Ben and I had been to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky when we were both kids. It is the world’s longest cave system (currently 420 miles mapped) and we thought the kids would enjoy seeing it.
The Mammoth Cave National Park has a nice Visitor Center with bathrooms, ticket booths, a gift shop, and a book shop (basically another version of a gift shop). There is another smaller gift shop in a trailer outside. There are spots to eat lunch outside as well.
MAMMOTH CAVE TOUR
We booked tickets for the extended historic tour ($92 for 4 tickets). Book your tickets early and online! When we went, there was only 1 tour that wasn’t completely sold out (over the course of two days).
Will is our history buff, so we thought he would enjoy the history tour. We got to see the old mining equipment that had been left there for saltpeter and a house that was part of an experimental tuberculosis hospital.
The tour is listed as moderate, but we found the 2-hour tour to be pretty easy. There was some stooping and bending with a tight squeeze in Fat Man’s Misery, but it was a relatively slow walk (Ben’s watch said it was a 42-minute/mile pace). There was some uneven ground, which could be tricky in the low light if you have bad ankles/knees or balance issues. There were also some stairs. Ben’s note: At 5’10” and 260 Fat Man’s Misery (narrowest part) was more fun than scary. I found this and Tall Man’s Misery the best part of the tour as you felt like you were actually caving.
The black writing on the ceilings is old-school graffiti, made from candle smoke. There was a bathroom down in the cave, but it is a while to get to it, so I would definitely recommend going before your tour (some tours do not go by the bathroom!).
It was pretty, but I found Carlsbad Cavern a much better experience overall. I felt rushed during Mammoth; the tour guide pretty much said this wasn’t a picture-taking tour and he would not be stopping for long. Without being able to use the flash (to preserve the cave and its creatures), taking pictures can take a little bit of time. I didn’t want to hold up the group, so I did not get very many. Carlsbad had an audio self-guided tour, so we could go more at our own pace and were able to take more pictures. The monochromatic interior of Mammoth Cave and the lack of copious Stalagmites and Stalagtites left me wanting more. The main plus is that Carlsbad is very desolate and tough to get to, whereas Mammoth Cave is fairly close for many visitors and has a more built-up infrastructure around it. We did see a cave cricket and a bat in Mammoth though, whereas we didn’t see any at Carlsbad (we were a month too late for the bats). Now, to be clear, we saw pictures of different cave features that are supposed to be in Mammoth Cave on postcards and posters, so it may have just been the tour we were on that lacked a lot of cave features.
SAND CAVE HIKE
Mammoth Cave Rating: 3 stars out of 5 (Will liked it the most.)
We got up at 6:45 AM to beat the crowd at Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe. We rolled out of the hotel around 7:30. A fog hung in the air still, which gave the cityscape a different look from the day before. On the walk to breakfast, Nick suggested we stop at the Bean and get pictures. Yesterday Millenium park was crazy with a festival, but this morning it was empty. In fact, the whole city was nearly empty at this hour on a Sunday morning. It made for easy pictures.
We got immediate seating at Wildberry which was a great surprise since many reviews called out wait times over 2 hours on a Sunday. Nick got the Oreo S’more pancakes. I got the egg white veggie omelet with a side pancake (Key Lime pie). Everything was delicious. I couldn’t even finish my whole omelet.
Nick wanted to do the Architectural boat tour, so I put him to work booking us tickets. We took a short 1.25 mile walk to the boat. The end cost for a 90-minute tour was $121 ($116+$5tip).
The boat was the Ft. Dearborn, named after the fort that started Chicago. Marshal was our docent (tour guide) on the boat tour. Captain Carol drove the boat. We explored all 3 branches of the Chicago River. It was very educational and neat to learn the difference between “Modern” architecture (Modern architecture has a flat roof and no ornamentation) vs. the other styles. We did learn an interesting fact about the Chicago flag as well.
Chicago borders Lake Michigan on the East. Chicago’s name comes from the smelly wild onion plants that used to blossom on the shores. In the Native American language, it sounds somewhat like Chicago. Willis Tower was constructed with a tube construction (9 towers bundled together to fight the wind). They dubbed the area around the rivers as “From warehouse to our house.” (Conversion of river warehouses to upscale apartments and condos).
Next, since we were close, we walked to Navy Pier. It was pretty lame. But on our way out we shared our first Chicago dog from Relish ($6). It comes with jalapeño, pickle, celery salt, mustard, relish, tomato, cucumber, and of course the all-beef hotdog. We both liked it a lot. Which was strange for me because I don’t normally like mustard, relish, jalapeños, or pickles. Who knew I would like it when you shove them all together?
On our way to the Magnificent Mile, we detoured to see a beach at Lake Michigan. People had donned wet suits and were swimming in the lake. It was 60F and windy. These are some tough people.
We wandered the Magnificent Mile. We stopped at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, which was an insane 5-story Starbucks that we had to wait in line to get into. We didn’t buy anything because it was nuts inside, but they did have a tempting flight of Starbucks-themed martinis and a silk-lined blazer made from coffee bean bags for just $525. Unfortunately, they didn’t have my size.
We souvenir shopped our way back to the hotel area, picking up a Cubs hat for me and postcards.
We stopped at the Buckingham Fountain for the quintessential Chicago picture. Nick noted that the horses look like they are vomiting and are surprised about it. Strangely I agree.
We walked over 9 miles before stopping back at the hotel to rest before dinner. When I told Nick we were over 20,000 steps, he said, “No wonder my feet hurt.”
Ben and I had both seen the movie Shawshank Redemption many years ago. (Who hasn’t at this point?) With our post-trip adventure spirit of wanting to see new things, we decided to finally see the Ohio State Reformatory (aka the OSR). What do the two have in common? Parts of Shawshank were filmed at the OSR. The Ohio State Reformatory closed in 1990, after a lawsuit filed by prisoners citing conditions and overcrowding.
The prison does not have all of the outbuildings anymore, but the main building is still standing. The architecture is amazing and gives an imposing castle-like appearance.
(Ohio State Reformatory (OSR) Exterior Images: click to enlarge)
(OSR Interior Images, Tour Details, Handcuff queue barrier: click to enlarge)
(OSR Interior Images: click to enlarge)
There are two wings to the prison: East Block and West Block. The East Block was the second cell block built and holds the record for being the “largest free-standing steel cell block“. The West Block was built first and is made with concrete. This part of the prison was supposedly better for temperature control (concrete as an insulator, versus metal heats up in the summer).
EAST BLOCK IMAGES:
(East Cell Block Images, East Cell Block Showers, Mail Station: click to enlarge)
(East Block Cells, Library, Spiral Staircase: click to enlarge)
(East Block Cells: click to enlarge)
WEST BLOCK IMAGES:
(Room Between East and West Blocks, West Block Images, Solitary Confinement Rooms: click to enlarge)
(West Block Cells: click to enlarge)
(West Block Showers, Walkway, 1896 Prisoner List: click to enlarge)
You begin the tour on the upper floors of the East Block Cells. If you get vertigo, do not look down over the railings!
During our walk through the East Block, we went through a corridor. The building was built so symmetrically that when there is sunlight coming through the windows and the room doors are open, an X forms on the floor. We were there on a cloudy, rainy day, but were lucky enough that the sun peaked through enough that we could see the X.
(Symmetric Building, X in Sunlight: click to enlarge)
(Chapel, Elevator: click to enlarge)
You will eventually make it to the Guard Room on the upper floors. It sits between the East and West blocks. I almost wish we were able to start the tour here. It gives you a good overview of both sides of the prison. This room has been restored with large glass windows for viewing both cell blocks and is available for event rental.
(Guard Room Images: click to enlarge)
One of the main differences between the movie and the prison was the cell layout. The movie had the cells looking at each other, but the prison actually had the cells facing the outer walls/windows. The shower rooms were horrible. Although the movie shows them all standing next to each other in the shower room, our audio tour stated that in the East Block shower room, the prisoners would hang up their towels and would then have one minute to walk down the line of showerheads, washing as they went, single file. They got showers once a week! (FUN NOTE: During the shower scene in the movie, there was no hot water. They used dry ice to create steam and they were all washing in cold water.)
Walking The East Block Shower
The interior of the prison is striking. Not necessarily for good reasons. The common areas, where visitors would arrive and the offices are more decorative; detailed wood door and window frames, tiled floors, decorative staircase (looks like carved wood, but is actually painted metal). The cell blocks are six levels high, facing the outer walls/windows. The doors are very small. If you were a bigger person, it would not be comfortable getting in and out of the cells. The cells are also small for two people. Some of them were designed originally for 1 person occupancy, but later had two people per room (the room size did not change).
It’s a little haunting walking through, even in the daytime. The lighting is dim, especially on a rainy day like we had. There are several layers of paint peeling off the walls, bars, cells, etc. The building sat empty for many years, and maintenance has been done on the building, and the administration rooms. The rest of the building is in various states, so I would recommend wearing flat, closed-toe shoes. There were several areas of puddles or debris on the floor. The building was constructed in the late 1800s, with its first prisoners admitted in 1896. I am sure there is still lead paint and asbestos contained in the building. There were spots where windows were missing or broken, letting the weather into the building. The cell blocks are not really heated or air-conditioned, although the museum/store/ticket area is temperature-controlled, so dress for the weather.
The museum area had some interesting items, including several different types of shanks and souvenirs people could buy about the prison/prisoners (including postcards of death row inmates).
(Museum Images: click to enlarge)
(Museum Images, Souvenirs, Prisoner Woodworking Items: click to enlarge)
(Shawshank Redemption Movie Items: click to enlarge)
(Round Rooms, Tiny Doors: click to enlarge)
Shawshank Redemption may be the most popular movie shot at the prison, but there have been several other movies that have been filmed at this location. There have even been some music videos!
(Small Cell Door Width, Lil Wayne Music Video Cell: click to enlarge)
There are several different types of tours available: self-guided, self-guided with an audio wand rental, tour guide, Shawshank, ghost, etc. I would definitely recommend renting an audio wand. It was $5/wand. The volume is not very loud and you hold it next to your ear, so you may be able to get 1 wand per 2 people if you place your heads close together, but it is worth it to rent them for your whole group. There are a few signs around, mostly markers for the audio tour that have extremely limited information on them. You will miss out on a lot of information if you do not have an audio wand or go with a tour group. I think it would make the experience a lot less enjoyable. Even if you are not a ghost believer, I think going on a ghost tour at night would be extremely freaky. The atmosphere of the prison is haunting during the day, but without sunlight, it would be scary (even just for tripping hazards).
TIPS:
Wear closed toed shoes.
Dress for the weather.
Rent the Audio Wand for the self guided tour!
Be aware. Although not currently a prison, there is an active prison located behind it. You will know where because on the windows that face the active prison there are “pictures taken out these windows is prohibited” signs.
DETAILS:
WHERE: 100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield, OH 44905
HOURS: Daily 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
COSTS: $25+ (adult tickets). Please check website for pricing for children/adults/seniors and different tours offered.
PARKING: Yes
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1.5 hours+
COVID RESTRICTIONS: N/A
Details correct at time of posting, please double check before you go.
Hey guys here’s another blog post with Will! Today I will be talking about the James A. Garfield National Historic Site! For those of you that don’t know who James A. Garfield was, don’t worry I didn’t either! Apparently he was the 20th president of the United States of America. We learned all about him from the park center that is actually located inside of the carriage house of Garfield’s farm.
Garfield was the last president known as a log cabin president which means that his family were settlers and built their house themselves. He grew up on the land his father had bought for two dollars and fifty cents an acre. His father was a farmer and a canal construction man, but sadly his father died when Garfield was just 2 years old. His mother tried to educate Garfield and his siblings, and convinced Garfield to go to the nearby school. Garfield learned of his love of education and earned money to go to college and high school through odd jobs, teaching, and working on the farm. He stayed at the school teaching and learning for 4-5 years and then went to college for 2 years. After that he became president of the school he went to originally, but soon grew bored. This was how he started his career with politics. He was in the House of Representatives for 17 years. He was then nominated as president by surprise. He was visiting to nominate a fellow senator when he found out he had become nominated. He immediately rushed home to tell his family and get started.
This is where I am going to pause in the story for a minute to tell you about his house as most of the story after this involves his house. James A. Garfield rented houses for his family, but soon realized that they needed a stable home where they could set up home base. He also wanted his children to learn the morals that he had when living on a farm, and so he bought 160 acres of land out in the countryside. The farm he had bought was run down, but with some hard work he and his family fixed up the house and grew it. He started growing orchards and plants to sell, and he also was very interested in making his farm a modern farm. He bought the latest equipment and pure bred cows to make his farm the most modern farm around. He expanded the old house that had originally been on the property and added new rooms for him, and his wife, and 5 children, and his mom. Once he was nominated for President, he went into the craziness of trying to win. He was told by a former president that to win you sit back, cross your legs, and look wise. This was how most presidents did it. They let the speakers of their party run their election campaign and sat there looking wise. Garfield felt this was not good enough because he was one of the best speakers in his party, so he started having campaign speeches on his porch. Many different people started coming to his house, and since he was near both the road and the railroad many people had access to his house. This caused the railroad company to make a new stop that was right on his property. Over 17,000 people came to see him talk and he won the election! The problem with having so many people come to see his speeches on a working farm, was that when people got hungry they would eat his crops. This left the farmer devastated and he had to re-sod all of the grass that had been trampled.
Now we come to sad part of the story. 120 days into his presidency on his way back home, the president was shot twice in the back. One only clipped his shoulder, but the other buried itself deep into the president’s back. 200 days into his presidency the President died. A memorial train carried his body to the graveyard and thousands of Americans lined up to grieve the death of the late President. Another late mourner of her husband sent her regards to his wife Lucretia. That person was Queen Victoria. Her husband had also died and the Queen had sent a letter of regards and a wreath for the late president’s coffin. Lucretia had the wreath laid on the coffin and then had it dipped in wax to preserve the wreath. Sadly, back then the president’s job was not as good as it is now. The President, when he was alive, couldn’t even afford a carriage for the White House horse shed. The White House was also in tatters. The Garfields had planned on fixing it up during the presidency, but he was not able to fix it up before his assassination. His wife’s friend realized that Garfield’s wife would not receive any payment, as there were no advantages or benefits the president received back then. He started a fund raiser for the wife and raised about 350 thousand dollars ,which today would be equal to about 10 million dollars. With that money his wife added extra renovations including gas powered lights and fireplaces, water running into the house powered by the windmill, and additions to the house. She also paid for her children to go to college, and bought a second house and rented it out to make easy income. She also added to the farm and kept it as modern as she could with the help of her children and brother who came to live in the house with her.
Whiling adding the extra house renovations, the team of carpenters and labor discovered natural gas which was then used to power the house by lighting the house and providing heat. This allowed the family to be entirely self reliant through having water brought to the house from the windmill, crops from the farm, milk, meat, and hide from the animals, and heating and lighting from the gas. She also finished all of the indoors of the house and later built playrooms and areas for her grandchildren to play at. Soon after her death, the house and the farm became a financial burden on the rest of the family and they eventually sold it.
Thank you guys for reading this blog post from me and please keep reading our blog for more cool stuff from around the country, and watch our YouTube channel for some cool places! Thank you guys and have a good day!
We saw a brochure for the New York’s Niagara Power Vista. The power plant offers free tours. On our last day in New York, we hurried over to the Vista when Ben was off of work. Unfortunately, the brochures were not updated with COVID restrictions and they now required reservations and were full for the day. The woman at the office did give us directions to a service road that led to a fishing pier at the base of the plant. She told us the views there were pretty good too.
click to enlarge
She was right! There was a small visitor parking lot at the base of a hill (before the gated employee entrance). We walked down a few flights of steps to the metal walkway. The waves from the river and plant occasionally splashed up onto the walkway. It was right on the river and we saw butterflies, a snail on the fence post, fighter jets, and some birds.
If you are in the area, I think this is worth a stop!
While looking up things to do in New Orleans, I came across the Sazerac House. They offered several different types of events: tastings, demonstrations, virtual events, and even a free tour with a tasting. The free/complimentary tours were limited to 6 people of the same household, so we had our time slot all to ourselves.
It was honestly one of the best museum type of tours we have been on and it was FREE! They have been open about a year and have some cool technology in their exhibits.
We entered on the main floor and were given disposable gloves. They also had disposable masks available. All staff wore gloves and masks as well. After you had your gloves and mask on, you went to the temperature taking station. Once we were cleared, we headed over to the desk to check in with Tim (he was a fellow Ohioan!) and received a map of the facility, a wrist band for the adults (after checking ID’s), and a touch screen key.
Our tour guide was Kristine Lou. She did a great job during the tour and pointed things out the boys might like to try (the interactive exhibits).
We took the elevator up to the third floor to the history of “coffee shops”, which were apparently upscale bars where women were not allowed. Along one wall, there was a projection screen with a moving illustration of an 1800’s scene. There were history facts and displays along the wall.
We learned about bitters and moved on to the bitters tasting room. They also bottle the bitters here. Bitters are aromatics and seasonings steeped in alcohol, then filtered and added to cocktails. We tried three types: Hellfire (jalapeño), Xocolatl Mole (chocolate), and Peychaud’s bitters. They make bitters on-site and had several barrels of rum aging on-site as well. The bourbon gets shipped to Frankfurt, Kentucky for aging.
We moved onto another room where we learned about the official cocktail of New Orleans, the Sazerac. We also learned about Absinthe. It was in a lot of cocktails and was banned in 1912 for health concerns. A man recreated it and substituted the wormwood (the ingredient they thought was causing problems) and renamed it Herbsaint (used all the letters in Absinthe and added an R, according to our tour guide). This room also had information on Prohibition and how New Orleans kept the drinks coming. There were these really fun interactive tables here as well. There were three different shapes of coasters (round, square, hexagon). You placed your coaster on the table and it told a story based on the coaster shape. You tapped the table to go to the next information screen.
Video
We had our first drink tasting of a Sazerac and watched a short video. Our tour guide poured the boys a limeade, that they make on-site as well.
We walked down to the second floor and had fun “ordering” drinks from the interactive bar. There were four different stations/bar types. There was also an option to take a selfie with your bartender at the end!
Our second tasting was of a rum drink called Aku Aku and limeade again for the boys. This one was a nice mix of sweet and sour. We moved on to the Bourbon room where we learned about charring the barrels to release the sugars in the wood and to add color to the drink. There were some really cool displays with interactive glass windows. You could even tap over a bottle of their alcohol and have a recipe sent to you. (Here is the link to the drink I choose.) We walked through the Rum section, where we saw some barrels sitting to age. There was another short video to watch as well.
Interactive screen bottom right: getting a recipe sent via text
The tour ended with you back on the main floor to see the distillery, where we had our last tasting of straight Sazerac Rye Whiskey and got to see the equipment. After the distillery, you end up in the shop area, where you checked in. The bottle prices didn’t seem that outrageous compared to going to a liquor store.
Note: Kristine Lou had her mask on the whole time until the picture. We were the only ones there and maintained a 6+ foot social distance. Gotta love the zoom feature on cameras!
Everyone enjoyed the tour. It was a fun history lesson with lots of things to read for Will, tastings for the adults (although the limeade was good too!), and interactive screens and videos for those with a shorter attention span. Everything was super clean. I thought they did wonderful job with the tour and the museum. I would definitely recommend it!
DETAILS: *
TICKETS: Due to COVID, you need to make reservations online ahead of time. We took the Complimentary tour (free), but they do offer other tours and events ($30 and up).
HOURS: Tuesday to Saturday. Tour times vary (usually 11:00 am to 4:20 pm)
PARKING: Pay parking on street or nearby lots
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: Ours was about a 90 minute tour, others may vary
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
