Cuddles Weekend with Isaac

I was so lucky to be able to attend the winter adventure weekend with Isaac and his family. We drove to Carter Caves in Kentucky on Friday night. We left at midnight since Isaac's mom had to work. I was tired but I slept most of the way in the carseat with Isaac.

  

In the morning, everyone dressed up in their winter clothes because there was a HUGE snowstorm! I had forgotten my snowboots so Isaac and his Dad carried me around in the backpack so I would stay warm and dry.

We started out by going on the zip line. This was a pulley that ran along a wire from the top of a cliff down to the bottom. You hooked yourself in and then just jumped off the edge. Isaac loved the wind and going so fast to the bottom but I got kind of scared and hid my eyes. Luckily, Isaac held me tight and I made it to the bottom safely. The workers at the top took my picture to put on the website before my descent.

The next activity did not start for a while so we all went to the lodge to warm up and have hot chocolate. I love sipping hot chocolate in front of the fire.

The next activity was my favorite. We got to go inside a real cave! There weren't any lights or pathways so we had to bring lights on our heads and clothes that can get dirty. We had to crawl on the floor in a space about 2 feet tall in order to get to the middle of the cave, I bet Isaac was glad he had his helmet on! Isaac's Dad kept me in his backpack so I managed to stay nice and clean but I did bump into the ceiling a few times. In the middle of the cave we saw some cool cave formations. I learned about stalactites and stalagmites. I also saw some flowstone. There were lots of holes to crawl in and explore. I also saw some very small bats. We left them alone because they were hibernating and it could kill them if we wake them up.

After the cave we had to clean off our feet and helmets and bag up our dirty clothes in order to not spread white nose syndrome. This is a fungal disease that is killing the bats in Ohio. I loved finding bats in this cave and the spaces inside the cave were so small that the bats were easy to see up close. It makes me sad that they are dying.

Just above my head is a small bat!

The next cave we went in had a trail and electric lights. It was very bright and easy to see all the formations but I kind of missed looking at everything with a flashlight and being able to crawl around wherever we wanted. This cave did not have any bats. Too bad, I liked trying to find them in the other cave.

It was a long day of exploration and I was very tired at the end. We all went back to the hotel room and after dinner we went to bed. I went right to sleep, and slept the dreamless sleep of a true adventurer.