The United States is blessed with some of the most amazing natural wonders. One of these is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Mammoth Cave is mammoth in that it is the longest cave in the world – a total of 412 miles of underground passageways. It was one of the first tourist attractions in the United States. Mammoth Cave was designated as a National Park on July 1, 1941 but the cave has been explored for some 4,000 years. Yes, there is evidence of exploration from that long ago. When the cave was designated as a National Park there were only 40 miles of surveyed passages. Today there are 396 miles of surveyed passages and the number is growing.

There are a number of Ranger-Led tours of the cave. Some are short and on paved pathways with handicapped accessibility. Some are unique, such as lantern tours where your only light source are candle lanterns like those used by the early explorers. There is even the Wild Cave Tour where you have to get down on your belly and slither through openings in the rock that are extremely tight (way too much for this claustrophobia sufferer!). We chose to take the Grand Avenue Tour, four miles in about four and a half hours. This tour began at the Carmichael Entrance and ended at the Frozen Niagara Entrance. This was a physically demanding tour with tough climbs and lots of geological variety. There was no flash photography allowed in the cave, so please excuse me if some pictures are slightly out of focus.

The Carmichael Entrance

An outlet from the Wild Cave Tour – pretty tight!

Some of the early explorers left their names and messages behind with the soot from the candle and carbide lamps.

At one point in the cave’s history there was an underground cafeteria where tourists could stop, relax, and have lunch.

The flowstone of the Frozen Niagara is aptly named

From Mammoth Cave we drove to Granger, IN to visit one of Pat’s high school classmates. We had a great visit, but, alas, I forgot to take any pictures 😦

We were very close to South Bend and we rode our bikes into the campus of Notre Dame. This is probably the prettiest college campus I have ever visited. As we rode through campus we saw students engaged in club activities or just relaxing on the lawns, enjoying a warm, sunny day.

The University of Notre Dame was founded in November 1842 by Rev. Edward F. Sorin, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a French missionary order. Notre Dame has grown from the vision of Father Sorin. Notre Dame has been a place where the Catholic Church could do its organizational thinking.

We walked into one building that we thought was a cathedral, only to discover it was the main administrative building, how appropriate for a private Catholic university. The view of the dome from inside the building was amazing. All of the buildings reflect this same European religious architecture.

We did find the chapel but there was a mass in progress and we could only view the outside of the building.

Of course you can’t visit Notre Dame without seeing the football stadium where the gates are named for some if its more famous coaches.

On April 29^th we crossed into Michigan. It’s always good to come home!