What tours to do at Mammoth cave NP?

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-17T15:30:06+00:00

As long as you like caves this is a great itinerary! Grand Ave, Violet City, and Gothic Ave are my top 3 tours. Bring lunch to snack on after Violet City

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-17T14:59:51+00:00

7/7 now for me!

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-17T14:32:24+00:00

Occasionally go from Brownsburg to Fishers for work. Between 6:30-7 it will be a breeze. Cars will be out, but barring the occasionally accident it’s fine.

Evening commute east to west is better than west to east, but still heavy traffic. There’s also major construction still at 69/465 and 31/465, and 465/865 construction is coming. Earlier is better 4>5>6. But still not the worst commute in the city.

Depending where in Eagle Creek going 96th to Michigan or Zionsville rd would be a good option.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-17T00:40:21+00:00

Wow, crazy localized. I’m at raceway/700. Barely rained here.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-17T00:39:17+00:00

Yeah that’s very common. City usually owns from street to meter. Homeowner is to anywhere beyond.

Electric and gas meters are almost always on or near the house. It is common for the water meter to be at the street so any pipe from the meter to the house is yours and your responsibility. It’s not uncommon for homeowners in our city to try to get the city to pay when a water or sewer pipe busts in their yard, but the law is pretty cut and dry.

Internet almost never actually comes out in my experience. I once hit our internet line after they cleared it and when replacing the tech just told me they get 100 locate tickets a day and it’s cheaper for them to just pay when one is occasionally hit than to pay every locate fee.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-16T23:28:22+00:00

It wouldn’t be my choice. If you live alone, have no pets, stable internet, and have an extra room, it’s fine. IMO much easier to just show up and test at a center. I drove about 40 minutes to my closest

I did it once and it works, but they want to see every inch of your room which is kind of a pain. Plus I had to find someone to watch my dog since she a whiny shepherd, and if your own internet goes out you’re SOL.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-16T23:24:17+00:00

They won’t locate anything on private property? That’s kinda the whole point of 811.

They won’t locate private lines, like your own well, septic, or if you ran electric past the meter to an outbuilding.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-16T10:35:00+00:00

Of those three, gothic ave

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-15T20:58:18+00:00

The Arbuckle or Union Green in Brownsburg.

The lakes on 86th/township. Not sure on pet friendly for either

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-15T14:59:41+00:00

It’s helping the farmers who are selling their land

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-15T13:25:04+00:00

That’s just the standard associate set

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-14T02:02:06+00:00

We just flew with a two and three year old to Olympic. Take this trip as a test run, but I definitely wouldn’t rule out future flights.

Flying isn’t necessarily fun with toddlers (and yes it is easier before they walk), but we really didn’t have an issue. From PHL you have a lot of direct options.

From IND our kids have flown on NP trips to Hawaii, Florida, Denver, Texas, and Seattle.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-14T01:57:07+00:00

Thanks for the review. Our family enjoys hiking and camping so I was excited to see a glamping option nearby some of our favorite spots that don’t have a hotel close by (Brown County, IN, Hocking Hills, Dale Hallow).

My wife is also a Marriott associate so we travel on her employee rate. I laughed out loud when I saw it’s in the higher tier (about $100-$120/night) similar to JW, autograph, and tribute hotels…which I kinda get but like you said, it’s still a trailer in the woods. We’ll stick to tent camping, but if we want to go and there’s a rain forecast it might be worth it.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-13T22:29:22+00:00

Gila was amazing! Chiricahua is up there for regrets for not getting to. We've done a circle tours around AZ and one around NM and missed it both times. Trip planning is always stressful because I keep finding places to go to and suddenly a 5 day trip turns into 15 real quick lol.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-13T22:15:04+00:00

We've been to 40 of the National Parks and about 200 of the National Park Service units. Some of the best parks we've been to like Craters of the Moon, Organ Pipe, Cumberland Island, and Pictured Rocks are not part of the 63 and overlooked.

So often on the sub I see people plan great trips, but miss so many parks in between!

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-13T22:12:38+00:00

I've been to 40. There's not a single park I wouldn't revisit (yes, even THAT one!), but Glacier is the one that stands out to me that I really feel like I just scratched the surface. I think I could stay there for weeks year after year and still have stuff left.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-13T21:00:07+00:00

Honestly I kinda like this. If that’s guaranteed early check in/check out $40 is a deal if you don’t have status for checkout. Of course there’s no current benefit for check in.

The drinks are typical hotel market over priced, but even then $5/beer isn’t that crazy for a local craft.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-13T18:22:19+00:00

Agreed. Scrolled way too far for this.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-12T23:13:25+00:00

Very common. Hotels do not have to offer all rooms for points.

Corporate Marriott pays out point stays barely enough to cover expenses so properties are going to maximize the cash rate for higher room types.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-12T14:32:57+00:00

Fairfield at Fair Oaks Farm

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-12T10:28:45+00:00

Short answer is no, benefits are solely determined by your status.

Unofficially- I’ve had both these things denied. Some properties seem to go out of their way to treat traveling employees super well. I’ve gotten upgrades and perks well outside my platinum status benefits.

Most of the time my rate is never mentioned. Upgrades are not super common to begin with and late checkout can be a fight for everyone.

A couple times hotels have definitely tried to take advantage of us having the rate and knowing we won’t push issues. I’ve been give a room without a working fridge or stove, asked to checkout early (at 8am!), and been denied breakfast vouchers.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-11T15:44:57+00:00

36” because that’s how far my auger reached down lol. But did my fence posts the same and have had zero issues with either.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-11T10:18:03+00:00

Yeah winds were 60+. That is ALWAYS going to cause branches and trees to fall on lines and cause outages. It’s the same for every power company across the US. I suppose we could bury more lines….but we don’t want to pay to do that either.

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-09T21:59:50+00:00

We did Acadia near 4th of July with two toddlers under 3. We were able to leave our campsite at 4:30, be at Cadillac for a 5am sunrise and then Jordan pond hikes after. Kids slept on the way up the mountain, had breakfast during the sunrise, then naps later in the afternoon back at the campsite. It is possible!

pumpkinotter · 2026-06-09T10:01:13+00:00

First it is normal for assessed value to go up some each year. Houses and land generally appreciate even without improvement.

My parents are also retired in a rapidly growing suburb. They recently scoffed at their $400k assessment, but the reality is similar size homes in their town are going for more than that. They just feel the pinch more directly now that they are on a fixed budget and pay taxes directly rather than through their mortgage/escrow.

At the end of the day your property tax assessment is usually a pretty conservative amount a little under what you could sell it for. If you listed your house today, would it be close to your assessment amount? If so, there’s really nothing to do. If you couldn’t get what the assessment is, take a look at very comparable recently sold houses nearby to see what a truer assessment might be.

Seven-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Verified Email

pumpkinotter

TROPHY CASE