Caving and Camping and Horses
- Vicky
- Aug 6
- 8 min read
In July 2025, we decided to go on a family trip to Kentucky. More specifically the Mammoth Cave area. Michael and I had gone to Mammoth Cave for a few days back in September 2020. We both loved it and wanted to go again. This time we went with our pop-up and our toddler, Lizzy.
We stayed at Horse Cave KOA. The nicest campground bathrooms I have ever seen. The most terrible site ever. It was a glorified parking lot. This year my picks on campsites have been lacking. This was probably better than Lincoln since we got some shade occasionally, but definitely not during the afternoon when we arrived. It was humid and hot.
Day 1 (Sunday)
After church in the morning. We got ready to go to a cave tour. But first I noticed that a booger I had seen the night before while in the pool with Lizzy was still well in her nose. I then notice it didn’t actually look like a booger but a rubber band. So, with some tweezers I pulled out a small rubber band from my child’s nose. That was a fun start of the day where my heart is racing with worry about Lizzy. This might foreshadow the last day…so stay tuned for that.
Back to the cave tour. We decided since it was early that we’d do the Hidden River Cave and American Cave Museum. We got a “private” tour with guide Liam, who told us some history but really just let us explore the cave since Lizzy was excited about going underground. She was less excited about what’s called “cave kisses” water dripping from the cave.
Hidden River Cave is in the heart of “downtown” Horse Cave. It has remains of the old hydroelectric generating system that once suppled the town with water and electricity. We really enjoyed the layback tour style with Lizzy. She insisted on being carried by Michael the entire time. Even over the world’s longest underground swinging suspension bridge at 90 feet long, which is really the only underground swinging suspension bridge. The tour takes you through a few different dome rooms. The largest at the end is Sunset Dome.
We ended the tour by going to the American Cave Museum which tells of Floyd Collins who died from exposure from exploring a local cave in the area that would be Mammoth Cave National Park the incident earned major national news in the 1920s as they tried to rescue him. This museum also had some eyeless fish and showed the efforts it took to clean Hidden River Cave.
Day 2
Lizzy loves travel brochures or as she called a few of them “treasure maps.” She insisted we go see animals. So, with two mini zoos to pick Kentucky Down Under or Dutch Country Safari Park. Lizzy picked Kentucky Down Under.
Kentucky Down Under as the name suggest is an Australia-themed animal park. There are golf carts to rent to go around, honestly we don’t recommend them. The first hill looks intimidating, but it’s doable even with a toddler. Lizzy had two things she wanted to see Wolves and Kangaroos both of which are there. This adventure zoo also had a cave, Mammoth Onyx Cave.
We first saw a few animals and birds and of course the gray wolves. Lizzy was very interested in the birds especially wondering where their mommy and daddy were or if they were mommy and daddy. After a visit through the bird garden, we went on the cave tour which is included in the price of admission. Mammoth Onyx Cave is a cool 58 degrees, and small but still impressive. This cave was discovered in 1799 by a 10-year girl. Later it was open to the public in the 1920s and was owned by the same man who owned Hidden River Cave.
After the tour we got some feeding tokens and went to the little café on site. For being a little café in a tiny zoo, it was really good. Michael got a cheeseburger and I got a chicken salad sandwich. Lizzy got to share our sandwiches.
We then fed the lorries, which honestly was my favorite part. The birds fly right to and land on you as the eat the feed. Lizzy loved it too.
Our next spot was the Outback a large open field where kangaroos and emus roam freely. You are able to feed and pet the kangaroos, as well as feed the emus. Lizzy liked the kangaroos. Their fur is actually surprisingly soft. However, the emus are terrifying. We tried to avoid the emus but they were attracted to those who had food. Lizzy screamed loud in the face of one emu. Michael had to take her out while I finish up feeding either emus or kangaroos.
The third feeding spot is the petting zoo with its goats, horses, and cow. Lizzy pointed out which goat we had to feed. She also really wanted to feed the calf. Michael was able to feed the cow. Later after our food was gone, she saw the horse and was upset we didn’t have any more food to feed the horse.
After looking at the time I noticed it was close to sheep herding program, where you watch a sheep dog herd some of the sheep. Lizzy sat on my shoulders and tried snapping her fingers like the lady who was demonstrating. Lizzy decided that she wanted to do this.
From here we went on the nature walk which has a few animals along but mostly it’s just the woods. Lizzy read the map. For a small zoo, their map was really good. It had pictures and was really accurate. Lizzy was able to actually figure out where were based on the pictures.
As we left, we said bye to Calvin the camel and Lizzy got a fox stuffie. Whose name constantly changed from Fox to Todd to Copper, and now Swiper.
We got ice cream from across the parking lot at Farmwald’s Dutch Bakery & Deli.
Day 3
Today we started early so had to do a waste some time at Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum which I thought was showcasing taxidermied animals from around the Mammoth Cave area. Well, no that’s not the case since lions, tigers, and polar bears do not live in the area.
There are actually a surprising number of displays and Lizzy named them all Mommy or Daddy or if they were smaller Lizzy or Baby. Lizzy’s favorite part was the horse ride.
From here we went to Crystal Onyx Cave. A cave Michael and I visited back in 2020 on a whim. We loved it so much we wanted to go back. Lizzy chanted “More cave, more cave.” The tour was the lower section of the cave which we had done part of it in 2020. Lizzy also was quick to spot cave crickets, which are slightly terrifying to see at first.
We ended the day by jumping on the KOA’s bounce pillow and seeing the KOA horse.
Day 4
We spent the whole of day at Mammoth Cave National Park and we were wearing matching shirts that Lizzy and I tie-dyed for the trip. We started the day with the Discovery Tour, which is a self-guided tour through the historic entrance. I thought this was a better option then the whole guided history tour since we got to go at our own pace.
After going through the cave, we hiked down to the River Styx. At first it was hard to convince Lizzy to walk but there are rocks along the trail and we made a game of it. It was hot and the journey up Michael had acquired a backpack, Lizzy. Luckily, we stopped at the natural air conditioning that is the entrance of the cave. We ate lunch at the café and explored the gift shops. Lizzy picked out the press penny and told Michael that she required a helmet.
Said helmet cost $30. She said she wanted it to be yellow because her hair is yellow and she likes yellow. That she needed it to explore caves because it has a light. Also this helmet will help her not lose momma or daddy because she could see in the dark. She was very thorough on why she needed this helmet. We told her if you behave exceptionally well you might get the helmet.
We stopped for ice cream, looked at the old train that used to take people to Mammoth Cave. We also worked on the Junior Ranger book because though the badges were out (I was upset about that) there were stickers. And to a toddler, stickers are everything.
We still had some time to burn so went on a hike towards Dixion Cave. Lizzy hiked most of the trail and earned a yellow helmet.
Our final tour of the day was the Frozen Niagara. Lizzy was excited about one having her helmet and two riding a green school bus. Frozen Niagara is a more decorated section of Mammoth cave compared to the historic section with more stalactites and flowstone resembling a frozen waterfall. Lizzy by this time learned what stalactites were and were able to point them out to us.
Day 5
This day we decided to not visit a cave. We drove to Louisville, Kentucky to Churchill Downs to do the Kentucky Derby Museum.
Michael and I have done this museum before and knew Lizzy would love it since she currently likes horses. Well, we made a drastic error. We had planned on doing other things this day like going to a few distilleries in Louisville. However, Lizzy loved watching the various Kentucky Derbies throughout history and seeing the trophies and anything related to horses. You get to tour by the track. She was greatly unimpressed that there was not a horserace going on as she kept asking us “where the race” or “where the horses.”
We had lunch at the Kentucky Derby Museum, Derby Café. Michael had the Cedar Creek Farm Cheeseburger which was really good, I had Kentucky Burgoo Soup which is a Kentucky classic stew. I also ordered myself a mint julep which comes with a specialty glass of all Derby winners. Lizzy being a toddler had fries though we ordered her chicken fingers.
The museum also has two horses in their stables that you can go visit. Camp Hope a thoroughbred who had 25 starts and his last race at Churchill Downs was in November 2024. His companion is Mighty Aristides “Ari” who is a miniature horse named after the first Derby winner in 1875.
It was beginning to rain as we left so we decided with how late it was we would start heading back to the campground. On our way we decided to stop by Wight-Meyer Vineyard for a quick tasting.
Day 6
We got up early-ish to pack up before the rain. It had been raining off and on throughout our trip. The morning was sunny and by 8:30am our pop-up was dry. So, we were getting things ready to be put in the pop-up. Lizzy was very sad about not camping anymore. We were making good time as the rain was expected to hit around 11 or noon.
Then Lizzy fell backwards onto the gravel. The back of her head was covered in red like we dyed her blonde hair red. And there was a puddle on the ground from where she fell. So, we cleaned her up and took her to the hospital. She was fine wondering where we were going and that her head hurt a little bit. After a bit she got a probably very expensive souvenir of a staple.
When we got back, I noticed dark clouds coming over the hills. We got Lizzy into the car and rushed to take down our bug tent and pop-up down before the storm hit... We didn’t make it. Michael and I looked like we took showers in our clothes and tennis shoes.
After an hour drive, we made it to a gas station. We sloshed into the gas station with questionable looks. Two very soaking wet adults and a dry toddler with matted hair that if anyone looked close enough, they might see dried blood. Her shirt luckily was red.
Overall, the trip was good. Just a bit too wet at times. It was fun seeing what Lizzy learned from the trip. Also Michael and I enjoyed seeing a different part of Mammoth Cave and visiting old spots again.