spirobulldog

Started with Gus's Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis. We have been to Memphis several times but had never eaten at Gus's. We arrived right at 5 on Friday night and seated right away. Chicken was very good. Just slightly on the spicy side, not to much, just right! I thought the cole slaw was good, baked beans were below average. We also had the fried green tomatoes, which had a thick batter and were very good. Sweet tea is very sweet. Chicken plate was $5.75 and the fried tomatoes were $5.25. So a pretty good meal for under $30 for 3 people We then drove to Jackson and spent the night at Laquinta Inn. Usually, the LQ Inn & Suites are fairly nice. This one wasn't terrible, but was certainly below average.

On Saturday, we drove to The Hermitage -Home of Andrew Jackson arriving at 9:00am. Visited there for 2 hours-very nice and certainly worth doing. We then headed to Country Music Hall of Fame. Had a very good lunch at 222 cafe in the CMHOF with live musician playing a guitar. Daughter had fried tomato BLT, wife had turkey brie with cranberry ailoi, I had a nice southwest salad. After roaming the CMHOF we headed to La Paletas Popsicles. This one is hard to find, but is worth the 10 minute drive to find it. I had an avocado popsicle(which is cream based), wife had blackberry/pineapple(no cream), daughter had chocolate raspberry. All three were excellent. We then headed to Mammoth Cave. Arrived in time to take the Star Chamber Lantern tour, which is about 2.5 hours long. This tour was sold out, so I was glad I had purchased tickets in advance. Mammoth cave lodge has 4 different types of lodging. We stayed in the Terrace area. Which is motel type lodging. Pretty much your standard National Park Lodging. The next morning my daughter and I headed out for The Wild Cave Tour. This is 5 miles long and 6.5 hours. The tour guide has a lot of leeway on where the route goes based on the group. It is a pretty tough tour and you need to be very adventurous. I weigh 170 and probably had the largest waist among the 12 people in our group. There was a couple of places that I barely managed to squeeze through. I don't see how someone with much bigger of a waist could do this tour (mine is 34 in.). Everyone in the group was under age 25, except myself and one other man. The minimum age is 16(which my daughter just reached last week) and the tour requires above ankle boots with aggressive tread. My daughter and I did the Wild Cave Tour in Carlsbad a couple of years ago(age requirement for that was 12). I found the Carlsbad tour to be better. Carlsbad is far prettier. The tour in Mammoth is better, in the fact, that you are doing some serious spelunking. Definately make reservations far in advance at either place. Both are excellent!!! After the tour, we drove our car over the neat little Ferry Boat crossing(2-3 cars fit on the boat). Also took a little hike near the ferry--saw 20+ deer within feet of us for nearly the entire hike(about a mile). We had dinner that night at Mammoth Lodge. Not sure what the difference is about Kentucky Country Ham, but we really liked it. Far different, than say, a Virginia Ham.

The next morning we drove to The Corvette Plant in Bowling Green and did the Factory Tour. Very interesting and great tour. Had breakfast @ Corvette Cafe and strolled through the Museum. Museum was nice, but we all agreed that we liked the plant tour the best. Don't miss either.

From there we made our way back home and made a final stop @ The Loveless Cafe. Country Greens and Creamed Corn were the best I have ever had anywhere. Everything else we had there was very good as well. We arrived @ 12:15 and didn't wait more than 5 minutes for a table. We were served our food within 10 minutes after that. The place was very busy, I guess we just got lucky or they really have their lunch service down to a science.

All in all, a very nice 4 day weekend. Mammoth Cave was great, but I rate Carlsbad well ahead of it. Glad I did both of them.

maj

Enjoyed reading your trip report -- great detail. Sounds like everything worked out well. We've been to Mammoth and have thought about Carlsbad but thought it might just be more of the same (won't be doing the wild cave tours). I'll have to look into going down that way at some point.

spirobulldog

maj,
I have been to Carlsbad twice. If you do Carlsbad, go in the summer so you can experience the bats. Don't miss the entrance or the exit of the bats. Hundreds of people there at night to witness them, but you may be the only person to see them fly in-in the morning. Both the entrance and exit are very different and equally amazing. I regret not seeing Guadalope Mountains National Park while there. Also, White Sand Dunes NM are not to far from both parks. Carlsbad does a "bat breakfast", usually around the 1st of August each year. They set up telescopes for viewing and you wait for the bats to come in. The telescopes are set up all night long. Even Mr. Hale(Hale/Bopp Comet discovery guy) was there. The park service feeds you breakfast as well. Mammoth Cave is nice and has a lot more history, but it is just a big big big ugly cave with many passages. Carlsbad is really pretty and has a couple of really really big rooms. You can take an elevator down at Carlsbad and save a lot of energy, if you are so inclined. I have been to Oregon Caves NM, and Timpanogos Cave NM in Utah. Oregon Caves has a fantastic historic lodge, but the cave is just ok. Timpanogos Cave is best to see in the falls with the foliage. It is a strenuous 1 mile vertical hike to get to Timpanogos. I hope to see Jewel Cave and Wind Caves sometime in the future. The wild cave tours are great, but I still can't convince my wife to go on them.

ellen_griswold

Thanks for your report, spiro. Brings back nice memories of a fun area to visit. We were surprised how tasty the La Paletas Popsicles were, too.

I also agree that carlsbad caverns np is much cooler than mammoth, literally and figuratively, but we too were glad we did both.

Have you taken any distillery tours? There were several in the area so we did the makers mark tour; it was really interesting. They have a hospitality type room similar to the coors brewery in golden, colorado where you can taste a variety of samples. The bourbon chocolates were outstanding!

jent103

I'm so glad you found Las Paletas! It's such a fun place - they have different flavors every day that just sound crazy but are really good. Glad you had a good trip.

maj

Spirobulldog

Thanks for the info. Saving it.

emalloy

Thanks for an interesting report. I agree Carlsbad is much prettier.

schlegal1

Hey spirobulldog:

I know it has been years since your report but I appreciate it. I am planning a similar long weekend in March this year and was curious about the Wild Cave tour, which we have booked. I know you are a parks and outdoor enthusiast so I really value your trip reports as we share that interest.

We are also going to tour the Bourbon Trail, which I know didn't interest you.

spirobulldog

You will enjoy it. I don't think I mentioned it, but two of the girls(I don't know them, they were just part of the group),came out high fiving and saying it was one of the top ten days of their lives.

I love the wild cave tours I've done at different parks. This one is probably the ugliest cave, but it is a tougher/more exciting tour as far as the crawling and squeezing through tight spots. The cave does have some very fascinating history(more than any other cave, IMOP) and it is the biggest cave in the world. They do give you a bathroom break at about the halfway point. At that time, they give you an opportunity to bail out,if the going is to tough for you. It is a very awesome tour. You will enjoy it!!! They are very picky about what you wear and shoes, so make darn sure you have all that correct when you go. You will want to wear long sleeves and long pants, so you don't scrape yourself up.

wtm003

I'm glad this was topped, otherwise I would have missed the popsicles! Making tentative plans to be in the area in early summer so appreciate the info.

europeannovice

I am also glad this was topped. We hope to go to Mammoth Cave too. Spirobulldog, did you enjoy the star chamber tour? Would you recommend it? The wild cave tour is not for me but we are debating between the star chamber and the new entrance or the historic tour and not sure which ones to do.

spirobulldog

It had a lot of great history. I am pretty sure it was a lantern tour and later in the evening. You might want to do a couple of tours. I was glad we did that one, but they all look a bit different.

wtm,
The popsicles are great!! The Loveless is not to be missed, IMOP. It is a bit of a drive outside Nashville though.

europeannovice

Thanks Spirobulldog for the feedback. I posted a separate post to get some feedback on other tours in Mammoth as well.

The popsicles and the The Loveless Cafe in and near Nashville sound good too.

rfrank1031

Sooo appreciate finding this report as we are about 2 weeks out from mammoth with an 8, 6, and 2 yr old. Crazy? Any recs for tours appropriate for them? Cannot wait to try those Popsicles and the Loveless Cafe in Nashville either!

spirobulldog

Trog Tour looks interesting. It say age Limit is 8. You might call and see if they would let your 6 year old go with a sibling. I doubt they will, but you never know.

The main things about this cave are how huge it is and the history it has. It does not have very many pretty features.