The wife and I will be taking a long 4 day weekend in September to visit Mammoth Cave and maybe some others.
Where should we stay and where should we avoid?
Where to eat?
Is the Corvette Museum worth checking out?
What else should we do while there?
Anything I should know about concealed carry in your state?
Thanks for any info you can provide.

Stay - If you camp, stay in the park. Sept is a great time to backpack or car-camp in Mammoth. Lots of hotels in the area too.

Do - Take the most aggressive cave tour you can handle. The Wild Cave is great if you're up to the physical activity, You need boots and you need to be under a certain size. Reserve your slot in advance. If you do other caving tell teh rangers in advance, they are very sesnitve about white nose around here.

CCDW - Handgunlaw.us is accurate. You can carry in the Mammoth Cave Park. I'm not sure of the legality of Carry in the cave itself, but it isnt something I'd recommend.

If you like corvettes, alot of people like the museum. However, they had a big sinkhole develop in the middle of the dome a few months back so now a lot of it is to see the damage and the cars that fell in.  plus the other showrooms they have with stuff.  Its about 30 miles to that museum from cave city.

Bowling Green is a neat town, has beech bend park, a small amusement park that can be fun.
and once to bowling green only about 45 minutes to nashville.

It's been a while since I've been but Kentucky Down Under used to be a good waste of a half day. They have their own little cave tour as well.

A couple years ago I drove-in from Louisville to do the "Wild Cave Tour". This isn't like the suburban moms with kids in tow who walk through a flat 10-foot tall passage and think they are cool shit.... no no no b*tches.  The wild cave tour is 9 hours of subterranean hell/awesomeness.

The tour is limited to people less than 42" in circumference (circumference, NOT diameter). I'm a muscular 5'7" 170 lbs and barely made the 42" cut-off. If you're fat you're f&cked.

I didn't think I was claustrophobic until I was asked to squeeze-through a basketball-sized hole on an upward slope with my back arched backwards. Crawling through spaces where the ceiling is so low you have to have your head turned sideways because your head is too-long front-to-back to squeeze between the floor and the ceiling (in the pitch black hundreds of feet below ground by the way) is an exhilarating experience.

If you can make it through the "Bare Hole" you'll make it through the rest.

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Just to be clear,,, the wild cave tour was one of the cooler things I've done. I highly recommend it.  I only recommend you do it if you're fit; the early twenty-somethings that were in average shape were barely walking towards the end.

I went thru one of those head-turned, back-arched things and there was a puddle right in the middle that some damned cricket or fish or octopus had taken for a residence. It was extra fun reaching forward as much as possible then doing a split across the puddle so as to not disturb the "habitat".

There are hotels at Cave City but I'd recommend staying in Bowling Green. There are tons of hotels, over 300 restaurants, and lots of stuff to do. The National Corvette Museum is worth a trip. The NCM motorsports park will be open in September.  http://www.motorsportspark.org/.  Cabela's Bowling Green will be open Sept 25th.

Mammoth cave is great to see, there are several cave tours that would keep you busy for four days if you are into that stuff. Bowling Green as stated has several restaurant options, not so many in cave city, Glasgow is another option to BG. Places to stay and some food options. It's also probably cheaper to stay in Glasgow as opposed to Bowling Green. There aren't many "places to avoid in this area. Food options, BG has more restaurants per capita than anywhere in the US, if you can't find food there, you deserve to starve. If you like steaks, nobody makes a better steak anywhere I've ever been than Little Taste of Texas in Glasgow. Also Rib Lickers in Glasgow are great options to the chain restaurants in Bowling Green. I would definitely check out the Corvette museum, you can even tour the manufacturing plant. It's a little bit of a drive(1.5hrs) but the burboun trail in bardstown/Lexington is very cool. Concealed carry shouldn't be an issue, most police are gun friendly.

As everyone said Mammoth Cave is really something to see and you will enjoy it. There is lodging at Mammoth Cave if you prefer. Also there are many hiking trails  as well as a new mountain bike trail if you like that.
In Glasgow there is a couple of motels on 31E South and 3 miles farther there is 4 Seasons Inn with rates running $79-$130 and a few miles farther is Barren River State park located on Barren River Lake with rooms and cottages. As stated earlier Bowling Green does have a better selection of restaurants and the Corvette museum is cool if you like Corvettes.
I live 3 miles from Glasgow and the restaurants mentioned above are good. Good luck on your 4 day getaway.

 
  Good post and I will second that Little Taste of Texas has the best steaks around.   If you like BBQ i'd suggest Monroe Co., yes that fly ridden shed may likely produce the best bbq you have ever tasted!

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I think we're just going to stay in Cave City and do a few cave tours, squeeze in the Vette Museum and maybe a Zipline. Any recommendations on the Zipline?
Sounds like Glasgow should be good for food unless there's somewhere in Bowling Green we shouldn't miss.

Misread your post at first and thought "I only have a 38" waist and I'm in great shape. This is going on the list of things to do when I'm in KY next month. Then saw the pics (thanks by the way) and realized my 52" chest does not meet the requirements.

^ 44" chest here. Looks like a no go for me too.

My wife,daughter,and son did Mammoth Cave Zipline and recently had a ball. Me,I had to work. Good luck.

Mammoth Cave Zipline a friend of mine built it and maintains it, or he did until his motorcycle wreck. Glasgow has some solid places to eat:(in order of personal preference)
Mexican-($$)Los Mariachi's, ($$)El Mazatlan, ($$)Puerto Vallarta
Asian:($$) Evergreen, ($$$)Yomato, ($$)Family Style, ($$)China King
Italian: ($$$)Gondolier
Greek: ($$$$)Anna's
Steakhouse: ($$$)Little Taste of Texas, ($$$)Coltons, ($$$)Apple bees, ($$$)Sidelines
BBQ: ($$)Rib Lickers, ($$)Big Moose's, ($$)South Fork BBQ
Burgers/Misc: ($$)Cheeseburger Paradise<-good burger, poor service, ($$)Plum Yum<-burgers & frozen Yogurt
Fast-food: McD's, Wendy's, Subway, KFC, Ralley's, Hardees, Arby's, A&W, Long John's, Captain D's, Sonic, Burger King, Dairy Queen, etc.

Not sure the days you are visiting, but on Friday and Saturday night, Rib Lickers has live music, BBQ, very cool atmosphere, vibe, and a nice beer selection!

Probably more than you want to know about food, but the wife doesn't cook, so if if it's not something I can cook, something my mother cooks, we dine out....and that's a lot.