Family Road Trip: Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio

For our spring break trip in 2023, I wanted to find something that we could drive to in order to save some money, wouldn’t take too long, and enable my daughter and I to scratch off a few states! We live in Western North Carolina, and we had never been to Kentucky before, so I thought it would be perfect to visit this beautiful state along with a little of Indiana and Ohio. Along for the ride was my sister and her family, and a close friend and his son!

I planned some activities that I thought were quintessential to the area like Mammoth Cave, and other activities that were more unique and off the beaten path. The 4 kids on this trip were between the ages of 9 and 13. We took 6 days to complete this trip including the day we left and got back. Our first stop was about 6 hours away, but since we left early in the morning, we still practically had a full day once we got to our first stop. Since we went in March, it was definitely chilly during the day and cold in the evenings.

Our Itinerary:

Here is a map and a quick summary of the main activities we did each day throughout our trip. Below this, I go into detail for each day. I include information for cost, hours, etc., that is correct at the time of writing.

Day 1:

• Drive to Kentucky
• Mammoth Cave Tour

Day 2:

• Hidden Cave Tour – Off trail Adventure Cave Tour

Day 3:

• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace
• Falls of the Ohio State Park
• Louisville Slugger Museum
• Great Wolf Lodge

Day 4:

• Newport Aquarium
• Downtown Cincinnati
• Great Wolf Lodge

Day 5:

• Ark Encounter
• EarthJOY Tree House and property

Day 6:

• Tree Climbing Tour
• Cumberland Falls
• Drive back home

Day 1: Arrival, Mammoth Cave National Park

The main activity on our first day was to hit up Mammoth Cave National Park. This park has many different tours available throughout the year, but we chose to do their classic Historic Tour which took about 2 hours and was about 2 miles long. We were told to be there 30 minutes early. We were also told to not rely on GPS and instead use the directions from the email they sent. This tour had it all – huge, mammoth-size caverns, small tunnels, and even restrooms inside! There were quite a bit of other people on the tour with us, but the guide did a good job making sure we could all here. Bonus – it was dry and warm in the cave!

Cost:	Free to enter park, but cave tours, staying in the park, and reserving a shelter costs money Historic Cave Tour: 13+: $24, 6-12: $18, 3-5: $6
Hours:	Open 24 hours though cave tours and visitor center hours differ per season; typically, 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Address:	1 Visitor Center Parkway Mammoth Cave, KY 42259-0007
Parking:	Several large parking lots all free

Where We Stayed 1st Two Nights:

I wanted a location convenient to our day 1 and day 2 activity, a pool for the kids, laundry services for our day 2 activity, and a free breakfast each morning, so we decided to stay at the Hampton Inn in Cave City. Honestly, there weren’t many options, but this was a great place to stay and just right for what we needed!

Day 2: Hidden River Cave – Off Trail Adventure

I love doing one or two adventurous things on vacation especially if they are unique or something my family hasn’t done. As much as I loved visiting Mammoth, I loved the idea of really exploring a cave! The Hidden River Cave was perfect. It gave a true sense of spelunking but had alternate paths at some of the tighter squeezes. Therefore, you could choose to take the crazy way or walk around it. BUT, there were plenty of places that were still crawling because the space was so tight, so it definitely isn’t for people who hate tight spaces.

It was a 4-hour adventure. To get in the cave, we walked through the water which was cold, but once we got deep into the cave it was decently warm, and we got to see and do a lot of cool things. Coming back out at the end through water in March though was freezing. We changed quickly because it was cold, and we were wet and very muddy. The company suggests wearing knee pads, and I whole-heartedly agree!

Unfortunately, my daughter didn’t do the off-trail part because she couldn’t stand the helmet during the regular cave tour at the beginning, but she’s always had sensory issues, so that wouldn’t by typical for most people. The helmet didn’t bother anyone else. My sister was thrilled because she wasn’t keen on doing it anyway, so it gave her an excuse to go eat instead…and my brother-n-law happily followed them.

Cost:	$53
Hours:	Off trail is available Thursdays and Saturdays at 10:00
Address:	119 East Main Street Horse Cave, KY 42749
Parking:	Free parking at its own lot

Day 3: Lincoln Birthplace, Ohio Falls State Park, Slugger Museum

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park

Our first stop on day 3 was the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace. This place is free from 9 to 5, and it was about 40 minutes away from our hotel. It is closed on some days in the winter, but I thought this was a great place to learn a little about Lincoln and stretch our legs on our way to Louisville.

Cost:	Free
Hours:	9 to 5
Address:	2995 Lincoln Farm Rd, Hodgenville, KY 42748
Parking:	Big parking lot

Falls of the Ohio State Park

Falls of the Ohio State Park is actually in Indiana right across from Louisville. This was another great place to stretch our legs, and the kids really enjoyed looking for fossils in the outside area of this park. We went when it was closed, so we couldn’t access the center, but we were still able to walk around a bunch. Originally, for Indiana, I was wanting to do some type of racecar-activity near Indianapolis, but I couldn’t find anything for this time of year. Because I still wanted to scratch off Indiana on our map at home, we visited this place for about an hour. This ended up being perfect since it was so close to our next activity.

Cost:	Center: 12+: $9, 6 to 11: $7, under 6: free Park’s outside grounds: free
Hours:	Center: M-Sat. 9 to 5, Sun. 1 to 5 Park: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Address:	201 W. Riverside Drive, Clarksville, IN 47129
Parking:	$2 parking

Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory

The Slugger Museum in Louisville is iconic and for good reason. There is a museum where you can learn about baseball and take pictures with famous baseball players from history, but the main draw here is their factory tour to learn and actually see real baseball bats being produced firsthand. You could even be right next to some of the workers who were currently making the bats. I can’t imagine doing my job while tons of tour groups go through, but I guess they get used to it. The factory tour lasts about 30 minutes. At the end of the tour, you get a nice, little baseball bat as a memento!

It is suggested to reserve a time, so that’s what we did, and we still had a little wait, so it was wise advice. All of us thought this place was really cool!

Cost:	13+: $24, 60+: $23, 6 to 12: $16, 5 and under: free
Hours:	M-Sat: 9 to 5, Sun: 10 to 4
Address:	800 West Main St. Louisville, KY 40202
Parking:	A parking garage operated by the city is directly behind the building, and there is some street parking. The parking garage has reasonable rates and has an elevator that has access to the museum for convenience.

Where We Stayed 2nd Two Nights:

After the Slugger Museum, we made our way to our hotel at Great Wolf Lodge located near Cincinnati. I knew this would be a hit for the kids and give us some waterpark action for our spring break trip even though it was really cold outside! Since our days were out exploring, we spent both evening here soaking up all of the water action we could.

Day 4: Newport Aquarium and Downtown Cincinnati

We slept in a little this day and then headed to the Newport Aquarium. Originally, I had planned for us to go to Cincinnati Zoo or Mitchell Memorial Forest to maybe bike and to also fish since they didn’t require a license, but it was far too cold outside to do either of those, so we enjoyed the aquarium instead. It is technically in Kentucky, but it’s less than 10 minutes from Cincinnati. Another good option I considered was King’s Island, but they were closed for the season.

The aquarium was fantastic, and it was BIG, so it took us at least a few hours to go through it. I feel like we could’ve gone faster, but we also could’ve taken a lot more time as there was just so many cool things to see there. There were also plenty of interactive opportunities which the kids all loved.

Cost:	They use dynamic pricing; 13+ is anywhere between $25.99 and $40.99. Kids are $15.99 to $30.99 The further you book ahead, the more you save.
Hours:	Varies based on time of year – open by 9 or 10 a.m.; earliest closing is 5:00 p.m.
Address:	1 Aquarium Way Newport, KY 41071 800-406-3474
Parking:	City-owned parking garage adjacent to aquarium; $8 per car

After the aquarium, we went to eat in downtown Cincinnati. We were going to walk around a little bit, but we ended up only walking from our parking garage to the restaurant because it was snowing and really cold! The rest of the evening was spent in the waterpark area of Great Wolf Lodge again.

Day 5: Ark Encounter and Earth Joy Treehouse

Ark Encounter Museum

This museum was only about an hour from our hotel and an hour from the next place we were staying, so it worked out really well time wise as far as our trip goes. I’d been wanting to visit this extraordinary place for a while. The Ark Encounter had so much to do onsite other than just the museum. Everything from a zoo to mining to zip lines. Some are extra costs, but a lot are included. Our theme of cold continued though, so we stuck to the museum which was inside. The most impressive part of the whole place is the life-size ark. It definitely makes an impression.

The two things to note is that they have taken some liberties as far as biblical interpretation goes and that they adhere to a young earth theory. I took it for what it was, and regardless of some of the parts that conflicted with what I personally believe, it was still a really cool museum and really brought to life the story of Noah for the kids. On the positive side, the staff was very nice and accommodating. Ava ended up getting sick, so I started carrying her around, and one of the workers brought me a stroller free of charge to push her around in.

Cost:	18+: $64.99 60+: $54.99 11-17: $31.99 10 and under: free
Hours:	Varies; most of the year, it is Mon. – Sat. from 9 to sometime between 5 and 6:30. Opens at 1 on Sundays in the summer.
Address:	1 Ark Encounter Drive Williamstown, KY 41097
Parking:	Huge parking lot – shuttle to main area. Parking opens 30 minutes prior to encounter and costs $15.

EarthJOY Tree House

This is where we stayed for our last night on vacation. They have three different tree houses. We stayed in the Pete Nelson and Hickory because they were the two that were close to one another. We also scheduled to have a tree climb for the next day before returning home. We wanted to get here with enough time on day 4 to really enjoy it because the property is gorgeous and fun to wander around. Our tree house had a kitchenette, but the full bathroom was about a 3-minute walk down the road. There was also a compost bathroom close by, but it smelled so bad. The treehouses had electricity and were supposed to have heat, but ours was chilly and my sister’s tree house was cold, but it was March, and it was cold outside.

We arrived around 4 which is check-in time, so we could enjoy the property. We did a hike, wandered around the property finding some pretty unique things like a huge tunnel thing that you could climb through, and set a fire to do smores and just sit around and relax. It was a lot of fun!

Day 6: EarthJOY Treehouse and Cumberland Falls

EarthJOY Treehouse Climb

We had reserved a90-minute tree climbing lesson through EarthJOY, but it was so cold, we were afraid the kids would complain the whole time, so we cancelled it the day before when we saw what the projected temperatures would be when our tour was scheduled. We didn’t think we would be able to wear our big puffy jackets while climbing, and we would’ve probably been miserable. I am still going to give the details for it though because it looked like a unique, memory-making adventure. Instead of the climbing tour, we walked around a little more in the morning and then left to start our drive back home. We considered stopping near Lexington, KY to do something with horses, but most places were closed at this time of year, so we skipped it on this trip.

Cost:	$65 per person + treehouse rental
Hours:	Currently available at 12 p.m.
Address:	3400 Bridgeville road, Brooksville, Ky 41004
Parking:	On site at treehouse; have to have a treehouse rental to book activity

Cumberland Falls

Not only is this a beautiful place to stop, but it was also conveniently located almost halfway between EarthJOY and our home, so it was a great place to stretch for a little while before continuing our 6.5-hour drive back home. Cumberland Falls is known as the Niagara of the South, and it was easy to see why. It is also the only place in the Western Hemisphere where you can see a moonbow during a full moon. We didn’t get an opportunity to see that, but it was nonetheless an amazing place to visit. There is a lot of hiking and other nature activities to do here. We just went to the falls and hung out while taking it all in for a little while. The picture at the top of this post is at this location!

Cost:	Falls and restrooms are free
Hours:	open 24 hrs. a day
Address:	7351 Highway 90, Corbin, KY 40701
Parking:	Free parking in a big lot right by the falls

Additional Fun Activities around the Entire Area (Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio)

There were so many other things I would’ve loved to do on this trip if we had more time or came at a time when it was a little warmer outside, but the trip we took was amazing! One thing in particular, the Red River Gorge, is definitely on a future bucket-list trip. They have a Via Ferrata which I’d really like to do now that my daughter is old enough to do it. At the time of this trip, she was only 9, and you have to be at least 10 to do this activity.

If you have more time or different interests, check out the additional activities below. There is, of course, way more activities than I can list just because this whole area is pretty expansive. I did keep it within the boundary area for the most part of where we were extending out a little bit. Each picture below is linked to their site for more information if you want it.