I'm having terrible internet issues here, but will try to get something up about today. I began early visiting Mammoth Cave Baptist Church, est. 1827.

Overview on the way.

Couldn't find the video projector.

By then it was time to load up for the first tour.

A representation of the 400+ miles of underground passageways.

The bus save us a long walk underground to our first tour.

Our tour guide, Ranger Erick, at the mouth of the cave, just as it was when it was first discovered!

We did a lot of this. It was a long way to the bottom.

No flash, no tripod. High ISO and slow shutter speeds. Cave photography is not simple. Most of the caves are just limestone rocks. This cave had some interesting formations at the end.

Between tours I visited another church. Saw this active ferry on the way.

Time for the afternoon tour.

Ranger Mary

Where we entered the cave.

They used to mine salt peter from the caves to make gun powder during the war of 1812. Interesting process but slave did most of the work by lantern light.

Ceiling dome.

They call this the coffin because of it's shape.

Up until the 1970's visitors were encouraged to add their names to the cave walls. Then they outlawed it. What remains is "historical graffiti." Write on it now and they call it a federal offense!

This belonged to a doctor who tried to use the cave to treat patients with "consumption."

Cave crickets. They feed above ground then go under to hide from predators.

A long day having walked over four miles and climbed up and down hundreds of steps. I will sleep tonight.

This morning I finished loading the CRV and packed off for Cave City, KY to visit Mammoth Caves. It's my first stop on my way to a photo trek in the Smokies with mentor Moose Peterson.

I'll have two cave tours tomorrow but I made a quick run into the park in the late afternoon to check out the place.

Park Headquarters

I checked in at the park headquarters and picked up my tour tickets for tomorrow. There is a trail leading down to the River Styx Springs so I took that. Here are a couple of scenes along the way.

This is where the River Styx emerges from underground.

On the way back to the visitors center I felt a cool breeze, almost like a very welcome air conditioning. It came from this cave opening beside the trail.

On the way back to Cave City I made a couple of stops. The first was at this pioneer cemetery.

Kind of a grim reality. Nothing like the Sunnyside Memorial Parks in the US today.

This old barn was worth a stop.

Had to turn around and go back to this "General Store." This odd assortment of "antiques" is a pickers' paradise. The two guys inside said the owner had been collecting and selling for 60 years!

 They very graciously allowed me to wander around and take pictures. Pure Americana!

Just odd bits and pieces today. I'm hoping there's enough light in the caves tomorrow to get some shots using my camera's low light capabilities. If nothing else, I'll finally get to see the Mammoth Caves.

Saturday, photo buds Steve Warner  and Paul Wegner and I drove over to Grand Rapids and Holland for a day of shooting. We started early and stayed late—how much fun is that! First stop was the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park for butterflies, et al.

A picture in search of a caption.

You lookin' at me?

The body part sculptures were kind of cool. I "detatched" these from their bases just for grins!

A good old whatever it is.

Leonardo daVinci's horse. 

Sometimes B&W works best

We had lunch in Grand Rapids at the Twisted Rooster, then headed over to Holland for an early peak at tulips. The tulips thought it was early too and most were still closed. We still managed to find a few pictures to take, ending up at the Big Red Lighthouse for sunset.

Geese were flying over Windmill Island

The Thinker!

Holland has invested in the arts.

Most of these tulip pictures were taken downtown in the planters.

Most of the shots of flowers we got downtown. This is Paul snagging a tulip.

The windmill from which the island gets its name. This was dismantled in Holland after WWII and reconstructed here.

Milling surface of the millstones

Big Red

A vacation cottage!!!

The sunset itself was a bust but the afterglow was spectacular. After this we packed up and headed home. I got back to my place at 11:30pm. A fine day with good companionship!