US Road Trip, Part IV
17 November 2008 – 11:49 pmNashville
Definitely not a country music fan, but like Graceland in Memphis, the Grand Ole Opry was only a few minutes from my hotel so I felt somewhat compelled to at least check it out. So my last night in Nashville I decided to make the drive. And I have to say, I was pretty disappointed.
Like Graceland before it, the rain-gods paid me a visit again and by the time I got there it was pouring. So trying to wait it out, I grabbed dinner near-by.
It’s definitely not the country barn theatre they try to portray… rather it’s a huge complex called Opryland USA and it’s attached to a full-blown mall. While I may not be a fan of the music, if I was, I’d be pissed off at the misrepresentation.
Unable to get any pictures the night before, I swung by a great place called the Pfunky Griddle for breakfast in the morning. After cooking my own breakfast on their in-table griddles and eating my fill of pancakes, I headed downtown to take a few shoots before driving to the bluegrass state:
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
Heading towards Louisville, Kentucky, I took a detour off of I-65 to check out Mammoth Cave National Park.
I’ve been spelunking multiple times in the old gypsum mines in my hometown and more recently in Hezekiah’s Tunnel under Jerusalem, however this was my first natural cave system.
From the outside, it’s nothing more than a large forest with small winding roads but the caves underneath are, for lack of a larger lexicon, gorgeous.
One of the park rangers recommended the New Entrance tour for its scenic value and said not to be deceived by it’s short distance. At only ¾ of a mile long, it was a third of the length of the other tours but as she put it was two hours long and the other ones were “slow easy walks for old people”.
After two-plus hours of climbing steep grades, taking pictures, and contort like gumby I’m not ashamed to say that it kicked my ass, but it was definitely worth the it.
And now I can add toured the world’s longest cave system to my list. 
more to come…
On a side note, while leaving Mammoth I ran across a whitetail deer that was being more than a little aggressive in his grass eating style:
