A Saturday Getaway with the Squirrels

Happy Weekend!
Look at this GORGEOUS day we had yesterday!  The Mr and I decided mid-week that if he did not have to work this weekend we would take a  lil day trip and go to Mammoth Cave in Ky. He had never been- I have {but it was over 30 years ago- all I remember is that it is a cave}!
We packed up the cooler, like we did last weekend for our trip to St.Louis (I still have to tell you about the zoo and the Arch) and we headed out!
It is only about an hour and a half away, so we didn't have to leave too early.

We bought our tickets and only had to wait a short time. Then we took the trek down this L.O.N.G path to get to the entrance of the cave.
******This is where I will stop telling you about the cave. After all, I don't want to give anything away. You might decide to go see the cave yourself. *****
I will just show you the picture of the giant hole we went into before we walked for two hours. But this giant hole in the earth is not the only significant part of this picture.
Nope.
It is the man that is attached to this chick with curly hair. Yes. He is the focus of the rest of the trip to Mammoth Cave, It is a National Landmark, a historic place to be but through most of our tour- he was where our attention was.

We called him the "Baconater"! Really!
He smelled like a big plate of bacon. And I am a bacon lover, so I guess it isn't a horrible thing to give off that beautiful aroma, but for two solid hours- to see nothing but rock and smell nothing but bacon is a little much.
We are guessing that the Baconater and his girlfriend stayed at the campgrounds and cooked bacon over an open fire. That has to be it, because the only alternative is that he rubbed a pack of bacon all over his skin, put a few strips in the dryer with his clothes AND  had a few in his shoes.

After following the Baconater around and listening (to the very interesting) history of the cave, we climbed out of the hole we had gone into. And a nice lunch at the park and we were set to head home.

On the way home though, we saw a sign for Dinosaur World. I had heard of it, but never had a urge to go. None of the children are into the dinos- never have been. But it seemed kind of quirky and reminded the Mr and I of Pee Wee's Big Adventure- so we stopped.

 

Can you tell they were excited about the decision?

 

Littlest Little ( I think) was genuinely happy to be there. Especially after he found out that a Fossil Dig was included in the ticket. Big Brother was not as excited as he just turned 12 and that meant that he, too, would get a ticket to go dig and that I would photograph it and show people:)

They look interested to me.

They each got to keep 3 fossils.
(While they were digging, I was amused by the position I was in to grab this pic of a perfectly placed pole).

That is exactly what Chickadee was thinking. She was not digging (get it, digging) the whole fossil search.
At one point she tried to end it all in a giant dino trash can.

When she realized that she was not going to fit.....

They can pretend all they want, but I have proof that they had a good time at Dinosaur World!

This last gif is a little homage to my girl Griffo
whenscincythesequel#

After we left all the prehistoric plastic creatures just as we had found them, we headed to Chaney's to have some yummy ice cream! Goodness, it was delicious!

It was a VERY busy day!
And all of it only an hour to two hours from the house. We made it home in time to remember the list of things we left behind to spend the day together.
 
I hope you all had a fun weekend, too!
(And I am looking forward to leaving a list behind next weekend, too!)