The Strange Place

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First Solo Road Trip

Okay, I realized I never published this…

Sorry I’ve been busy!

Wednesday, September 14th I started the biggest solo trip I have taken so far. For this road trip, I started off going to a sculpture park that is over 300 acres large, then headed down to the Lost River Cave in Kentucky, then headed to Nashville for the majority of the trip, heading back home my last stop was the Mega Cavern in Kentucky.

Starting out I was kind of nervous because I had a scheduled boat ride for the lost river and a tattoo appointment in Nashville the same day. Luckily I timed everything perfectly, I do wish to go back to the sculpture park in Cincinnati though. I could spend literal days just drawing and taking photos of all the different pieces in the over 300 acres that make up this park. I spent about an hour roaming around taking in all the beauty along with inspiration and getting excited for the rest of the trip. The next stop was the Lost River Cave, which was an underground nightclub in the 1930s that has a river leading into a large gorgeous cavern. I took a boat tour into the cavern and all I can say was it is so amazing, I love caverns so this was such a great experience that you have to do yourself. On this tour the cherry on top… I saw a wild bat for the first time! It was so tiny and far on top where there used to be a waterfall (due to road development on the surface the waterfall dried up, but there has been a little trickle where it used to be so that gives hope that in the upcoming years it will return) none the less I was beyond happy. From there I headed down to Nashville, Tennessee.

Now I must confess this wasn’t a fully solo trip I did meet up/stay with family and friends, I was the only one that drove and did things outside of Tennessee. The first thing I did in Nashville was got a tattoo touched up, now I would love to start getting a tattoo every new trip I go on to have a little storybook on my skin. From there I met up with family and had delicious ice cream to perfectly end the long day of travel. The next day I went out to a sit-down lunch by myself which I had not done in over a year maybe longer, I felt very refreshed. Night came and it was time to go on a ghost tour with my aunt, it was more true crime that may have caused some ghosts to stick around. I am not complaining though the tour was very cool and we both learned so much about the city and the people that lived in it. I spent the next morning with my family then headed to an Airbnb for a bachelorette party weekend. My favorite part was the army party truck tour we did blasting old emo/rock music head banging around the city and having a great time celebrating my soon-to-be sister-in-law. The weekend sadly had to come to an end.

To make my tram tour of the Mega Caverns I had to leave the Airbnb super early, I did forget to take into consideration the time change so I almost missed it. I ran (okay walked as fast as I could) into the check-in building that is past the tram loading that I was watching while it started to drive away, the worker was super helpful and flagged down the tram before it was too far gone. They helped me on, I only had a few weird looks dart my way that ended quickly since the tour had begun again. It was very educational, I would love to go back to see the world’s largest underground Christmas light display to cross off my list of “World’s Largest…” along with participating in the world’s largest underground zip line; that would be really cool to cross off my list. In Tennessee, I did cross off the world’s largest wooden bucket but I digress. After the tour was over I had a sit-down breakfast and then headed home.

Heading home I had the longest drive to really reflect on all that I did in the short four days and how I had overcome my anxiety about being alone traveling. I won’t be going into great detail but other true crime besties understand. Overall this trip was breathtaking, I learned so much and spent a great time with my family and friends.