Vaca 2020 - Final Day - Mammoth Caves

Mammoth Caves is one of our favorites as it holds a great memory for Mama and I.  I don't remember what cave we were in this time, but it was the only one that was open during the 'Rona.  The first time we visited was before we had critters and we did the 4-hour guided tour with lunch in the "snowball room".  Aptly named as it appeared to have snowballs all over the ceiling of this wide open area that had a fully staffed cafe in it.  I remember eating a very good bowl of soup in the snowball room and thinking how odd it was that the soup was warming me up.  Such is time in a cave.

Again, I don't have a ton of stuff to say here as I don't recall many details since it happened 11 months ago.

I loved seeing the old abandoned tools that were left behind over the years.

Not really handicap accessible, is it!?

I have no idea what happened with this picture but it's cool looking!  I think there were people with "Miner hats" on with the lights on the helmet, moving in front of us and I may have moved the camera a bit too soon...  who knows?

This was sort of creepy.  It's at the furthest point you can get to in the cave.

I wish I could remember what these were for, for sure.  I want to say that they brought diseased peeps down here to isolate them, but I maybe dreamed that up too.  It's creepy whatever the reason was.

Rob was not going to allow his face to be photographed.  He had spent the last two weeks of his life wishing he was back home.

Uh?  Keep the ATV's out maybe?

Back to the top, and back to the heat to hit the road for the long drive back home!  Well,  we didn't drive all the way home... we stopped in Evansville, IN. and had probably the best pizza of our lives at Turoni's Pizza and Brewery!!!

The pizza was so good you never wanted it to end!

 

That concludes all of the 2020 vacation posts for the Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit.  On to the current year, of which, I hope to have done in a much more timely fashion.

Couples Group From Church: Margarita Tour

This group makes me laugh!!  We all bring something SO different to the table but it's all good and for whatever reason, all seems so funny.  To me anyway.  We are missing one couple who is on vacation at this time.

When you spill an excellent margarita due to excessive ice in the pitcher (note: there should be NO ice!), you make up for it by utilizing the nearest straw!  Good work Dan!

Nora with the house bands guitar player!

Lance trying to preserve tortilla chips once we realized we had to pay once we ate our way beyond a certain point!

 

Waiting for a table at Rita's Cantina.  This is my favorite photo as Steve, upper right, was being chastised by Melissa, in the foreground, and he said just before this was snapped, "Ok, I'll stand there, but I'm going to scowl.".  LOL.

It was a fun night and we'll have more of them, I'm sure.

The Best Baby Sitters

 My sister's family baby sat our hounds while we were on vaca this year.  Such a blessing as the dogs both had explosive diarrhea after our weekend visit to Minnesota for a graduation party.  I spent the week cleaning the carpets in the basement as both dogs were uh...  upset.

This is my niece Zoe snuggling with our beasts, Juno (the Boston terrier) and Steve (the roasted marshmallow mutt).

My sister said that this snuggle session went on for a bit over two hours.  That's adorable!

Vaca 2020 - Day ?? - The Death Hike to Rainbow Falls

This was a fun hike that Rob didn't go on with us. He wanted to remain at the cabin and chill, so he did.

I don't have much time to resize pics or commentate, so you can read about the hike here, if you care enough to do so.

FALLLLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSS

FALLLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSS

 

Football Practice

The houndies practicing for football season!

 

Driving and Sunsets

The lad is "in" drivers education courtesy of mom & dad due to the 'rona.
So out we went for a lesson, which we got accomplished, but we also got some good sunset viewing in as well!

 

Can't beat that!

FIRE!!!

Had a LOT of items shipped in lately to prepare for vacation and dog boarding and blah blah blah...  lots of cardboard to be rid of along with other receipts and such that we don't wish to throw away.  What better way than fire!?