Sunday, July 20, 2014

Vacation 2014 - Day 5

Our next stop was Chattanooga and Rock City. We have never been there. It was old and kitchy, so it had to get on the list. It was cute and I was amazed at how they fit so much into that space. We enjoyed the walk, the scenery, the foliage and the gnomes. 






























After the morning roaming Rock City we found a place to have BBQ finally. Hillbilly Willie BBQ was good. I expected something more back woods from the description. The BBQ was good and the spicy sauce made my mouth tingle. We had the coke cake for desert, which we rarely get desert. I was hopped up on sugar for hours.


We ended up traveling to a few more Harley-Davidson dealers for poker chips and ended up in Georgia by night. I think we were very road weary. 




Sunday, July 13, 2014

Vacation 2014 - Day 4

We left the Wigwam Motel and went down the road to one of the few place for breakfast, The Watermill Restaurant in Cave City, KY. Home cooking and inexpensive. I got a call from work and felt like a traveling business woman. It was also strange because you can smoke in the restaurant. That is strange to me since in Florida that is not allowed. It is nice to eat without smoke or walking into a funky building.


We had made reservations online at Mammoth Cave since the website suggested it, especially in the busy summer months. We got there early since we had been going to bed at a decent hour and waking early all vacation. We drove around the side roads since we had an hour until our scheduled 10 am tour.


http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm


We chose the Historical tour. We figured 2 hours and 2 miles with the background of the cave would be good for our first ever visit. There was a large group of people. We walked down the entrance shown above. Then we were in the room pictured below.


We went through a long and sometimes small parts of the cave. This is where we climbed up towards the end of the tour.


I didn't take many pictures because it was so dark and there is no flash photography allowed. But here are a few.



The ground



Our tour guide gave the history of how the cave was charted and its ties to slaves. At the end of the tour he explained he is a decent of the original slaves. I looked up the NY Times article he mentioned at the beginning of the tour. Reading it and his personal story made the tour all the more fascinating.

Here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/travel/in-kentucky-a-family-at-the-center-of-the-earth.html?_r=0

The husband and I were worn out by the time we came out of the cave. By then it was lunch time. We headed to the closest place on our way towards Tennessee again. Using my trusty google maps I found a BBQ place just outside the National Park in the appropriately named Pig, Kentucky.


Porky Pig Diner was cute, country with good food and decent prices. I love trying local places while traveling. If I am ever there again I am trying a Manhattan. Gravy, meat, potatoes, it all sounds good.

Since the husband was on his new quest for Harley-Davidson poker chips we had to hit up the dealerships in Bowling Green and Nashville. I managed to get to a couple thrift stores. I found a shirt for work and a cake carrier like the one below.



We ended up searching around Murphreesboro, TN for food and lodging. We went to Chuy's. We have been to the one in Gainesville, FL a couple times. The location in Murphresboro was even better. The service was awesome. My order cam out wrong and they were on it and fixed it right away. The manager chatted with us about it and tourist spots.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Vacation 2014 - Day 3

We took the stereo typical trip to Cracker Barrel since it was near the motel. The husband isn't a fan of them but it was quiet and easy.

Then we drove to another of my Groupon deals: Museum of Appalachia.

http://www.museumofappalachia.org/


It is a cool museum with lots of building, a Hall Of Fame packed full of memorabilia and animals. When we were there a school group came right after us. We hustled through so not to get caught up with all those children. Plus it was getting hot. Cute museum with a gift shop and serves food.









While driving towards our next stop we hit a few thrift stores. KARM thrift stores popped up on my google map. We checked out a couple. I found yet another balling ball bag with a ball still in it. That brings me up to 3. I think I need to stop.



For dinner we stopped in Glascow, Kentucky and picked Colton's Steak House. It was like Texas Roadhouse back home. They give you peanuts, rolls and a heap of food with whatever you order. The waitress was great. She thought the husband was from Ohio. His New York that he thinks is Southern is quite obvious.

The husband loved the steak seasoning so much we had to buy some. Now weeks later we have used up almost the whole bottle. I haven't been able to find where to buy it online. I guess we need to go back.

Glasgow, Kentucky is not far from our next stop - Cave City, Kentucky. During this trip we had no reservations for motels. I used my phone to find motels nearby that were reasonably priced. I am getting better at it than the last vacation.


Since Cave City motels seemed to be within the same price we decided to try the Wigwam #2 Motel to see if they had a vacancy. I had read about the Wigwam when researching vacation. I figured it would be out of our price range. We try to keep it cheap. I would have camped, but the husband said he was not putting the tent up just for a night at a time. One day we will have a pop up trailer so we can get back to camping.

We lucked out and Wigwam was available. I had read about Rae's trip out west and her stay at a Wigwam HERE and was enamored and curious. It ended up being one of the best places we stayed. The Wigwam was so cute inside. The husband complained about how small every door was. He didn't even try to get into the shower. I used it and felt like the whole stay was like going back in time. I would definitely recommend Wigwam #2 and go there again.

http://www.wigwamvillage.com/

I think I took the most pictures of the Wigwam than some of our other spots.


The bathroom was so cute. It reminded me of my grandmother's bathroom.