My Kentucky Adventure: Underground

Just the name "MegaCavern" conjured up images in my mind of the times i've been in caves, which i really enjoyed.

This was fun and interesting in that it's a totally man made cavern, not a cave.  Formerly a limestone quarry, it now has businesses in it.  One of those is a zip line, which Grace, Blossoming and Eagle went on, and another is the tram, which the rest of us enjoyed.

They also do vermiculture, raising worms to make great fertilizer.  The tour guide proves the worms are edible and healthy by eating one!

This cavern was a designated bomb shelter at one time, with plans to house 50,000 people if the need ever arose because of nuclear attack.  Only people on the list would be accepted, with politicians topping the list because, of course, you can't rebuild civilization without a glut of politicians.

After being in a cavern for a few hours, we emerged to a wet world where our picnic lunch plans had to change.  A restaurant filled the bill, and since it was a quintessentially local place it gave us a special memory.

Our plan was to visit the Louisville Zoo for the afternoon, maybe look up some relatives in the gorilla house (haha), but by the time we finished lunch, it was only going to be open for another two hours or so because they close early in fall and winter.  All of us were a bit tired and ready for rest and quiet, so Fivecat headed home and the rest of us went to the resort or hotel.

We did meet back up in the evening for leftovers and a fun evening of talk, laughing, and the game Taboo.  Not as much done as we had actually planned, but just an all around good day, with enough activity to keep us busy and enough down time not to wear us slap out.





Today is:

Bathtub Day -- can't confirm this one, but it's as good a day as any to be glad you have one!

BOL Foundation Day -- Laos

Face Your Fears Day -- Stephen Hughes (hityourstride.com) encourages you to use this as a day to try to do something you've always been afraid to do

Feast Day of Ma'at -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of the Deerk Toes -- Fairy Calendar (celebrating the toes on a fairy's "deerk", for which there is no human equivalent)

Lepanto Day -- Greece

Nagasaki Kunchi -- Nagasaki, Japan (harvest festival, through the 9th)

National Flower Day -- US (anniversary of President Reagan signing the bill, in 1986, that made the rose the US National Flower)

National Frappe Day

Nobel Conference 50 -- Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, US (annual two-day science symposium)

Nones of October -- Ancient Roman Calendar; other observances
     Festival of Juno Cutitis and Jupiter Fulgor
     Victoria, Lady of Victories Day a/k/a Pallas Athena -- also celebrated by the Ancient Greeks

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary -- Catholic Christian

St. Justina of Padua's Day (Patron of Padua, Italy; Santa Giustina, Italy)

Try To Start An Argument Over Which Is the Best Muppet Day -- Kermit, hands down (argue below, if you wish)(Possibly started by the International Association of People without a Life)

You Matter To Me Day -- because the phrase "you matter to me" can make a profound difference in someone's life


Anniversaries Today:

Larry King married Julie Alexander, 1989
Dow Jones makes the first report, in the Wall Street Journal, of an average of the prices of 12 industrial stocks, 1896



Birthdays Today:

Toni Braxton, 1967
Simon Cowell, 1959
Michael W. Smith, 1957
Yo-Yo Ma, 1955
Vladimir Putin, 1952
John Cougar Mellencamp, 1951
Joy Behar, 1943
Charles Dutoit, 1936
Thomas Keneally, 1935
Amiri Baraka, 1934
Bishop Desmond Tutu, 1931
Al Martino, 1927
R. D. Laing, 1927
June Allyson, 1917
Vaughn Monroe, 1911
Andy Devine, 1905
Niels Bohr, 1885
Thomas J. Wise, 1859
James Whitcomb Riley, 1849
Caesar Rodney, 1728(O.S. date)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Independent(Newspaper, first issue), 1986
"Cats"(Musical), 1982
"Route 66"(TV), 1960
"Your Hit Parade"(TV), 1950
"One Touch of Venus"(Musical), 1943
"Eve of St. Mark"(Play), 1942


Today in History:

The epoch of the modern Hebrew calendar (Proleptic Julian calendar), BC3761
The first public burning of books in Louvain, Netherlands, 1520
Ralph Wedgewood patents carbon paper in London, 1806
The first chartered railway in the US, the Granite Railway, begins operations, 1826
Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba, 1886
Henry Ford institutes the moving assembly line, 1913
Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland college in the infamous 222-0 football game, 1916
160 consecutive days of 100*F+ temperatures begin at Marble Bar, Australia, 1924
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reads his poem "Howl" for the first time at a poetry reading in San Francisco, 1955
U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 transmits first ever photographs of the far side of the moon, 1959
Nigeria joins the United Nations, 1960
Oman joins the United Nations, 1971
Cats opens on Broadway and begins a run of nearly 18 years, 1982
The Great Flood of 1993 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, 1993
Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten, 1998
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins, 2001
A Southampton University research fellow discovers a long lost Antonio Vivaldi flute concerto at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, 2010