We live in Nashville and have decided to travel for a day trip to Kentucky the day after Xmas. Travellers include grandparents, late 30's adults and kids (10,8 an 3).

I've heard rave reviews of Mamoth caves and have decided ( I think) to take the basic guided discovery tour. After that, lunch at cave city any other reeomendations?

I've considered doing the corvette factory. But, I'm not sure if adding anything else is doing too much.

If anyone thinks this is a bad idea altogether we could just go to Chattanooga. Desperately trying to plan and entertain!

What at least used to be called the Historic Tour is not too long, maybe a couple of hours. It's been a long time since I have been.

If you can pull up a website to see if there is a morning tour, you could do that and then stop at the Corvette Museum on your way home.

Enjoy! It is very interesting, and parts of the cave are lovely.

The day after Christmas is a legal holiday. Double check to see if the Corvette plant is open. We had a great time on the tour many years ago. It was a birthday surprise for our son who was a young teen at the time. Two tours in one day may be too much depending on how much driving you have to do to get there. When the lights were turned off during our cave tour, one toddler got confused and hung onto the wrong leg. It was pretty funny to see the surprised look on the child's face when she discovered she had grabbed a stranger's leg.

Misha,
Mammoth Cave is a great place to take children, although the 3-year-old may be a little uneasy. Some don't like strange settings, and this is definitely something they have not seen before. There is some walking and, I believe, stair climbing involved. Also some wiggling through "fat man's misery" - a small pass-through that you walk through. That has remained a family joke throughout the years. The park itself is quite lovely. Cave City is very touristy and a tad tacky, so don't expect any great places to eat. The grandchildren may be a little young for the Corvette museum, but I actually found it more interesting that I expected.

Ahhh..what a wonderful thing...to have young children to take to Mammoth Cave for the first time. They will talk about it for a long time.
Vicki

I'd choose Mammoth Caves over Chattanooga. The kids will remember the experience, and adults will enjoy it too. I think the corvette museum is possible if you've got the time and energy!

Many tours get booked so you might want to check and see if the ones you are interested in are still available.
http://www.nps.gov/maca/