Mammoth Cave: Getting Ready

Mammoth Cave
Distance: 183 miles
Drive Time: 3 hours, 5 minutes.

Mammoth Cave is the closest National Park to us. It is a short 3 hour drive away, and there is a lot to do there. Since this is our first National Park trip, we wanted to make sure that it would extra fun and that both the kids and the adults would enjoy it.

Things have changed since I was a kid, nowadays any vacation should always start with Google. Where to stay, what to do, how to get there, Google has all the answers.
First stop: The Official Mammoth Cave Website
From there I learned that there were many tours that one could take. Each one showcasing a different part of Mammoth Cave. Some were short, others long, and even one just for kids.
A full list of the tours available can be found here. We decided to do two tours, a short tour called the "Frozen Niagara Tour" and a longer tour called the "Historic Tour".
The Mammoth Cave website had a lot of brochures to help you on your visit, but it didn't have the brochure you will find when you visit Mammoth Cave. Every National Park has its overview brochure with an introduction to the park and a really good map. It wasn't on the website, nor could I find it elsewhere on the web, so after picking it up at the park and scanning it into my computer here is the official Mammoth Cave brochure:
Part 1
Part 2

Next up determine where to spend the night. This was important, normally when going vacationing, we go to a hotel. But for National Park vacations, this wouldn't do. However, I also wanted to ease the family into this, so it probably would be best not to pick tent camping either. The perfect compromise was found at Kentucky Action Park, a park with horse back riding, mini-golf, Outlaw Cave, and more importantly for our purposes: Cabins.

So after browsing the web for a long time, finding good places to eat, and other fun stuff to do, we finally settled on an itinerary for the trip:

Friday
9:00am - Drive up (3 hours)
Noon - Lunch
1:00pm - Wildlife Museum
2:15pm - Outlaw Cave & unload Cabin
4:00pm - Frozen Niagara Tour at Mammoth Cave
5:45pm - Dinner at El Mazatlan

Saturday
9:45am - Historic Tour at Mammoth Cave
Noon - Pack-Lunch
1:30pm - Dinosaur World
Option #1
3:30pm - Diamond Caverns Tour
5:00pm - Joe's Diner
Option #2
2:30pm - Drive to Bowling Green
3:00pm - Corvette Museum
5:30pm - Dinner at Montana Grille

So on April 15th 2011, we are setting off on our first National Park Vacation. Let's see how close we stick to the plan.