Day 3, Lexington Legends: Mammoth Cave, Mammoth Beer, Mammoth Tebow BS

Our day began with a slow start in Bowling Green since we couldn’t pass up a chance to see one of the nation’s most popular National Parks, Mammoth Cave, nor could we get a tour earlier than 12:45. So we bummed around eating the largest spread for a free hotel breakfast I’ve ever seen before taking a quick 45-minute spin to the Cave.

If you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth it. It’s a cave. A big cave. 405+ miles of which are mapped but many more of which are unknown. With pretty formations. And it’s an awesome break from summer (seriously, approaching the entrance the air temperature must drop 20 degrees). Definitely in the running with Carlsbad Caverns for best caves in the country. 10/10, would shelter during the upcoming nuclear apocalypse again.

On the way out. I don't know why we ever left.

We went on the Historical Tour, which imparted knowledge in the domain its name suggests. We all felt the fact that the original (modern) cave guides were all slaves was a little, uh, whitewashed with just a souciant of “isn’t it wonderful how well respected these slaves were!” Well, uh, Mr. Ranger, sir, it would’ve been a lot more wonderful if they weren’t, y’know, enslaved.

Anyway, the game. Loyal readers of our blog will recognizethe Lexington Legends from season 1, when Zach prevented him and Ben from going to the game by forgetting day games are a thing. Zach did still manage to get his Legends T-shirt, which due to a logo change now legally qualifies as a throwback.

They're practically twins! You know, in the Danny DeVito-Arnold Schwarzenegger sense.

So without further ado…

Day 2, Bowling Green Hot Rods: The case of the Stolen Home

Day 2 started off much earlier than any us could truly appreciate due to an unexpected early first pitch.  The Hot Rods had a few games rain out recently, and today was a double header to try and recapture those lost games.

We almost had Ben convinced to trade his hybrid for this baby!

With a quick exit from Chattanooga the Scrappy Journeymen made a brunch stop in Nashville.  Pat had found a highly reviewed brunch spot right in downtown Nashville called The Southern Steak & Oyster.  We opted to forgo valet parking (yes it was that fancy), bypassed the $20 parking garage, and found a lot across the street.  Once we discovered the open lot was charging $14 an hour, we decided Steak & Oyster just wasn’t in the cards for us.  Apparently no one told Nashville about the recession.

As we drove around aimlessly, Pat came through in the clutch and directed us to Pinewood Social and their free parking.  As we walked in to the nondescript building we quickly realized this was hipster central in Nashville.  The space was a renovated factory with exposed bricks and ceilings, the music playlist was curated by Wonder Woman (we didn’t see her but we suspected she worked in the back somewhere), and what hipster brunch spot wouldn’t be complete without a bowling alley.  Zach was pleasantly surprised at its existence, but made it clear that had we come here to bowl and discovered it was also a restaurant, it would not be okay.  They even had an outdoor pool with “Dive-in” movies like The Never Ending Story and The Goonies.  Zach got a coffee/soda hybrid and everyone except Ray got the Chicken and biscuits (he’s new to the Journeymen, he’ll learn).  The food was delicious enough to make Ray slightly regret all the pot-shots he took at Hipster culture.

Even though we had a tight window, we stopped over for some mini-golf on the way.  It was a Purists’ course, no frill, just geometry and skill.  Again stakes were high, as the loser had to buy the winner 2 rounds, and to make it interesting for everyone, third place had to buy second place a round as well.  It was a very tight game with good shots all around and plenty of hole in one’s, but ultimately Ray and Pat prevailed on the last hole to the dismay of Zach and Ben.

We pulled into Bowling Green with minutes to spare, found some free parking made our way to the ticket office.  As deliberation raged as to which tickets to go with, Ray happened across a Family Fun Package that got us 4 tickets, a free program that has a pretty good scorecard, and $20 stadium “cash” to spend.  The teller paused for an instance, likely debating if we really were family, but who’s to say we are not all brothers (I mean obviously Ray would be adopted), but he thought better and we procured our tickets.

Day 1: Chattanooga Lookouts beat the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3-2 (or Why Names Matter)

Welcome back to the blog!  It’s scrappy journey number 6 and we continue to increase our membership by bringing along our good friend Ray for his maiden voyage into scrappiness.  This year is to be the best yet, exploring the swamps of Florida, sampling the Cajun take on baseball in New Orleans, perhaps making a quick stop at Disney, and finally finding out which of us made a mistake in our youth at the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp’s “You Might Be the Father” Night.

Or, we were going to do all those things, but then it started raining.  Ben may have a hybrid, but the nice gas mileage precludes it from being amphibious.  So we went the other way and began our trek in sunny Chattanooga, where we saw the Lookouts beat the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. On the way, we solved a murder mystery escape room, got baffled by Tennessee’s time zones, and played a couple of rounds of minigolf at Sir Goony’s family fun center.

Then we joined most of the city at AT&T Field (not AT&T Park; we have not gone back to California) for Star Wars Night and one of the best finishes we’ve seen on these trips.  Highlights are below: