Hanging Out in the World's Longest Cave!

We spent last weekend at Mammoth Cave National Park (www.nps.gov/maca) which is located about an hour south of Louisville and is actually the longest cave in the world - more than 365 miles of the cave has been discovered! This is Cori, David, and Murphy's 2nd trip to Mammoth Cave. Cori and I took a 2 hour tour of the cave while the pups had to stay in a kennel provided by the hotel. There were many unique features on the tour including a spot called "Frozen Niagara" which is 130 feet below the surface and the cave formation looks like a frozen waterfall.

Cave formations at Mammoth Cave.

The park is located right along the Green River and you actually have to cross a ferry in order to access certain parts of the park. We spent Friday and Saturday night camping while also getting in a few hikes during our two days at the park. It was really nice to get away for the weekend and relax and enjoy God's gifts of nature.

Green River Ferry

Our home for the weekend! Murphy was so tired from hiking that he spent most of his time sleeping in the chair while Oakley kept watch for wildlife, including a group of deer that liked to eat grass about 30 yards from our campsite. The deer didn't seem too bothered by her barking though!

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Louisville was hard hit by heavy rain, wind, and lightining yesterday. The city reported about 6" of rain during 75 minutes. I have never seen it rain so hard. It was about 9-10 am and it was dark like 10 -11 pm.

David & I are both fine and dry. We had no damage to the house and luckily David waited to go into school at the University of Louisville. The University suffered some of the worst damage in the city. Also hard hit was the Downtown Louisville Library and an animal shelter which housed 550+ animals, which were evacuated to the fairgrounds. Not to mention the damage to so many people's homes.

See some of the pictures below of the University of Louisville. David received these photos through some contacts at school. There are also a few photos (courtesy of their website) of the animal evaculation at Metro Animal Services. There is also a fund started to help rehabilitate the shelter (see below).

Athletic Facilities at U of L

This is a railroad crossing which David normally drives through on the way to the engineering campus. The water here is probably at least 12 feet high!

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory!

The building with the green roof (in the background) is where David's office is located.

More campus flooding.

Water running of the roof of the main JB Speed School of Engineering building.

Churchill Downs. This is the 1st turn - where we normally celebrate on Derby day. It is a lake!

HELP METRO ANIMAL SERVICES:

Monetary donations can made online or sent to:

Metro Animal Services

c/o The Animal Care Fund

3705 Manslick Road

Louisville, Ky 40215

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/AnimalServices/flooding_donations.htm

Dogs being evacuated from Metro Animal Services.

Sweet (South) Caroline

At the beginning of July we made a trip down to South Carolina where Cori had two job interviews. One job was at the Michelin Truck Tire plant in Spartanburg, SC and the other was at the Earthmover Tire Plant in Columbia, SC. Both interviews were for an Ergonomist position. We have been to Greenville/Spartanburg, SC quite a few times in the last few years, but we have never spent any time in Columbia (the capital of SC). We decided that since we were so close to the coast (only 1.5 hours from Charleston, SC and the Atlantic Ocean) that we had to eat some seafood. We had a great meal at the Blue Marlin where David tried Collard Greens for the first time. I think we could get used to good Southern coooking. We then spent some time in the downtown area checking out some shops and the Capital Building. The area was very beautiful. We saw a lot of unique flowers and trees - including the South Carolina State Tree, the Palmetto.

(It's a boy! David enjoyed the meal at the Blue Marlin but we needed to walk it off!)

(South Carolina Capital Building)

After good news from the interviews - we have decided to accept the promotion and Cori will become the Truck Tire Regional Ergonomist for Michelin. Her home office will be in Spartanburg, but she will also be responsible for the Ergonomic Program at other plants including a few in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. She will also get to travel internationally to a plant in Canada and Ireland. She is really looking forward to the opportunity and plans to start her new job in November. So...that means that we need to sell our house in Louisville, find a new home in the Greenville area, and move before the end of October. David will still be able to work towards his degree, but may have to do some traveling back and forth every once and awhile.


Other than that little piece of news we are excited to go to London, England and to Edinburgh, Scotland in September. David is presenting some of his research at a conference in London, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. David also will be traveling to two other conferences to present his research - Penn State University in August and San Antonio in October.

Since we will be leaving the Bluegrass State we figured we better cross-off a few things still left on our "Kentucky To Do List". We spent the day at Kentucky Horse Park (http://www.kyhorsepark.com/) in Lexington, Ky (the Horse Capital of the World). We went on a trail ride of the complex which includes over 1200 acres of land centered around anything and everything that has to do with horses. We got to see the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner - Funny Cide as well as the famous thoroughbred horse, Cigar. At the time of Cigar's retirement in 1996, he was the winningest horse of all time with almost $10 million dollars worth of winnings. We saw a lot of horse shows, exhibits, and all different types of horses. It was a very enjoyable day.

(The rolling hills at Kentucky Horse Park)

(David on Star. The girl in the photo was riding in front of David and behind me on Cowboy. Cowboy apparently got irratated with her horse and mid-trail ride decided to kick her horse - catching her a little bit in the ankle. He must have had a bad day.)

(2003 Kentucky Derby Winner - Funny Cide. He is still "running for the roses")