Day two! More gray clouds and light rain, but our plan for the morning was to visit the Mega Cavern, so the rain wasn’t going to stop us!

I had bought tickets for the 10 am tram tour at the Mega Cavern before we left, and also called regarding accessibility for Wyatt as well. So when we got there, we noticed that they had the ADA tram all ready and waiting which was great! We had gotten there a bit early, so we hung out in the large cavern waiting room, that had the service counter, the gift shop and fake buildings on one side, tables and cornhole in the middle, and their ropes course at the other side. It was 9/11 and the tvs were on as well, so we were able to watch and listen to some of the memorial broadcasts while we waited.

The Mega Cavern is not a cave, technically. It is a man made cavern that was left behind after its prior life as a limestone quarry. However, it was close enough for Wyatt and that is what mattered to me. Natural caves are not exactly the most wheelchair accessible, so I was excited to find this place, with its tram tour.

Wyatt had so much fun on it. It was properly dark and cool and damp, and we were definitely underground. It doesn’t go too far underground anymore, as it has been filled in quite a bit for safety reasons. It had previously had pillars over 100 feet tall, with bands of shale, which are unstable. Now the place houses activities besides the tram tour, including an underground zip line and ropes course.

It has had an interesting history. A limestone quarry, a place for residents and businesses to leave fill dirt, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was designated as a fallout shelter. It was supposed to house over 78,000 people and was by invite only. And if you told someone you got an invite, it was revoked! Yikes. Now it is an adventure type center, and also has drive through Christmas lights at the holidays.

This was Wyatt’s favorite adventure of our trip, and that just made me so happy. He even asked a question at the end! He asked whether they had ever seen a bear in the cave, which they have not, but they have seen deer, coyotes, and owls.

After we left, we missed the street we needed and ended up turning around in a cemetery. I decided to google really quickly if anyone famous was buried there (my cousin Brian visits lots of historic graves and I was inspired). And there were. We were at Cave Hill Cemetery, which is the final resting spot of Muhammad Ali and Col. Sanders. We found the grave of Col. Sanders but we couldn’t find Muhammad Ali. I was however drawn to a grave near Col. Sanders, that belonged to Harry Leon Collins, who had been a magician. It was a very ornate cemetery, with giant mausoleums that had stained glass, statues; it was pretty fancy and obviously for wealthier people. It was an interesting little detour before we continued on to our destination, an art store and book store.

That big tall grave and statue is for a man named Joseph Denunzio, who apparently was started a prosperous fruit trade, and became very wealthy. However, he was known for all of his good works, like donating fruit baskets to people in the hospital and contributing to many charity organizations.

Our actual stop was supposed to be in Germantown. Thanks to Tammy at Bones, Books and Buffy, I had learned that there was an all horror bookstore called Butcher Cabin Books. Wyatt also likes spooky books so it was perfect for us both. And it did not disappoint! It is both creepy yet welcoming, and seemed to do a good business, at least while we were there. It is owned and managed by Jenny Kiefer, author of Crafting for Sinners. She was not there the day we stopped by, but I did get a signed copy of her book!

We also ducked into a local art store, and an oddities store named Unorthodox. It was pretty cool too! Wyatt got a Kentucky Cryptids print for his room, and I picked up a bracelet made of buffalo bone for my friend’s daughter who is into things like that.

We were ready for a siesta by this point, and all that was left on our dance card for the day was dinner later in the evening. So we headed back to our hotel, hung out for a bit, before walking to dinner at Doc Crows.

It was another great day in Louisville, and our only full day there, but I still feel that we saw and did so much!

I have one more post to share with you tomorrow, all about our experience at Churchill Downs!