Rabbit Hash
Next stop- Rabbit Hash, Kentucky- population 315. Our destination was the general store, which has been in operation since 1831, save the year when it was being rebuilt after a fire. The town sits on the Ohio river and is just darling. To top it off, we were greeted at the general store by two of the friendliest, sweetest dogs ever.
The store did not disappoint. The owner was very friendly with a sweet dog of her own- but what would you expect from a town where the last four elected mayors have been dogs! There was a hummus dish for tasting and was talkative- answering all of my questions about the town. We wandered around admiring all the cool wares, settling on a few things that we wanted to buy.
Also open for visiting was the community center and info center. Inside there is a collection of antiques and background information about the town.
We spent a few more minutes exploring the tiny town of Rabbit Hash, which was truly unique and definitely a great spot for photography lovers.
How cute was this little town of Rabbit Hash? It’s definitely worth a stop.
Big Bone Lick State Park
Back on the road, we took Rt 42 and continued on our way. On the way we came across Big Bone Lick State Park. This park is named because of the fossils found on site. Mammoths were believed to have been drawn to this location because of the salt licks deposited around the sulfur springs.
There are several nature trails located here, including a boardwalk around a marsh with recreations of woolly mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths and other creatures. We didn’t explore it more that day, but something I would like to see in the future.
Giant Abucus- Goshen, Kentucky
Our next interesting stop, according to our roadtrip website, was a giant abacus. The abacus is located in Goshen, Kentucky at the entrance of a school. Too bad I couldn’t reach it to actually work on my math skills.
Louisville, Kentucky
Goshen is not far from Louisville, so that’s where we headed next. I had taken a road trip to Louisville earlier in the year, so I didn’t want to see a lot of same sites. We tried to take a tour at Angels Envy distillery and found out that it was fully booked for the day. We instead settled on wandering around Louisville and taking in some of the sites. There are many oddities in Louisville for sure, like the giant David statue, and the world’s largest baseball bat. We took a quick walk into the Louisville slugger museum, and explored there for a little bit.
Next we went to the 21C Museum Hotel. This is more than just a hotel, there is 9,000 square feet of exhibition space with contemporary art. The exhibits rotate, the two times I’ve been there were different things on display. Its a great (free) spot to spend some time exploring, and they also have a great restaurant and bar. Just because we didn’t get to a distillery doesn’t mean we couldn’t try some of Kentucky’s most famous product. I have completed the Bourbon Trail on a past trip, so if you want some tips about that, be sure to check out this blog post, which is one of a series of three blog posts.
Megacavern
After a yummy dinner we went to check out another unique, and new to me, spot in Louisville- the Megacavern! The cavern, located very close to downtown Louisville, was a huge limestone quarry, where workers extracted the stone for over 42 years. In 1989 it was bought by investors, who turned the massive space into what is actually the largest building in Kentucky (there’s over 4 million square feet of space!) There are rooms where you can store your belongings, and a recycling center. There is also a space where you can get your adventure on- with zip-lining, a bike park, a megatram that takes a tour of the spaces, and a ropes course. Our destination was an underground Christmas lights display that you drive through. We had to wait an hour, at a cost of $30, but how often do you get to drive through a cave to see Christmas lights? Since it was the season, I thought this would be the perfect kick-off to put me in the holiday spirit- and it did!.
Wigwam Village Inn
After our drive through the cavern, we headed to our next destination, something that has been on my wish list for a long time- the Wigwam Village motel!
Okay, history time! The Wigwam Village Inn #2 was created by Frank Redford in 1937. Around that time 6 other Wigwam Village inns were built in Alabama, Florida, New Orleans, California and Arizona (including the one I saw on my road trip to Painted Desert and Petrified Forest), with the first Wigwam Village being completed in nearby Horse Cave, Kentucky. Only three Wigwam Villages remain, and I was so excited to be staying in one.
When we arrived we saw the large main building, standing 52 feet tall. This originally housing a restaurant and gift shop that are since closed. There are 15 smaller wigwams that can be stayed in, complete with furnishings from the 1930s. Not exactly plush or lavish (we only had a space heater to keep us warm), and it wasn’t the most comfortable sleep I’ve ever had, but I loved it!
The next morning our destination was Mammoth Cave, but along the way we ran into some dinosaurs! It was definitely a unique Kentucky sighting.
Mammoth Cave National Park
We arrived at Mammoth cave at 9. Most tours need to be booked in advance, but we did the basic Mammoth Passage tour. This tour didn’t need advance reservations, so we were able to do a 9:30 tour. There are many tours available, so be sure to look into it before you go by visiting their website.
Mammoth Cave is the largest cave system in the world. The park was established in 1941, became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and covers over 52 thousand acres. There are over 405 miles of surveyed passageways. I’ll spare you all the details, but we learned a lot of history about the caves. It was a very informative tour!
Some details before your visit- the caves stay 54 degrees all the time, there is no flash photography permitted (hence my grainy photos and attempt at a selfie), and no pets or strollers are permitted. I definitely recommend it! The park itself is open 24 hours, and you can camp here! The hours for visiting the actual caves are limited to when tours are offered, so again, make sure to visit the website before you go.
Our tour lasted about 1.5 hours, and then we headed to watch the BIG game. We landed in Elizabethtown, Kentucky where we got to watch OSU defeat Michigan- Go Bucks!
Smith-Berry Winery
On the way home we were looking at all the brown roadside attraction signs to find the next place we could stop. That is how we saw a sign for a winery called Smith-Berry located in New Castle. Because of the name (the same as my travel bud), we had to stop and do a wine tasting.
One last attraction
A trip isn’t complete without a gas station attraction, right? How about the stuffed wildcat chasing a cardinal that we found at a BP (another suggestion from the road trip website). This stop also enabled me to get my awesome roadtrip buddy the hostess yellow cupcake he’d been craving. Seriously, he played the tambourine and kazoo like a champion! And he put up with all my singing and driving skills. On this trip we had an absolute blast- thanks Adam!
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and maybe got some ideas for your next trip to Kentucky. Make sure to leave a comment, and let me know if you have any great road trip ideas for me!
