Help with our planning please!

We need help planning our 2009 summer vacation. We will be leaving on a Thursday afternoon and staying in Lebanon, Indiana that night and then leaving for Kentucky early Friday morning.

What are some activities we should make sure we hit before we leave Kentucky. Here are some of the areas we are thinking of visting:

Civil War Museum - Bardstown

Jim Beam American Outpost - Clermont

Camp wildcat Civil War Battlefield - London (we are unsure about this since we can%26#39;t find any reviews or even a website)

Cumberland Falls State Park - Corbin

Cumberland Gap National Historic Park - Middlesboro

Mammoth Cave National Park (we are also unsure about this since we have read some bad reviews on the crowds and lack of cave beauty, I am afraid our kids will not enjoy it much since we have been in other caves before and have seen many pretty things)

Is there anything else we should see or things on our list that we should avoid? We will be arriving in Bardstown around 9 am friday and would like to be close to Cumberland Gap that night so we can do it Saturaday morning and then head on to the Smokies.

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!!

Help with our planning please!

I should have probably mentioned that we like hiking (3/4 mile max with the kids), historical sights, and waterfalls. We like to avoid tourist traps and crowds as much as possible.

Help with our planning please!

A couple of years ago we did a Kentucky trip and this is what we did. We love history and the outdoors.

Corvette Museum

Mammoth Cave National Park- kids did enjoy it

Louisville Slugger Bat company and museum

Lincoln%26#39;s Birthplace and museum

Shaker Village- great food at their restaurant

Paddle boat ride on Kentucky River

Kentucky Horse Park and Museum in Lexington

Enjoy your trip!!

My experience in Kentucky is somewhat limited, but I am very familiar with Mammoth Cave. I think your kids would enjoy it as long as everyone understands that Mammoth is known for its size, not its formations. Since you are interested in seeing the formations (who isn%26#39;t?), I%26#39;d recommend taking a tour that will put you in the drapery room. The new entrance, Grand Avenue, and Frozen Niagara tours are three that will fit the bill. The Grand Avenue is the most inclusive and covers around 4 miles and lasts about 4 hours. There are lunch and bathroom breaks. The Frozen Niagara is much shorter and pretty much shows you mainly the formations. We also saw Diamond Caverns, Kentucky Down Under, and Beech Bend Park.

If you decide to go to Mammoth, be sure to have advance reservations, as the tours sell out quickly.

It seems like you have somewhat limited time, so you might be fine tuning your list a bit. I%26#39;m sure locals will help you in this regard. Have fun planning.

Here%26#39;s some info %26amp; directions to Camp Wildcat. It%26#39;s actually between London %26amp; Livingston.

fs.fed.us/r8/…wildcat.shtml

You%26#39;re going to have a very, very busy trip, indeed. How old are the kids?

Mammoth Cave park in the summer offers a special introduction to caving just for kids. It is usually on Saturday mornings, but sometimes more often.

Also, on the northern side of the Green River, the park offers lots of hiking trails.

You could easily swing down to Bowling Green and see the Corvette Museum. If you%26#39;re planning on driving I-65 to the Cumberland Parkway via Glasgow to get to Cumberland Gap, then the Vette Museum is only a short bit out of your way.

You might also consider stopping around Pineville and the narrows of the Cumberland River there.

Sorry I should have mentioned the kids are 6, 4, and 2. We went to Yellowstone last year and found that the 3/4 mile mark is as far as we can go.

The Trog Tour at Mammoth Cave is the one for children, and the age limits are 8-12.

I%26#39;d recommend for you the Discovery Tour or the Frozen Niagara Tour. By the way, all the tours are detailed on the Mammoth Cave Park website, nps.gov/maca/ (cave tours at www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/cavetours.htm).

Coming down I-65, at the Horse Cave Exit, the Kentucky Down Under theme park might be interesting. It even has a petting zoo where the kids can interact with kangaroos. Their website is www.kdu.com.

With children that young, please be aware that the drive from Mammoth Cave Park to Cumberland Gap is going to be 5 hours. For me, it is a beautiful drive, but I%26#39;m not 4 years old (although there are those who tell me I sometimes act like it - lol).

Bardstown to Cumberland Falls to Cumberland Gap is, in and of itself, a long day of driving. I%26#39;ve driven from Cumberland Gap to Cumberland Falls, and it is also a beautiful drive for me. But a significant part goes through Daniel Boone National Forest and is a winding two-lane road.

The driving is really of no big deal for our kids. We drove through the Bear Tooth Mountains on the way home from Yellowstone and the kids were fine. They also like to look at the scenery. We ended up driving 16 hours straight with the 3 kids from Montana to Wisconsin in 1 day only stopping for gas and food. So, we are okay with a drive.

We are looking for senic and historical activities while in Kentucky only because after the Smokies we are heading to Daytona Beach and t.hen Walt Disney World. So there will be enough kid activities later in the trip.

We are going to skip the Wildcat Battlefieldas it is out of the way and doesn%26#39;t look like much. Are the Cumberland falls (all we would do would be to look at the one main falls with the moonbow and then leave) worth the stop or should we keep going?

I think the falls are worth it. The moonbow is only in the evening, however, and the moon has to be out that night. But even during the day, the falls are quite impressive.

There is a lodge at the falls where they serve a nice buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It sounds like your kids are great at travelling, so you should be able to enjoy the drive. There are some beautiful sights.

Thanks for all the help. With all the comments I have gotten in the Kentucky and Smoky Mountain forums, we have decided to seperate our Florida trip from the plans.

We will do Disney World and the ocean this year and then devote the next trip to this area so we have more time!

Thanks to everyone!