton-area Schlotzsky's, we followed I-75 to Cincinnati, arrivin in time for a tour of the childhood home of President William Howard Taft.  Taft lived in this comfortable home in the Mount Auburn section from his birth in 1857 until he left home as a young adult.
     

Taft childhood home

Thanks to Steven's questions, our tour guide dispelled a couple of persistent Taft myths.  A crane was not required to move the sometimes obese President's coffin into his grave at Arlington Cemetery.  And Taft did not become stuck in a clawfoot tub.  When the White House was fitted with a new tub during the Taft presidency, a false story spread suggesting that his size made the change necessary.
    
It is sad that Taft is best remembered by such references to his girth when most Presidential scholars actually rate his effectiveness in office in the top half of all Presidents.  However, he suffered the misfortune of having an administration sandwiched between two of the most highly respected Presidents in our history:  Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.  
    
What's really remarkable about this misunderstood man is the breadth of his public service.  After graduating second in his class at Yale, Taft obtained a law degree at the University of Cincinnati.  By age 34, he was a sitting judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, having already served on the Ohio Superior Court and as solicitor general of the U.S., representing the federal government in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Before his Presidency, Taft spent a term as governor-general of the Philippines and served as Roosevelt's Secretary of War.  His final public office was not the Presidency but Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, where his work to improve fairness and efficiency in the federal judicial system earned him praise from scholars and the legal community.
     
Having learned all we could from the Taft staff, we still had to plant our Ohio letterbox before leaving Cincinnati.  After all, Kentucky was just across the river.  With only a couple of false starts, we settled on Burnett Woods Park near the University of Cincinnati, finishing up just in time to follow rush hour traffic into the next state, where we continued south before settling in for the night at Lexington.
     
"I don't have to take pictures of all the planes, just the amazing ones...  But they're all amazing!"
 - Steven, at the Air Force museum

"I'm the son of a photographer.  What can I say?"
- Steven, at the Air Force museum

We tried to keep count but lost track of all the places bearing the Wright name in the Dayton area:  Wright-Patterson AFB, Wright State University, Wright Memorial Public Library, Wright Brothers Elementary School, Wilbur Wright Middle School, Wright Brothers Institute, Wright Research Group, Wright Center of Innovation, Wright Field, Orville Wright Elementary School, Wilbur Wright High School, numerous streets, and on and on. You certainly can't say those inventive guys aren't remembered and honored in their hometown.

    

Wilbur (L) and Orville Wright

Like others in our clan, Steven has been nurtured on family stories about his Great-Grandmother Wright's distant cousins, Wilbur and Orville.  When we looked at a map of the midwest in planning our trip, Dayton seemed a natural choice so we could explore some of the places where these remarkable brothers had lived and experimented in the early part of last century.
     

Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center

The Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park comprises five sites associated with the Wright Brothers and Paul Laurence Dunbar, Orville's high school friend and another Dayton native son.  The NPS brochure explains the link:

"The human imagination found its highest expression in three men from Dayton, Ohio:  Wilbur and Orville Wright, first to fly a powered, heavier-than-air machine and creators of a practical airplane, and Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first African American writer to win high distinction in American literature."

Though a well-written explanation, the budgetary practicality of combining the sites was probably more of an influence in this arrangement, but it seems to work fine once you wrap your mind around Dunbar's tenuous connection to aviation.  At any rate, our first stop was the interpretive center for the national park passport stamp.  While there, we spent quite a bit of time perusing the exhibits about all three men as Steven conducted research to earn another Junior Ranger badge.  Of particular interest was the rubber-band powered helicopter toy that young Wilbur and Orville's father had brought them when he returned home from a trip.
     

The helicopter toy that sparked the Wright brothers' interest in flight

The brothers constructed and tested several copies of this toy, making it the first powered aircraft they built together.  This experience sparked an interest in flight that the brothers would rekindle in later years.  Next door to the interpretive center, which once housed the brothers' print shop, we paid a visit to the Wright Cycle Company, the fourth of five locations where they operated a bicycle manufacturing and repair shop.  Today the shop houses exhibits related to the Wright bicycle business.
     
From there we drove to the Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Park and on to Woodland Cemetery, where we visited the grave site of Wilbur and Orville.  Since neither of the brothers ever married, they are buried with their parents and younger siblings.  Wilbur once told someone that his desire to fly was the consuming passion of his life and that he "did not have time for both a wife and an airplane."
      

Wright graves at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton

Due to conflicting signals from our GPS and various street signage, we struggled to locate the NPS interpretive center at Huffman Prairie Flying Field.  We located the field itself easily using the street address provided by the NPS brochure.  Today it's part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, but in the early 1900s, the field was a 100-acre farm meadow where Orville and Wilbur could test their continuing developments on the airplane without the time and expense of a trip to Kitty Hawk.  Seeing the replica of their 1905 hangar and catapult used in testing on this natural prairie, one could imagine that they might land at any moment.
     

Huffman Prairie

At the Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center, some four miles away by road, visitors can participate in a simulation of piloting a Wright B flying machine.  It took a couple of tries before Steven completed the 3.5-minute test flight successfully without crashing to the ground or plowing through the trees. 
     
In addition to his NPS Junior Ranger badge, Steven asked this morning if he could try for a Wilbear Wright aviator teddy bear, a kids-only reward for visiting a minimum of seven of Dayton's 14 aviation-related sites (including those described above) and collecting stamps in a special aviator passport.  It sounded like fun, until we finally took a closer look at the feasibility factor as we were leaving Huffman Prairie.

       
Several circumstances had sent the challenge level soaring.  Five of the 14 listed sites were closed on Monday, leaving 9 to choose from.  Two were located in other cities, one 40 miles away, the other 60 miles.  That left 7, the minimum number.  Of course, all these seven (and the two distant sites) closed at 5 p.m.   It was 4:45, and he still needed two more stamps.  Both sites were at the same location—the National Museum of the Air Force, which was high on our list of places to see anyway.  But could we really see the museum and obtain the two needed passport cancellations in 15 minutes?  We took a vote:  Yes - 0; No - 3.  Time to regroup.  So we found a hotel in Dayton for the night, cancelled our reservation in Cincinnati and had a relaxing dinner at the hotel, planning to start our day at the museum tomorrow.  

Before starting on our aviation related sites this morning, we visited Dayton Memorial Park to search for four letterboxes hidden there, including one honoring Agnes Moorehead, the classic mother-in-law on the TV series Bewitched.  She is interred at the cemetery, and the box stamp was a terrific portrait of that talented actress.

Motorcycle marker

Unfortunately, when we rounded the back of the car at the location of the last box, Steven was tripped up by a hole, falling on an unsuspecting yellow jacket, who defended himself by stinging Steven's leg.  As you know if you've ever been victimized by one of their lance-like barbed stingers, he felt like his leg was on fire.  We treated it with a cold compress (wet wipes were a great substitute) and immediately gave him a Benedryl tablet, to which his body responded very well.  Within an hour or so, we were relieved to see that he was unable to even locate the site of the sting.  Hooray for Benedryl!

The box we were about to search for was planted in honor of a motorcycle-shaped gravestone.  Since his dad is an avid fan of motorcycles and a photographer, Steven did not want to miss the photo op.  Even as he was suffering miserable pain from the sting, he moaned, "Please take my camera and get the picture of the motorcycle!"  We did, and we  found the letterbox that inadvertently triggered this unfortunate incident.
    

MONDAY, 25 JUNE 2012

Wright Memorial on Wright Brothers Hill near Huffman Prairie

Simulating flight of a Wright B Flyer

But wait.  We saw more dinosaurs even before we entered.  Three huge alamosaurs bursting from the Dinosphere exhibit’s exterior made us eager to get inside and check out this phenomenal place.
     

As soon as we entered the multi-story welcome center, we were greeted by a mammoth size transformer.  A prop from the 2007 Transformers movie, Bumblebee was getting lots of attention from kids and adults alike.  Though this big guy was immobilized and unable to really transform, we were treated to a demonstration of a human size version of Bumblebee transforming from a car later.
     
All this, and we hadn't even reached the ticket counter yet.  For all the excitement that was obviously in store, we found the admission rates of $12.50 for youth ($16.50 for seniors) pretty reasonable.  And that was before we knew we'd be spending six hours.
     
Dinosphere was the obvious choice for our first destination.  Exhibits allowed visitors to immerse themselves in the sights, sounds and even smells of the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  Located in the museum's former IMAX theater, the exhibit makes use of the massive screen to simulate different times of day as a backdrop for the skeletal triceratops, T rexes and other critters within, most of which are displayed in active positions.
     
The Dinosphere houses one of the largest displays of real juvenile and family dinosaur fossils in the United States, as well as a functioning paleo lab, interactive stations and activities, and a great collection of dinosaur art.  A hard act to follow, but clearly this museum was up to the challenge.

How about life-size Hot Wheels?  Dubbed Hot Wheels for Real the exhibit featured rarely seen collectible Hot Wheels cars and amazing life-size versions of iconic favorites.  There was even a diamond-encrusted Hot Wheels car (small size) valued at $140,000.
     

Steven with the full size Twin Mill (not street legal, a sign informed)

As in other sections of the museum, interactive opportunities abounded including decorating a life-size VW Beetle Hot Wheels replica or racing the little cars on 6-ft tall winding, looping tracks.  Like most of the other areas, this exhibit was hard to tear ourselves away from, but there was so much more to see.
     

The LEGO Travel Adventure section had dozens of models of various types of vehicles built from LEGOs, from stagecoaches to rocket ships, even a life-size model of an Indy race car.  After marveling over how they crafted these miniature transportation types from plastic bricks, Steven and I had a chance to try our hands as we participated in a family travel adventure challenge. 
     

Our LEGO adventure vehicle

Each group of participants in the challenge was given a tub of LEGO parts and 15 minutes to create a vehicle that would meet three criteria provided by the leader.  Our vehicle would be used in Australia, where it needed to dive off the Great Barrier Reef, haul collected rock and shell samples, and transport them across 1,000 miles of desert. We threw in the tree for extra fuel across the desert.
     
Then the interactivity ratcheted up to a new level.  At the rock wall, kids were given a brief lesson in rock climbing, strapped into a helmet and harness, and told to scale the rock wall.  This was not one of those walls with artificial footholds.  Only cracks and small protrusions were available to use on the natural style wall.
     

Steven scrambles up.  What is he gripping?

At some point during the day, we visited the museum's food court, which actually provided healthy choices for kids and adults.  Our six plus hours were filled with wonder and awe, and we all agreed that this museum would be hard to beat for interactivity and both the quality and quantity of exhibits.  Some of our other favorites were the hall of mirrors, the glass sculpture activity room, and the water clock.

Ceiling of the glass sculpture activity room (and base of a 40-ft sculpture)

Other exhibits we enjoyed included simulated archaeological sites featuring the tomb of an Egyptian pharoah, China's terra cotta warriors, and a Caribbean shipwreck.  Another area allowed visitors to "experience" modern-day Egypt from the airplane landing in Cairo to visiting homes.  The Power of Children section used multimedia effectively to relate the stories of Ryan White, Anne Frank, and Ruby Bridges as examples of the differences children can make in influencing the world. 

Leaving reluctantly as the doors were about to be locked, we considered what it might be like to spend the night inside.  Realizing it wasn't possible, we left Indianapolis and I-65 behind as we headed east on I-70 toward Dayton, OH, where we'll visit some historic aviation sites tomorrow.

Along the way, we realized that we still needed to plant our Indiana letterbox and find at least one box in the state this year.  We left the interstate at New Castle and visited Memorial Park, where we completed both our letterboxing tasks before stopping at the local Subway for dinner and heading off to Dayton.

"This museum was made to impress!"  —Steven

     

The races didn't begin until 12:45, so we checked out a couple of drive-by lettterboxes before heading over to the twin spires.  Opened in 1875, Churchill Downs is most famous as home of the annual Kentucky Derby.  Held on the first Saturday in May since that opening year, the race caps a two-week festival and attracts the rich and famous who usually appear in fine attire.  At other times of the year, the track hosts other thoroughbred races, and the dress code is significantly relaxed, a relief for us since we left our big floppy hats, frilly dresses, and seersucker suits at home.

     
When we arrived at the track, the sparsely populated parking lot suggested that today might be a slow day in terms of attendance.  As soon as we paid our $3.00 fee and parked, an attendant in a golf cart picked us up to deliver us to the gate.  We usually decline such offers but for some reason, we accepted—and we were glad we did.  He kindly gave us two $10 admission passes.  Because Steven is under 12 years old, he was admitted free.  After we ponied up $2.00 for a copy of the official racing program, we had invested a total of five dollars for our day at the races.  Not bad!
     

Studying the odds

With Ken's limited knowledge of horse racing from TV, we were able to figure out the program and each of us picked our choices to win, place and show in each race.  Steven and Ken perused the odds and history of the horses provided in the program to make their choices, while I gave more weight to great names.  (Even with 20-1 odds, how could a horse named Luckie Chuckie lose?)  Steven was a little disappointed to learn that we would not be placing bets on our choices at the windows, but we all put one dollar in a pool with the agreement that the one among us with the most horses placing would take the pot.
     
We made our plans to stay for the first three races and then move on up the road toward Indianapolis.  After finding our seats in the grandstands, which were virtually empty, we wondered whether we'd hear the traditional bugle call to the post or whether it might be played only at the Kentucky Derby.  Sure enough, about eight minutes before the first race was to begin, we heard that familiar sound, just as Steven was talking about it.  The timing was uncanny, and it maybe should have tipped us off to his trackside savvy.
     
In the first race, both Ken and Steven picked all three horses correctly, in the order of their finish!  (Too bad we hadn't really bet on them.)  I had two of the winning horses, but despite his cute name, Bling Boy, my third choice, came in near the back of the pack.  We had just enough time for lunch from the food court before the second race began.  In that race and the third, Steven had two correct picks, while Ken and I had one each.
     
Three races down, and we were all having so much fun, we decided to stay for a few more.  Finally in race number 4, my strategy paid off when American Kitty (such a cute name!) came in first, just as I had predicted.  At the end of four races, our scores (number of correct guesses) were:  Steven, 9; Ken, 5, and Dianne, 6.
     

Churchill Downs paddock

After the fourth race, we went down to the paddock area where the horses are brought before their race.  Here they're saddled and mounted to be led to the track.  Serious gamblers could be overheard commenting about which horse had lost weight, which jockey looked a little tired, and other concerns before they ran off to the window to make their final bets before the race began.
     

Jockey Miguel Mena on Sweet Jody

It was at the paddock where, with a closer look, we really appreciated how small in stature the jockeys are.  Each of the races had a weight limit for what the horse could carry, varying today from 116 to 125 pounds, including jockey and equipment.  What skill they must have to control a 1,200 pound horse moving at 40 miles an hour!
     
Since the attendance was so light, we were able to move around to different parts of the stands and watch the races from a variety of perspectives, including at the track fence near the finish line.  By the time we finally left, our three races had stretched into seven.  Steven's pony-picking acumen paid off and he won our little betting pool with 13 of the top 21 horses.  Ken was second with 9, and I barely placed with 7.
     
Before leaving we had an opportunity to chat with Franklin, a former jockey and trainer.  After he told us of some of the injuries he experienced during his career (broken neck, back, legs, arms, and even eye socket—not all at the same time), his wife of 38 years expressed how happy she was when he retired.  They both work for the track now in much less hazardous roles.
     
Not knowing what to expect when we arrived, we were all a little surprised at how much fun we had in our day at the races.  Heading north on our old friend I-65, we stopped for the night at Columbus, Indiana, ready to spring into Indianapolis tomorrow.
     
In our planning session last night, we checked out the top attractions in Indianapolis.  We had been thinking about a tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but when Steven saw that Indy has the world's largest kid's museum, widely ranked as the best in the U.S., he asked if that might not be a good choice.  Well, why not?  Dinosphere, here we come!     

• 40,000 trees harvested for bats annually
• 10% of logs judged adequate for MLB bats
• 5 weeks the wood dries in a kiln
• 1,800,000 wooden bats made annually
• 5,000 regular bats made each day
• 5,000 mini-bats made daily
• 120 bats MLB players order each season     

Checking the specs

Louisville Slugger is the largest provider of bats to Major League Baseball with more than 50 percent of big-leaguers using the company's lumber.  As in years past, all major league bats are custom-made to the individual player's specifications.  For more than 100 years, this was done by hand.  With today's technology and computer-driven lathes, the carving time for a custom bat has been reduced from 20 minutes to 40 seconds.  Of course that doesn't include the branding, lacquering, etc.
     
After watching all those bats being made, how could one not be inspired to pick one up and take a few swings?  To satisfy this urge, the museum added Bud's Batting Cage where visitors can hit with replica bats of legends like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams or current superstars.
     

Trying out some fast pitches

Another fun exhibit was the Grand Slam Gallery, where visitors (wearing the gloves provided) are allowed to hold (but not swing) Louisville Slugger bats that were actually used by some of baseball’s greatest hitters–past and present–including Mickey Mantle, Cal Ripken Jr, Derek Jeter and Johnny Bench.
     

Derek Jeter got some great hits off this bat.

In another part of the Home Run Gallery is a Louisville Slugger bat Babe Ruth used in 1927.  He carved a notch in the bat for every home run he hit with the bat that historic season.  That was the year that the Bambino smashed a record 60 home runs in 154 games.  His mark stood until 1961 when Roger Maris hit 61 homers in 163 games.
     

Babe's bat

There are 21 notches carved along the top of the oval logo.  This bat model was developed by Lou Gehrig.  Measuring 35.5 inches and weighing 40 ounces, it was made from hickory.
     
As most baseball players know, every bat has what is called a "sweet spot."  An exhibit in the museum explained this concept to those of us not familiar with the term.  Hitting a baseball directly on the "sweet spot" of a bat gives you the most energy exchange from the bat into the ball.  Make contact anywhere else on the bat, and energy is wasted.
     
According to the exhibit, aluminum bats have a larger area around the sweet spot that is more forgiving than wooden bats.  So, it's easier to get a hit with an aluminum bat because you don't have to make contact exactly on the sweet spot.  With either aluminum or wood, if you grip the handle of a bat loosely near the knob and tap along its barrel, you can detect the sweet spot.  When you tap that point where there is no vibration and you hear a totally different sound, you've found the sweet spot.
     
After a few hours at Louisville Slugger, we had a great lunch at PF Chang's and drove to Cave Hill Cemetery to find a few letterboxes.  While there, we saw a woman carrying pruning shears and garden gloves approaching the shrub where we had found our last box.  Though Ken and Steven thought she might be a letterboxer, her equipment convinced me that she was just there to do a bit of trimming.
     
As we were searching for our next box, we learned the truth.  The "gardener" drove up in her car and stopped next to us.  "Did you find the letterbox?" she asked.  We had, and we chatted with her for a few minutes, learning that her trail name was Morganstar and she was there to check on a couple of boxes planted by her sister, PuppyPaws.  Unfortunately, she had not anticipated needing her letterboxing gear, so we were not able to exchange signature stamps with her but we enjoyed meeting her all the same.
     
Back at the hotel, Ken and Steven went to work out in the fitness room.  Ninety minutes later, I found one of them drenched with perspiration.  Steven had been running on the treadmill while Ken walked.  That was only the beginning of the boy's passion for hotel workout rooms.
     
Later, he discovered the bargain of the day when we had dinner at a nearby California Pizza Kitchen restaurant.  Perusing the kids menu, he found a chocolate sundae (adult size) for $1.00!
     
FRIDAY, 22 JUNE 2012

     
Yesterday's high-octane excitement was a hard act to follow, so we decided to go underground today and just chill.  With a high temp of 95° in the forecast, Mammoth Cave National Park's cool subterranean hiking trails promised relief from the oppressive heat.
     
We opted for the two-hour/two-mile guided Historic Tour with a 300-ft elevation change.  As soon as we were within 100 feet of the cave entrance, we could feel the cool air reaching out to beckon us below.  Once inside we were treated to natural air conditioning that provided a welcome respite from the day's oven-like conditions.
     
As its name suggests, Mammoth Cave in central Kentucky is the largest known cave system in the world with more than 390 miles of explored cave passageways, all carved over the last ten million years by the what is now called the Green River.  After winding our way through the cave's dimly lit passages, including the tight squeeze at Fat Man's Misery, and down and up more than 400 stairs, we emerged back into the light (and heat) of day.  Having seen this amazing phenomenon, which has been designated a World Heritage Site, we had to hike the short trail down to pay homage to the river that had created this massive system of caverns.  The river was attractive—and green—but it certainly did not look as powerful as we expected it would.
     
Although Mammoth Cave was formed long before the United States came into being, the national park concept was conceived in the U.S.  While the concept of setting aside land for wilderness preservation had been discussed previously, the United States established the first national park for this purpose, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. 
     
Steven had experienced other national parks when he visited California with his family a few years ago so this wasn't his first NPS experience.  Today he began documenting his visits by carrying his own National Park Service passport.
     

He's got a passport, and he knows how to use it.

After leaving Mammoth Cave, we headed north toward Louisville.  To give that passport a little more use, we stopped at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Hodgenville, KY.  As soon as we entered, Steven headed to the passport stamps.  One of the park rangers saw him and recruited him to join the Junior Ranger program.  He dived into the requisite task immediately, tracking down information about the Lincoln family in the exhibits.  With less than an hour before closing time, he knew haste was essential.  The rangers were amazed when he returned so quickly with his activity book completed.  They checked his work and administered the Junior Ranger oath, in which he promised to explore, learn about, and protect the Lincoln Birthplace park.
     

Lincoln Birthplace's Junior Ranger Steven and Ranger Menge

Once that was done, we had just a few minutes left to visit the cabin.  Steven was understandably confused when we left the visitor center and followed the signs pointing to the cabin representative of the Lincoln birthplace.  He made no pretense of being knowledgeable about architecture, but he was clearly having a difficult time with what he was seeing.
     

"That's supposed to be a cabin?"

Of course, when we entered the memorial building, he saw the cabin that is preserved inside.  A flurry of controversy about the cabin's origin arose in the early twentieth century but was never resolved.  Finally in 2004, technology was available to determine that the cabin is definitely 39 years too young to be Lincoln's birthplace. 
     

The "Lincoln Birthplace" representative cabin

Since the cabin was from the area and close to the era, the park service maintains it so visitors can view a cabin similar to the one in which the 16th president was born at this spot in 1809.  Having visited the heart of the memorial, we had just enough time left to slip a few yards down a trail and log into a letterbox at the park.  Then we were off to Louisville, where we'll check out another product made in the USA tomorrow.