day 6 - mammoth cave nation park, ky to nashville, tn

We awoke early this morning to break camp, and then went on a ranger-guided tour of Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave is the largest underground cave system in the world, and the cave was made by rushing water underground. There is still an underground river that runs through it. It was used as a tuberculosis hospital in the 1800s by a doctor who believed the cave vapors would help cure victims of the diseases (this didn't work).

The park offers a series of tours, ranging from an hour's stroll through the caverns (noted on the guide as recommended for the elderly, and people with infants) to an intense six-hour crawling experience in the subterranean depths. We were on the New Entrance tour, which lasted about two and a half hours and took us through one of the later entrances into the cave, down a long vertical shaft into several areas, including "Grand Central Station", the "Fairy Ceiling", the "Drapery Room", and the "Frozen Niagara".

Since the lightning in the cave was so dim, the pictures naturally turned out to be awful, but rest assured that the cave is much cooler than it looks in these.






After our tour, we headed to Nashville! We had lunch at a hole in the wall shack that specialized in spicy fried chicken, called Prince's Hot Chicken. While the chicken was delicious (and when they say "hot", they mean it), I enjoyed the chess pie the most. Chess pie is a Southern dessert made of eggs, butter and sugar, as well as corn syrup - very sweet and delicious.

Finally, we spent the day touring the sights and sounds of Nashville. We stopped at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum which was fun despite the fact that neither of us really knew anything about country music.

Elvis' car, painted with a coat of crushed diamonds and fish scales, and equipped with a gold-plated TV and automatic record changer

The man himself

Hank Williams shot these four squirrels, then asked a taxidermist to set them up as a band.

Elvis in the Hall of Fame

We also checked out the fake Parthenon in Centennial Park, which is essentially a life-sized replica of the Greek building. I believe it has a museum inside - it was about to close when we got there.

Afterwards, we headed to our hotel. Apparently we were pretty tired because we ended up taking a nap right in the middle of planning for dinner. Six hours later, we woke up and decided to get some burgers at a local burger chain, Steak and Shake. It was great! Very cute diner vibe, staffed by some friendly local high schoolers.

Off to Memphis and Hot Springs National Park tomorrow!