Lexington, KY

Last night we went kayaking in a limestone mine in the Red River Gorge in the mountains of Kentucky.

Even though it was 80+ degrees today, it is 55 degrees in the cave year round.

We had two choices for kayaks. One kind had a clear floor and the other was completely clear. In the completely clear ones, your butts get wet because they have a cloth seat. We all chose the other kind which the guide called “dry butt kayaks”.

Under the kayaks were LED lights and we got to choose our light color once we boarded.

Nova was determined not to like the kayaking (dark cave, dampness etc) but she got in the kayak willingly and liked seeing and counting the fish. The cave was used for many years and eventually they hit a natural spring. For a while the kept mining and pumped the water out but eventually that became cost prohibitive so the mine was left to fill with water. A guy bought the land. One day, his friends wanted to kayak but the river was too low. He let them kayak in the cave and the rest is history.

We got back to the hotel at about 11pm and we all crashed immediately.