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Well, that gets your attention. Spotted in a Tennessee rest area
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Add another state to our tally . . .
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The National Corvette Musuem in Bowling Green is a mecca for Corvette owners
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There's at least one of every model Corvette ever made
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This 1989 ZR-1 set a world record of 175.885 mph avg over 24 hrs.
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The Dale Earnhart Jr Connection . . .
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This one set another world record for a single lap of the Neurburgring in Germany by a stock automobile
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What happens when you crash-test a Vette - the passenger compartment stays intact
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A wonderful mural made up of thousands of little pictures of Corvettes
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The mural looks best from further away
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The two white Vettes are the oldest and the newest models
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As the sign says - the only 1983 Vette ever. After showing this one at an auto show, it was decided to hold the model until '84
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These have been great looking cars since day one . . .
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All of the mannequins are life-like copies of real Corvette executives . . .
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The displays are creative. We also like the gas price . . .
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There was a very impressive display of Indy 500 pace cars . . .
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Many special paint jobs
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Some customized models
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Only four of these 1984 Greenwood Daytona Turbos were ever built . . it sold for $53,000 then
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That sexy beast is a 1968 Astro-Vette concept car. Next we move underground . .
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The entrance to the Hidden River Cavern
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Five days before our tour, the cave was still flooded to about 40ft above this water level.
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Mammoth Cave is the big daddy of all caves. No fossil mammoths - it's just plain huge
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Behind that door is a staircase - more like a ladder - 200 steps down, down, down . . .
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There are almost 400 miles of mapped passages. That hole is one of them that we didn't take
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We went through a lot of tight spaces
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The prettiest part of the cave is called Frozen Niagara . . .
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This is the only part of the cave with any drip-formed formations
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Water from the surface carries minute quantities of acid, which dissolves the limestone and leaves these calcite deposits
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They call this formation drapery
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The cave is minimally lit, with wonderful effects
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About the only life we saw in the cave - one spider
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Up the road, a very nice commercial cave
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It's a very wet cave with some spectacular formations
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They call this a "golf ball ceiling" . . .
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That's one of the original passages before they opened some others for us civilians
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Even the Mammoth Cave rangers will tell you this is one of the prettiest caves in the area
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Back when it was legal, you could cut stalagmites. This is a vertical cross-section of one
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Here's a horizontal cross section of a stalagmite
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Today it's illegal to deface a cave formation
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The flowstone is beautiful
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There are no diamonds in Diamond Caverns, but the sparkling quartz made the discoverers think there were
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You have to look quickly or you'll miss things like this
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This passage was just slightly smaller than Al
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It's a wonderland
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Now we're back in Mammoth Cave on another tour. Our guide orients us
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Interesting calcite formations on the ceiling . .
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Back then, visitors would leave graffiti with candle-smoke
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This tour involved a two-mile hike through passages like this one
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You get a sense of how big this cave is after a half-mile or so.
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About a mile in, we stopped for lunch . .
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At least we didn't have to pack our own . . .
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They called the lunch spot the Snowball Room, because of this ceiling . . .
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This tour was 185 steps down a stairway, two mile walk in the cave, and then back up that blessed stairway.
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Proof we made it back out. We weren't the only ones pooped
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This is the "historic" entrance to Mammoth cave
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The wide openings in the gate let the bats fly to and fro
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Looking back out the historic entrance
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Fun stuff - we found a Wigwam Motel in Cave City.
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There are apparently still a few of these left, and this one had customers
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This "bulgy barn" shape is popular in this area
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Ok then, we'll abandon almost all hope as we enter
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That's "The" Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green KY - a very traditional church
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OK, back to the caves . . . this one's accessible only by boat
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We killed some time in their butterfly enclosure
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The Monarchs were very busy
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There were several species about
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The cave is accessible because the roof of an underground river collapsed many years ago, leaving a few "Blue Holes"
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Recent flooding had not completely subsided - so we had to duck going in
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In fact, the cave had been fully flooded 10 days before we toured, and had been open just a few days
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We toured on boats like these . . .
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Mostly we floated around and looked at rocks, and sometimes the rocks were very nice
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Back at the entrance, the spillway for an old electric plant, which still works
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On to Lexington, where they'll host these games later this year
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Mary Todd grew up in this house, later moved to Illinois and married Abraham Lincoln. We toured the house
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No pictures inside, alas, but it's a very nice home with period furnishings - we heard great historical anecdotes
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We stayed a week at the Kentucky Horse Park . . .
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There are many statues of great race horses about . . .
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The greatest horse of all, they say, was Man O' War, buried under this statue
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We couldn't take pictures inside the museum that had a fascinating display of the history of man's relationships with horses
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The park features a daily "Parade of Breeds", showing off several different breeds of horses
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Each of the horses had different characteristics and different gaits
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The Mustang was well received, probably because it galloped
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Costumed riders helped show off the heritage of the various breeds
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Somebody spends a lot of time on that mane and tail . . .
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The Arabian is thought to be the oldest domesticated breed in the world
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These huge horses were used in jousting by the knights of olde
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Finally, a curtain call . . .
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Followed by a meet-n-greet
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There are many horses in residence at the park, including these miniatures
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A few miles from Lexington is the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, a preserved and restored Shaker settlement
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We began our visit with a delightful lunch in the restored Trustee's Office
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The Shakers were a devout, practical group who believed their work was an everyday act of worship
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They lived a communal life, practiced celibacy (which is one reason there are very few left) and built very well
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They lived in "families" in houses like this one, which could house about 100 adults
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One source of income was the sale of seeds from their excellent crops
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Almost everything they needed was made in the village, including shoes
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An early wheeled chair in the infirmary
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A beehive oven, used for baking
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A loom for making the straps used to weave chair seats
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Men and women slept on separate sides of the building, usually 6 to a room
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A guide explains a "modern" bake oven adoped by the Shakers . . .
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Separate doors to the residence, one for each sex. Separation minimized "carnal contact"
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We saw a most wonderful demonstration of Shaker song and dance . . .
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When the village was restored, US Hiway 68 was moved to restore this main street . . .
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We never realized that oxen had to be trained when young. These little guys are just learning . . .
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There were many craftsfolk demonstrating. The broom maker was very busy
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The cooper doesn't just make barrels and buckets. This will become a walking stick
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A docent demonstrates the indoor laundry facilities . . .
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This lady was just learning to spin . . .
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Wool from the village sheep is used to make thread
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Judy was fascinated by these old stone fences - made 200 years ago with no mortar
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As we left, we spotted the beekeeper tending his hive . . .
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The Henry Clay Estate, with the rebuilt home of Kentucky's favorite son. Again, no pictures inside
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So we took this one of the restored estate foreman's house
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We'll end on this shot of a castle along the road near Versailles KY. It's a luxury hotel these days . . .