Sleepin’ In a Concrete Wigwam

I wanted to take a short trip for Spring Break and Mammoth Cave located in Cave City, KY seemed a perfect choice.  Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world; 365 miles of it have been explored!  We took the 2 hour historic tour and it was definitely the maximum length of tour our family was capable of completing.  Ironically enough, everyone made it just fine in the most physically rigorous parts of the journey but there was a fair amount of whining during the informative lectures.  All in all, it was a lot of fun.

We drove to KY Wednesday morning and arrived around lunchtime.  After we grabbed a bite to eat, we headed over to Dinosaur World.  Dinosaur World boasts over 100 life-size dinosaur models on their walking tour.  The kids had a blast here.  Michael and I thought it was a bit goofy.  We had seen about 10 of them when Michael remarked he had never heard of a single one of them.  We began to be suspicious as to their “authenticity” and laughed out loud at some of the names.  Pretty soon, we had fun making up names of our own for them such as “Diva-saurus” (see pic. to the right)

or this one below which I like to call “Ortho-saurus” because his teeth are so nice and straight. 

One fun activity was the free fossil dig for the kids.  They were able to dig for fossils in a sand pit and take home their three favorites.  There was a dino themed playground, a museum, and a “cave” theatre that continually showed an educational dinosaur documentary.  I did not stay in there long because it smelled like an outhouse to me.  (Yes, I have been in an outhouse.  Many times.  Another story…)

Here are the kids feigning terror at the feet of a carnivorous dino ~

Below and to the right is a picture of the kids and me sitting on the feet of the “photo-saurus”. 

And now, the info you have all been waiting for:  We slept at Wigwam Village a 1930’s era theme motel where all of the rooms are concrete “wigwams”.  Most of the rooms have one double bed and a bathroom.  There are a few, however, that have two double beds.  We had two of these right next door to each other.  We slept in wigwams #9 and #10.  All of the furnishings are from the 1930’s and are in surprisingly good shape.  All wigwams have air-conditioning, cable t.v. (poor reception) and either space heaters or radiators.  The baths have the original fixtures, tiles, etc..  I saw some great art deco detailing here and there.  Our rooms were reasonably clean.  The towels and sheets were not high quality but smelled of bleach which I found very comforting.  My husband said it was just a step above camping, so if you go, be realistic.

Part of the playground equipment was very old, albeit in good shape.  It did not neccesarily meet with today’s safety standards and we found ourselves more than once saying, “Hmmm.  That looks dangerous.”  To which the other would reply, “Yep.  He or she is gonna get killed.”  To which we would in unison shout, “Get DOWN from there!”

I had wanted to do this forever.  I had a blast.  It was my goal to create a memory my kids would never forget and I am pretty sure we succeeded.

Oh, places to eat:  There were several fast food places nearby.  I like to eat healthy meals so it was a bit of a challenge for me.  The first day, we ate at Wendy’s where a girl can find something reasonably healthy if she sets her mind to it.  For dinner that night we ate at Cracker Barrel and we returned to Cracker Barrel for breakfast the next morning where I had oatmeal with sugar free maple syrup (how do they do that anyway?) and pecans.  On the side I had one egg beater and a turkey sausage. 

Oh, and coffee.  Lots of coffee.

Well, that’s the scoop.  So, if you live anywhere near Cave City, KY give it a try!