Jenyfer Matthews

There is an area of Kentucky only a few hours away from where I am currently staying that apparently has the world’s longest known cave system, with more than 390 miles explored. I’m always up for seeing something interesting so I packed up the children and set off for some weekend fun.

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Our first stop was Mammoth Cave National Park. They have big caves and several tour options, so it seemed like a natural place to start. TIP: if you should decide to visit the park yourself, book your preferred tour online. We arrived just before noon and most of the best tours were already sold out. Since we were there, we did a self led tour which was just the ticket to whet our appetites for seeing more.

I’ve never had any reason to visit Kentucky and have never given it much thought except as a place I need to pass through to get to some place else. It really is a beautiful area.

Mammoth Cave is so called because it has a really large central chamber – the scale of which is hard to appreciate in this picture. As it turns out, it is only the sixth largest chamber of caves in the area. We didn’t see the others but I was pretty impressed by this one so I can only imagine that the other would be more impressive yet.

Apparently the cave was mined for salt peter during the Revolutionary War to use in the production of gun powder. Interesting!

Seeing the cave at the park only whet our appetite to see more so we headed off next to see Diamond Caverns.

It’s hard to appreciate the beauty of the caves in photographs – things looked so much different with and without a flash.

With a flash…

And without.

Each cave has its own beauty and you can appreciate the depth and scale so much more with your own eyes – and also the cold drips from the ceiling!

The guide called this formation “cave bacon”. It reminded me a little of the alabaster pots I have in Egypt, which glow so prettily when you put a candle inside.

See the stalagmite slab cut off in the bottom left of the photo. Apparently people used to believe you could date a stalagmite as you do a tree, by counting rings. A lot of effort to cut it off to be WRONG!

There were many levels to the caves. I think the deepest under ground we went in this one was about 80ft.

There were clear rules when we entered the caves: No purses or bags, No touching the cave formations. Obviously people were not always so observant of preservation of natural wonders – note the stalagtites which are snapped off flat.

By the end of our tour of Diamond Caverns the children and I were so high on cave exploring we decided to try one more: the Lost River Cave. Long time readers might have noticed by now that I’m a bit of a sucker for adventuring, but especially adventures that involve riding animals or interesting vehicles. The Lost River cave tour is in a boat in an underground river – the only such tour in Kentucky according to their brochure. How cool is that? Unfortunately, the tour was not operating that day due to excess rain fall – the water level in the cave was too high. Disappointing, but now we have something to look forward to next time we are in the area.

All in all, a wonderful Saturday.

Wednesday: Stay Tuned for sleeping in a Wigwam.

Two months to go… of summer that is.

I have been in idling mode this last week. Technically now that school is over, summer vacation has begun but it doesn’t really feel like it yet. I’ve just been killing time.

I’ve been told I’m a good mother, but I am not without my weak points. For instance, I am no good at organizing housebound activities. Though I am a crafty person myself, I am no good at directing craftiness in my children. They are always enthusiastic about making things, but inevitably the set-up and clean-up portions of the program last much longer than their actual interest in the project. Also, they take a much more haphazard approach to making things and I have a hard time not interfering in their process. In short, I either take over or make it an unpleasant process for us all. (They want to make pet rocks and bottle cap magnets for an upcoming arts festival in Minnesota… god help me!)

It’s better for me to just step away from the paint pot / glue gun / glitter glue and leave that to their teachers at school.

I much prefer just keeping the kids moving and active. Tennis lessons, swimming, zoo trips – anything where we can get out and go. It not only keeps them busy and entertained, but it usually has the bonus of making them tired as well. Win-win for me.

I’m starting my summer this weekend with an overnight trip to Cave City, Kentucky. It’s apparently one of (the?) largest natural cave formations in the world and it’s only a few hours from here. How could I *not* go to see it? One of the cave tours is offered on a boat. Cave exploring on a boat? I am so there.

Stay tuned…pictures next week.

The children’s school held a carnival at a local, family-owned, old fashioned amusement park called Stricker’s Grove this past Friday. Generally speaking, I am not a huge fan of amusement park rides (or crowds or lines) so I haven’t gone out of my way to take the children to amusement parks. After I looked at this one on the website, I decided to make an exception: the ticket prices were very reasonable and included food and unlimited rides. Also, the park itself was small scale. The children only *think* they like amusement park rides – I figured this would let them try them out in a fairly controlled way.

(Note: there are amusement parks in Cairo but I have avoided them for a number of reasons, one of which is my lack of faith in the maintenance of the rides!)

I admit that there was an element of nostalgia involved in my decision to buy the tickets as well. I can remember my own elementary school having carnival nights at a small amusement park called Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans and how much I always enjoyed them. I was pleased that my own children could have such an experience as well.

The park was as cute as I imagined it would be with only one main walkway off of which all the rides were located. I remember Pontchartrain Beach as being bigger, but then again I was much smaller myself! The children did not notice or complain about the size of the park at all – they were completely focused on the rides!

The first ride we all went on was the Ferris wheel. The operator did not make a great first impression. First he forgot to clamp the bar down on the first riders, and then when we yelled to alert him, he nearly ripped off his own arm when he threw the wheel in reverse suddenly while simultaneously reaching toward the car. Yikes! Some people actually got out of line when he did that. Not us though- we are thrill seekers I tell you!

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The ride went smoothly after the rocky start – everyone exited with all their limbs and I never heard any blood curdling screams from there that evening so I assume the operator got his act together!

There was a nice assortment of rides as well – something for all ages and tolerance levels. My children, of course, were most interested in the fastest, highest, and most thrilling rides of course. There were two wooden roller coasters. We started with the smaller one first, named the Teddy Bear.

The Teddy Bear was a beginner roller coaster, but it was more than enough for me. It did one trip around its track – no loops at all – and it was done. So was I. What can I say – I am a total wimp.

This sort of thing is much more my speed:

My son was not content to restrict himself to the Teddy Bear however, he wanted to go on the Tornado. I was there with my friend and her two teenagers so I could have just skipped the Tornado myself, but n-o-o-o-o-o. My son started trash talking about how his mommy was scared of the roller coaster and I could not let that pass. I also told myself that it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that was crucial for me to experience so I could use it sometime in my writing.

My son and my friend’s son got in the very first car. My friend and her daughter got in a car behind them. All the other seats filled up quickly so I ended up sitting with a little boy in the last car. I told the boy and his two friends ahead of me not to be alarmed if I screamed. They told me it was okay – girls do that sometimes! They then gave me details on what to expect and also admitted they might scream too. Chatting with them was the best part of the ride!

Did I mention I wasn’t a roller coaster person? I regretted getting on the ride almost as soon as we started out. We had seat belts and safety bars and I still came several inches up off the seat when we rushed over the highest curve. I did not get a thrill out of the ride – I was petrified! I am not sure why exactly it bothered me so much. It doesn’t bother me at all to go down a mountain luge track on a plastic sled at high speeds but I hated the roller coaster. If I am going to be going so fast, I guess I want to have more control over the vehicle I’m in!

After the roller coaster, my son ran off with my daughter and her friend and I stuck to more sedate rides for a while, like the swings and the carousel.

Is this not the most tormented looking horse you have ever seen?

After the riding the roller coaster, this is pretty much what I saw of my children for the rest of the night:

My friend and I were remembering carnivals from our youths and the rides we used to like. It was nostalgia that deluded us into thinking that we would enjoy a spin on the Electric Rainbow ourselves.

I think if it had stayed at this angle we would have been fine. However, this is just the beginning.

I took the above picture from the swings and I watched it tilt nearly perpendicular to the ground while we were waiting in line so I really ought to have known better. I am truly surprised that it wasn’t covered in vomit. (There were, however, splats all over the sidewalk outside of the ride). My friend and I got on the ride and my children scampered on right after us. They were thrilled to see us on the ride that they had been enjoying so much all evening.

I had a fond memory of this ride and should have left it at that. I did not hate the ride this time, I endured it. I survived it. I celebrated when it stopped. While my children ran shrieking with joy off to the next ride, my friend and I found a nearby bench and tried to shake off the spins. She never did recover – she ended up being sick and leaving early. It’s hell getting old.

There was less than an hour left to the carnival when my friend departed so I decided to just let the children continue riding while I strolled and took pictures. Then the children found me and tried to get me to ride the big roller coaster with them again. I was *almost* foolish enough to go along with them but then I thought about it: if I didn’t like the roller coaster in broad daylight, I knew I would truly hate it in the dark. I suggested that we try the Tilt-a-Whirl instead.

The children agreed, though they did say they thought it was a boring ride because their car didn’t spin much the one time they had tried it. It certainly spins a lot with Mom in the car. It was kind of fun at first – at least until it wasn’t. I should have known it wasn’t a good idea when a child stopped outside the fence for the ride and vomited just after he’d exited. We spun and we spun and we spun some more. By the time we finally stopped, I was more than ready to get off. My son exited in a hurry as well – and ran straight for the bathroom.

He was never actually sick (probably because he had been too busy with the rides to eat anything) but that was the end of the fun for him. And of course suddenly it was all my fault that he’d been riding the big, fast rides all night. He’d wanted to go on the carousel and the train but he couldn’t find me anywhere. I’m guessing that the lesson he should have taken from this – stop while you are ahead – will be entirely missed.

Both children have already asked to go to King’s Island. They might end up going sometime but it won’t be with me!

Spring break is over and the children are going back to school tomorrow. I’m going to bask in the glow of last week for a little while longer however and share some pictures of our quick trip to Chicago.

How much luckier can a girl get – not only do we have a week off, but I just happen to have a couple of friends from way back who own a condo in Chicago. I would have gone to see them in any event and been happy at their place in Ohio, but I surely wasn’t going to turn down a suggestion to go and spend a few days in Chicago since they offered.

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Here is the view from their condo – notice Soldier Field to the right:

And now to the left. Is that amazing or what?

I could not have dreamed up a better location for taking the children to see some of the big attractions – the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and the planetarium were right across the street!

We didn’t arrive in Chicago until mid-afternoon and since the weather was clear we decided to seize the opportunity and go up to see the view from a tall building. We choose the Hancock Building.

It isn’t the highest building in the world, or even in Chicago, but going up 94 floors in 40 seconds was impressive enough for me. I occasionally have nightmares about speeding elevators so though the ride was smooth enough, it was still a little freaky for me!

It has never been my particular goal to live in a giant city, but even I was impressed with the view.

After we’d seen the view from every angle available, we strolled down Michigan Avenue and window shopped for a few blocks. That worked up our appetites nicely for some Chicago-style pizza. Y-U-M. Why does anyone eat any other kind of pizza?

It is a good thing we went up to see the view when we did because the next day, our only full day in Chicago, looked like this:

The fog and drizzle didn’t slow us down though – we just spent the day inside at the Shedd Aquarium instead.

It’s just as well that I don’t live at the condo full time or I’d never get anything done for looking out at the view all the time. It was even pretty at night.

Stay tuned for part 2 of Chicago on Wednesday: A sunny day and The Bean.

In spite of my rather downcast attitude these last few weeks and not having much more motivation or energy than the creature at the left, I took advantage of the beautiful weather we had on Sunday and made a day of it with my children at the Cincinnati Zoo. Life and motherly duty go on after all.

(It actually wasn’t that much of a sacrifice once I got going)


Aren’t the tulips beautiful? In spite of the fact that they were not poppies, I almost expected the good witch Glinda from the Wizard of Oz to appear somewhere nearby. I’ve always wanted a pair of ruby slippers, and wouldn’t they come in handy right about now…

I haven’t seen quite so many flowers around town just yet and have never seen what I assume is a pussy willow in bloom growing in nature – I’ve only ever seen the dried twigs with their fuzzy buds in flower arrangements.

I am really hoping that all these flowers blooming mean that the worst of the cold winter weather is past us for the season.

The cat exhibits were closed because of renovation and the giraffes are on a maternity leave so we didn’t see some of the more “standard” zoo animals. We did see some “new” animals though. There were three manatees on exhibit, for instance, and I had never seen such tiny penguins before.

The leaf floating in the water on the left gives you an idea of just how small this cutie was!

You can always learn something new wandering around a zoo, reading all the informational notices that are posted all over. After reading about Komodo Dragons and how they hunt, my daughter announced to me that we could never go to Indonesia! Somehow I don’t think that is an immediate concern!

This notice was posted inside the door in the bathroom stall. Thank goodness I’m not a coffee drinker because I think this particular factoid is bordering on too much information!

I’ve had this song in my head for a few weeks now – I think chorus is somewhat inspiring for my current circumstances.

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You’re never going to keep me down

When I looked up the rest of the lyrics, I found it strangely fitting for the way I spent my Saturday night – on a neighborhood roaming cocktail party which ended with karaoke!

Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away

“Oh Danny Boy
Danny Boy
Danny Boy…”

I’m happy to say that I didn’t actually get knocked down on Saturday night, though there were some others who didn’t look so steady on their feet by the end of the night! And I sang my first karaoke song – Wham! “Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)”. Thank goodness there isn’t a video of that scary and not very musical moment!

It is hard to believe that I’ve been in Maryland for nearly an entire month already – where does time go? No, seriously – where does it go???

I wasn’t really up for much sightseeing before because I’ve been just a titch stressed out, but since this weekend will likely be our last in Maryland I decided we needed to make an effort to see a few of the bigger attractions. I mean really – Washington DC is right there. So Saturday morning my sister and BIL and I gathered everyone up and we went to the National Zoo.

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It was a little gray outside, but not too cold so all in all fairly pleasant. I never normally think of going to a zoo in the winter time, but unless it is truly cold and snowy winter weather, it’s a good time to go to the zoo because the animals are all out frolicking and not limp from the sun and heat – the children either!

We had only just arrived when a man who was passing told us that the lion cubs were out playing so we ought to go there first, before they went inside. As it turned out the lion cubs were way on the other side of the zoo, but it was worth the hike to get there – they were so cute!

Apparently toddlers of all species like to chew things!

There were two lionesses and about six cubs, who were all romping around below while the daddy lion sat up on the hill alone. Every now and again one cub would go and try to get his attention.

You can see how well the daddy lion reacted to these overtures!

The only thing more entertaining than the lion cubs was the nearby bronze dinosaur skull. Who could resist this pose? I’ve been to three big zoos in the last year and I think I’ve enjoyed the bronze statuary as much as seeing the live animals.

They are not the most exotic of creatures, but prairie dogs are so cute! We gave them nearly as much time as the lion cubs. I’d be embarrassed to tell you how many pictures of prairie dogs I’ve taken in the last year between the Minneapolis Zoo and this one.

I honestly try very hard not to take too many pictures in zoos because what’s the point? Yes, the animals are cute but how many of those kinds of pictures do I need cluttering up my computer? I couldn’t resist this red panda though. They kind of look like a cross between a raccoon and a fox. Their coat is so plush and you might not be surprised to learn I am partial to red heads!

We left the zoo just before it closed at 4:30pm and drove down into Washington DC so that I could at least see, if not explore, the main attractions. It was interesting to see the White House and the Capital Building in person, having seen pictures so often on TV / in movies. Mostly I was amazed by how close everything was together! Of course “close” is relative – we walked around for about 1 1/2 hours and didn’t see nearly everything there was to see. One day we’ll have to go back and tour the Smithsonian museums (though I don’t suppose they’d let me pose with my head in a dinosaur jaw there!)

The first question out of my son’s mouth was “Is the Washington Monument taller than the pyramids?”

Given all the Masonic symbolism in Washington DC, I should have known that was a trick(y) questions. I looked it up when we got home, and yes, it is taller than the Great Pyramid. I also learned several other interesting and possibly disturbing facts about the layout of Washington DC. This would be great stuff if I were a conspiracy theorist or a thriller writer (though I suppose it’s been done to death already) Take them with a grain of salt…

The sun was going down by the time we reached the Lincoln Memorial. As you can see behind me, the reflecting pool is drained for renovation – even the WWII memorial fountains were turned off for winter. Bad timing for me. I’m sure the minute I leave the area all the cherry blossoms will burst into flower too.

The sun was down by the time we left the Lincoln Memorial but the Vietnam Memorial was still a moving sight – so many names.

It was a long day, but one very well spent introducing my children to some of their own country’s national monuments for a change. Both children were born abroad and have never actually lived in the US – its probably just as well for to have a crash course in American history since it looks like we’re going to be here for a while…

The only thing better than a swim in a cold lake on a hot summer day…

is a beer margarita on a hot summer day!

My son is off on his overnight camping trip with his grandpa and step-grandma – and I’m on fox feeding duty this evening and tomorrow morning. The question remains whether I’m brave enough to try hand feeding them and whether or not they’d come up to me if I did.

Stay tuned and have a great weekend!

I’ve heard about the fabulous blueberry picking opportunities in the area nearly every summer I’ve visited my parents, but have never gone picking myself until this weekend. There is an area up the Gunflint Trail that has been cleared at different times by forest fires where the blueberries grow plentifully. I could tell you more specifically where we went, but then I’d have to kill you.

It was a hot day and very still – and it takes longer than you’d think to fill up a gallon sized ice cream bucket even if the berries are fat and juicy!

If I crouched too long, I’d get stuck in that position.

But standing wasn’t so much better!

Even after we’d been out there a couple of hours and I’d filled my bucket 2/3 of the way, I still couldn’t stop. We had decided to go back to the car and maybe find another spot but I kept having to stop and pick just a little more because the berries were so pretty!

As you can see, all that hard work paid off in the end. Is there anything better than fresh blueberry pie?

The weather report for the weekend was a little iffy but I’m happy to say we were in luck. Saturday we hiked for about three hours up a big hill at the back of my father’s property. The trail was marked “Hellacious View” – it was clear enough that we could practically see Canada from up there.

We spent Sunday at a birthday party for my step-mother’s niece at a place they have on an inland lake. What a beautiful day! We did some kayaking and ate some fabulous fried fish before we started to play with the big water toys.

The children looked like they were having so much fun being dragged in the tube behind the boat, I decided it was one of those seize-the-moment-moments that I couldn’t let pass by.

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The things I won’t do after a few beer margarita cocktails!

It was a lot of fun, though I was petrified that I was going to flip over into the lake at high speed. I have to admit that I had such a tight grip on the handles of that tube that I broke a blood vessel in one of my fingers and came away with a big bruise!

I’m glad I did it once, but I think I’ll probably stick to kayaking from now on!