Kayaking through the Tennessee River Gorge

We all including husbands went on a day trip to kayak through the Tennessee River Gorge.  We set the trip up through www.rivercanyonadventures.com.  River Canyon Adventures has an advantage to taking your own kayaks...after you kayak the 10 miles through the gorge they pick you up on a boat and take you back to where you started.

We took the 4 hour eco-tour.  We got to stop and jump off the "jumping rock" and rope sling.

jumping rock

Rope swing
(yes I know I still need to
lose ten pounds)

rope swing

Beautiful Scenery

Indian slough (used for hiding and catching fish by the Indians)

Brandi and Jason

The kids ready to ride back.

We also stopped at a volleyball net in the river and had a picnic lunch prepared by River Canyon Adventures. We had a great time.  I highly recommend this trip.

Here are some of the photos I took yesterday. You can see us bottling the water in the Blue Hole, Finn and Ethan checking out a bat and some of the formations in the cave. Jess Elliott has many more formations we did not see. Next time, we will adventure deeper in the cave. Enjoy the photos!

Jess Elliott Cave

Where do I start...The gps coordinates were off, it came an unexpected blizzard, and we walked 5 miles with 7 kids (ages 7-12). With all of this happening I still had fun. It was definately an adventure that we will not soon forget. By the time we got to the cave the kids were pooped and were not impressed with the cave at all. I however loved the opening. It is amazing. I could just envision Indians sitting in the cave. The kids all found some fossils and Ethan found some cool pottery shards on the way to the cave. Stephanie

This was an abundance of adventure! We had a blast! From trekking in the snow up the mountain, feeling the excitement as we finally found the massive cave opening, to walking along the river back to our cars, this trip was exciting, exhausting and unforgettable. The kids loved finding geodes, bottling water at the source and throwing snowballs. We can't wait until the next adventure. Brandi

Finally...we made a plan for winter break.

We had a plan and then changed it because of the impending weather. Sunday caving at Jess Elliot, a cave on Skyline WMA in Jackson County, Alabama. Caving is a great winter activity because for the most part it is around 60 degrees in the cave. We have caved in temperatures as cold as 12 degrees and you are always warm in the cave. The problem comes when you exit the cave and you are wet. NOT FUN!

Caves that we have visited

Raccon Mountain www.wildcave.com
Desoto Caverns http://desotocavernspark.com/
Manitou Cave with True Adventure Sports www.trueadventuresports.com
Sequoyah caverns http://www.sequoyahcaverns.com/
Mammoth Cave
several caves around Mammoth Cave
Bluff River
Noise Cave
White River Cave
I know there is more, however I can't remember them all. Maybe Brandi can remember more than me.

The favorite one with kids is Manitou Cave with True Adventure Sports. TAS has a way with kids. My kids and Brandi's kids beg to go and do an adventure with TAS. The things we have done with them: night hike (great fun), rappelling, Appalacian Trail Hike, Survival Class.

The Adventures of Two Moms and their kids

It all started over 20 years ago. To make a long story short Brandi and I have been friends since high school, then my sister married her brother, then we both had a boy 11 years ago and another child a piece 7 years ago. She had a girl and I had another boy. We spent almost every friday night together in high school. We called it Friday night Girls night.

When the older boys were about 5 we started taking some day trip adventures. Most of these involved caving. So now every chance we get we take all the kids caving or some other crazy adventure, rappeling, geocaching, hiking.

The above picture is all the kids. This was two years ago on a road trip to Mammoth Cave.