Happy Thankful Thursday

Happy Thankful Thursday!



On May 5th and 6th we toured and hiked more of Mammoth Cave National Park we also took a tour of the Diamond Caverns just outside the park entrance. We hiked on the Green River Bluff trail had beautiful views of the river and forest in the park. 

The Green River a day after the big rain storm. The river is muddy and not the green color from the day before.

One of the few raptors I saw on my road trip. I am not sure of the id.

A female Eastern Towhee

Diamond Caverns is a public cave outside the Mammoth Cave National Park. Diamond Caverns has been offering tours for 155 years.

The some of the ceiling in the Diamond Caverns.

Below are various cave formations found in the Diamond Caverns.

The water dripping constantly keeps the cave growing.  I think the drips on the bottom right look neat.

The shapes and formations are beautiful.

Amazing drapery formation was very pretty.

We did not see any of the bats in the caves, I would not mind seeing them hanging from the cave ceiling.  White-nose Syndrome is a disease that is killing bat populations and spreading in the USA. The loss of millions of bats is bad news as they devour millions of insect pests and have a role in pollination.

I was thankful there were lights inside this cave and our cave guide was great.

I am thankful for the beauty above and below the ground.

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 

Thank you Michelle for hostingHappy Monday, enjoy your day and new week! Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Mammoth Cave National Park, Frozen Niagara

Hello and happy Monday everyone.

These are photos from our road trip and visit to Mammoth Cave National Park on May 4-7. On May 5th hubby and I had reserved a cave tour called the Frozen Niagara. The tour lasted 1 hour 15 minutes, we were taken by bus to the cave entrance.

Mammoth Caves are known for their big rooms, this Frozen Niagara tour took us into an area that has some pretty cave decorations.

This was the wettest day on our trip, Kentucky received 3 inches of rain and it was the day of the Kentucky Derby. A rainy day was a good day to be inside the caves, no rain there!

 Not too many steps on this tour, we picked this tour because it described as one of the more decorated sections of the cave. 

A Cave Cricket, important for the cave's ecosystem.

Outside the cave at the Sloan's Crossing Pond, we took a short loop walk around this pond in the park. I did see a couple of Wood Ducks with ducklings. They hid quickly in the reeds.

Rain drops keep falling on my head, lol. Are you familiar with the BJ Thomas song?

Honeysuckle

 The following day hubby took the Historic Tour which was two hours, during that time I went on an easy hike and did some birding. 

I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. I wish everyone a great new week ahead.

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

I hope to see you there. Thanks to the host today. 

As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

Saturday's Critters # 235

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads! 

If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

Can a birder have two spark birds? If so I would say it is a toss up between the Eastern Bluebird and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  All it takes was just one look. Spark bird, it is when a casual observance became an obsession over the birds. That's me, I am addicted to birds. Have you had a spark moment, a spark bird?

The Eastern Bluebird, my spark bird. One day I watched out my window at the Bluebirds checking out all the bird houses in my yard.  They were only house hunting and chose to find another home in someone else's yard. This is my unhappy face :(


I think the male above is telling his partner to go inside and check out my bird house.

Go ahead inside, what are you waiting for?

Now, the female is telling the male to go inside and check out the next house.

It is all about the location, location location.

Now, he is thinking his partner is just too picky. What is wrong with these two beautiful houses, they are right next to the blueberry bushes.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments ! 

Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Around the Neighborhood

Happy Thankful Thursday! 

Photos from May 25-June 4th.

These are some images from our walks on the local fire road and to the lake. We had so many rainy cloudy days in a row, we were happy to finally see the sun shining. Time to get outside for a walk!

If you look closely you can see the beak and eye of an Acadian Flycatcher. This nest was seen just of the fire road. 

"Love your Mother Earth."

A pretty sky reflection on our lake. 

A Red-eyed Vireo seen off the fire road. 

I am pretty sure this is an Eastern Phoebe, they are known to have a yellowish belly.

Barred Owl sighted just off the fire road. 

A view of the fire road, it is lined with pretty ferns along the way. 

"Weeds are a flowers too, once you get to know them." Eeyore

A pretty weed, a pretty flower. 

We went off the fire road to walk to the lake and came across this big Black Rat Snake. 

Another fire road walk took us to a view of the Bald Eagles nest across the lake. Not the best shot, it was too far away but you can see two juvenile eagles on the nest.

Across the way, in one of those trees is the Bald Eagles nest.  

Another look at the lake before walking home.

"May your life be like a wildflower, grow freely in the beauty and joy of each day."  Native American Proverb

I am thankful for the rain but also for the sunshine.

I am thankful for each new day.

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 

Thank you Michelle for hostingHappy Monday, enjoy your day and new week! Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Mammoth Cave National Park

Happy Monday everyone! I wish all a great day and new week!

These photos were taken May 4th & 5th.
The Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky was one of the highlights of our road trip. Mammoth Cave NP is located at the Cave City exit off of Route 65. We picked a hotel off of Rt 65 in Bowling Green Kentucky which was 26 miles from the park entrance.

Tours through the cave are so popular we reserved our tours a month or so before our trip. The Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world, with over 400 miles explored. We spent 2 nights and 3 days in the area, exploring the cave and went on some hikes in the park.

Images are from  our first afternoon in Mammoth Cave NP, we walked down the trail to the Green River and to see the opening for the Historic Entrance of the cave. I noticed a lot of wildflowers along the trail, wild turkeys were seen on the road into the park, birds nest , Indigo Bunting silhouette, trail sign.

This is the trail down to the Green River and to the Historic Entrance of the Mammoth Cave.

Down the steps is the Historic Cave entrance. Hubby had a reservation to take the guided tour the next morning.

The Green River, it really is green.

Not open to the public, but below is a wet entrance/exit into or out of the cave. It reminds me of a trip & cruise we took years ago, stopping in Belize we went on a river caving excursion.

We saw a few deer laying on the ground off the trail.

The wild turkeys were one of the birds we saw often, mostly along the park road.

I will share more of the Mammoth Cave tours on another post. Hubby is a spelunker, which is a person who likes to explore caves.  We have also been to Carlsbad Caves in New Mexico, you can check out my post on Carlsbad by clicking on the sidebar link.




 I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

I hope to see you there. Thanks to the host today. Enjoy your day.

As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.