We left the campsite early to head back to Mammoth Cave for
our second tour – Domes and Dripstones. This time we were bussed to the “new
entrance”, created with dynamite by an oilman called George Morrison. Caves
were a big and profitable industry, so he purchased land with a sinkhole, and
blasted out the sinkhole to create an entrance to the cave.
The new entrance traverses vertically done via 280 winding
and narrow stairs. Twisting and turning, we climbed down a series of domes to
arrive at a small hall for a break. Then it was a fairly easy climb to Frozen
Niagara Falls, the dripstone section of the cave, then out via another entrance
for the bus back.
Driving on, we made good time to Bowling Green and the
National Corvette Museum.
The museum had a fascinating story that we were not
expecting. In Feb 2012, (fortunately in the early hours of the morning), a
giant sinkhole opened up in their main display hall, swallowing up eight of their
most unique and irreplaceable cars, including the 1992 “1 Millionth” Corvette. Only
three of the cars were repairable, the rest crushed. The recovery and rebuild
process was all included in the interactive displays, and there is even a glass
covered hole in the floor so visitors can see into the 30 foot deep sinkhole,
and tape on the floor marking the sinkhole edges and also the outline of the
much bigger cave that was exposed by the hole.
We also followed the history of the Corvette, from the first
model in 1953 through to the present. They don’t have vehicles from every year
on show but do have concept cars and info about the design process.
We found an RV Park next to a closed-up amusement park, with
an old wooden rollercoaster. Sadly, it was next to the drag strip and the races
went at full volume until nearly midnight.
http://fms.ws/176Px9/37.02252N/86.39493W
No comments:
Post a Comment