Traveling Huntleys

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.

National Parks

Cave City, Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park During COVID

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Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Cave City, Kentucky sits about an hour and a half north of Nashville, Tennessee, and we had been looking forward to this stop for months. Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the longest known cave system in the world — more than 400 miles of mapped passages — and we had reserved a guided cave tour well in advance. The day before we arrived, the National Park Service cancelled it. COVID-19 shutdowns were sweeping the country in March 2020, and Mammoth Cave’s underground tours were among the first to go. Disappointing as it was, we made the most of our time exploring the park’s roads, trails, and the beautiful landscape above ground. Mammoth Cave remains very much on our list, and we will be back.

Apple tree blossoms in the foreground with an old cemetery and historic church in the background at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
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Chiefland, Florida Manatee Springs & Cedar Key

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Last Updated: July 6, 2026

Chiefland sits on Florida’s Nature Coast in Levy County, north of Tarpon Springs and well off the typical tourist path. The local economy runs on agriculture — peanuts, watermelons, cattle ranching, and timber — and the surrounding landscape reflects that: open fields, longleaf pine flatwoods, and the wide, slow-moving Suwannee River winding through it all. We came specifically to visit Manatee Springs State Park and to revisit Cedar Key, a tiny island community we had loved on a previous trip. Both exceeded expectations in very different ways.

White-tailed deer browsing near the campground at Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, Florida
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Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline & Shenandoah

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Last Updated: July 3, 2026

The Blue Ridge Parkway is part of the National Park Service and links Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles long and continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive for another 105 miles. This leg of our 2019 fall road trip took us through some of the most spectacular autumn scenery in the eastern United States.

Tree-lined road in peak fall foliage on the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
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Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota: Pontoon Boating, Ellsworth Rock Gardens & Kettle Falls

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Last Updated: June 22, 2026

Voyageurs National Park sits in the far north of Minnesota, right at the Canadian border — a sprawling water wilderness named for the French-Canadian fur traders who paddled these lakes and portages in birchbark canoes centuries before there was a park here at all. Unlike almost every other unit in the National Park system, Voyageurs is primarily a water park. There are no grand scenic drives, no paved trails to the overlooks. To see it properly, you need a boat. We were happy to oblige.

Dr. Michael Huntley physician travel blogger at the helm of a rented pontoon boat on Lake Kabetogama, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
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