After an uneventful 650 mile drive over 2 days we are home. It was so humid when we left southwestern Kentucky Monday morning that water was running off the awning from the dew. We are very glad to leave that muck behind. The poor A/C in the mortorhome needs a rest. The air was noticeably less humid when we reached WV and even comfortable at our overnight stop in Beckley, WV.
We stayed overnight at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine Campground. The CG is tricky to find and fun getting into. But the sites are full hookup, level, and paved. That section of WV sure is pretty to drive through. I think that may be a future trip as there are several things to see and do.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Day 17 – OK Mammoth Cave, Here We Come!
Sunday, August 01, 2010
We got there about an hour early for our tour, as planned. The tour was sold out…120 people! We started on time and journeyed down the ramp to the natural cave entrance for our 2 hour moderate tour with 440 total stairs. On we went into the cave and walked, past some ruins of saltpeter mining, walked some more down. We walked to the Rotunda, and to the Methodist Church, or first stop. Yes, church services were held there! Then we went down Broadway, Gothic Avenue, and down to the Giant’s Coffin our second stop. This is a rock that looks just like its name. Here we left the big cave and began our journey through tighter and scarier places, such as the Bottomless Pit that you walk across on a bridge with grates you can see down through! Fun for acrophobics! The into Fat Man’s Misery, did I mention tight places and the Tall Men’s Misery. At several places historic graffitti are visible on the ceiling, put there by candle smoke. Finally we wound our way down to Great Relief Hall for our last stop and a brief lights out.
At this point we hit bottom for this tour, about 300’ DOWN. Now we begin the fun job of hiking out and UP…puff, puff, puff! Up the stairs we went, then up some more to Mammoth dome where the STAIR tower is, all 155 stairs! Here we finally saw some flow formations. The rest of the cave is bone dry. Slowly we made our way back to Broadway and the way out, up more stairs to daylight. When you hit the surface he heat and humidity are breathtaking, literally. Your glasses fog up. Then you finally see again and there it is Mount Mammoth, that ramp that was nothing walking down! It seems like 500 miles hiking up but is no more than 150-200 yards to the Visitors Center, rest rooms, and air conditioning! The pictures below give you some idea of what we did and saw.
Afterwards we drove a loop scenic road to the western part of the park and outside the Park. Wecrossed the Green River by ferry and stopped briefly at the Nolin River Dam and the riverside below the dam.
We stumbled upon a nice lunch at the Bee Springs Restaurant in Bee Springs, KY. From there we headed home to end our day. Tomorrow we start the journey home, and honestly I am ready. The humidity down here is oppressive and has been so almost every day. The heat is about the same as VA-DC. I have been duly reminded of my two primary RVing directives: No travel in summer; and do not go south in hot weather!
We got there about an hour early for our tour, as planned. The tour was sold out…120 people! We started on time and journeyed down the ramp to the natural cave entrance for our 2 hour moderate tour with 440 total stairs. On we went into the cave and walked, past some ruins of saltpeter mining, walked some more down. We walked to the Rotunda, and to the Methodist Church, or first stop. Yes, church services were held there! Then we went down Broadway, Gothic Avenue, and down to the Giant’s Coffin our second stop. This is a rock that looks just like its name. Here we left the big cave and began our journey through tighter and scarier places, such as the Bottomless Pit that you walk across on a bridge with grates you can see down through! Fun for acrophobics! The into Fat Man’s Misery, did I mention tight places and the Tall Men’s Misery. At several places historic graffitti are visible on the ceiling, put there by candle smoke. Finally we wound our way down to Great Relief Hall for our last stop and a brief lights out.
At this point we hit bottom for this tour, about 300’ DOWN. Now we begin the fun job of hiking out and UP…puff, puff, puff! Up the stairs we went, then up some more to Mammoth dome where the STAIR tower is, all 155 stairs! Here we finally saw some flow formations. The rest of the cave is bone dry. Slowly we made our way back to Broadway and the way out, up more stairs to daylight. When you hit the surface he heat and humidity are breathtaking, literally. Your glasses fog up. Then you finally see again and there it is Mount Mammoth, that ramp that was nothing walking down! It seems like 500 miles hiking up but is no more than 150-200 yards to the Visitors Center, rest rooms, and air conditioning! The pictures below give you some idea of what we did and saw.
Giant's Coffin
More vertical than it looks!
Historic Graffitti.
 |
Light at the end of the tunnel
Afterwards we drove a loop scenic road to the western part of the park and outside the Park. Wecrossed the Green River by ferry and stopped briefly at the Nolin River Dam and the riverside below the dam.
Green River Ferry
Nolin River Dam and riverside.
We stumbled upon a nice lunch at the Bee Springs Restaurant in Bee Springs, KY. From there we headed home to end our day. Tomorrow we start the journey home, and honestly I am ready. The humidity down here is oppressive and has been so almost every day. The heat is about the same as VA-DC. I have been duly reminded of my two primary RVing directives: No travel in summer; and do not go south in hot weather!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Day 16 – A Visit to Bowling Green
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Today we drove about 30 miles south to Bowling Green, KY, home of the National Corvette Museum and the Bowling Green GM Assembly Plant, where these magnificent autos are assembled. The GM plant does tours Mon.-Thurs. only, so we knew we couldn’t do that. The museum was open to see the dream cars of many people. The museum appears relatively new and has just about everything Corvette related. Someone once said a picture is worth a thousand words, so let me shut up.
After our museum tour we stopped at the Bowling Green Tourist Kiosk and were directed to a great lunch at Mariah’s in downtown Bowling Green. We all had the Baked Potato Soup that is to die for. Each of us had a sandwich to go along, Donna a vegetable wrap, Katherine half a chicken salad club, and myself a mahi-mahi taco. The food and service were both excellent. Definitely 4-star in my book!
After lunch we tried to do Lost River Caverns. No luck there, as the wait for the next available tour was over 2 ½ hours. Oh well, another time. Katherine bought a bag panning stuff to look for gemstones. She had fun with it and found lots of interesting stones. Now we just need someone to tell us what riches we have stumbled on! Since we could not do the tour we drove around Bowling Green some more. This is a very pretty town. We saw lots of big and smaller homes on large lots with big trees and lush green lawns. We drove through the campus of Western Kentucky University, a beautiful campus.
Today we drove about 30 miles south to Bowling Green, KY, home of the National Corvette Museum and the Bowling Green GM Assembly Plant, where these magnificent autos are assembled. The GM plant does tours Mon.-Thurs. only, so we knew we couldn’t do that. The museum was open to see the dream cars of many people. The museum appears relatively new and has just about everything Corvette related. Someone once said a picture is worth a thousand words, so let me shut up.
After our museum tour we stopped at the Bowling Green Tourist Kiosk and were directed to a great lunch at Mariah’s in downtown Bowling Green. We all had the Baked Potato Soup that is to die for. Each of us had a sandwich to go along, Donna a vegetable wrap, Katherine half a chicken salad club, and myself a mahi-mahi taco. The food and service were both excellent. Definitely 4-star in my book!
After lunch we tried to do Lost River Caverns. No luck there, as the wait for the next available tour was over 2 ½ hours. Oh well, another time. Katherine bought a bag panning stuff to look for gemstones. She had fun with it and found lots of interesting stones. Now we just need someone to tell us what riches we have stumbled on! Since we could not do the tour we drove around Bowling Green some more. This is a very pretty town. We saw lots of big and smaller homes on large lots with big trees and lush green lawns. We drove through the campus of Western Kentucky University, a beautiful campus.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Day 15 – Travel Day to Horse Cave, Kentucky
Friday, July 30, 2010
Since we only had a 90 mile drive we really went slow this morning and hit the road at 11 am. We did a slow drive southwest and still got here at 12:30 PM CDST. Yes Central time, we got zoned today. Anyway it gave us chance to drive to Mammoth Cave National Park and get our tour tickets for Sunday morning. Other than that, kick back and relax a TRY to finally catch up with this blog! A week with no WIFI! Uggh!
With this post I am now up to date! YEAH!
Since we only had a 90 mile drive we really went slow this morning and hit the road at 11 am. We did a slow drive southwest and still got here at 12:30 PM CDST. Yes Central time, we got zoned today. Anyway it gave us chance to drive to Mammoth Cave National Park and get our tour tickets for Sunday morning. Other than that, kick back and relax a TRY to finally catch up with this blog! A week with no WIFI! Uggh!
With this post I am now up to date! YEAH!
Day 14 – To Lexington We Go and Penultimate Junk Food
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Plans for an early start went awry as we slept in. At least we were up before our friends left for the State Capitol tour. Everyone else is heading south for Mammoth Cave today. Tomorrow we head there. We intended to try to do 4 old houses today. No way that was going to happen. We drove through downtown Lexington, which is undergoing finishing construction touches to get ready for the World Equestrian Championships. Brightly decorated and painted horse statues dot the downtown area.
Our first house was the childhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln. The house is an in town example of simple elegance and is the only featured home of a first lady. The Lincoln’s did visit one time shortly after he was elected to the House. The Todd’s were well to do as exemplified by the interior furnishings. The house is of common design with no ostentatious features. Our tour lasted 1 hour. Most of our guide’s discussion focused on the life of Mary Todd and was excellent. The furnishings are period but only a few are original family pieces.
Mary’s mother died at an early age and she did not get along well with her stepmother. Her father treated her well and she was educated more than most men of her time. She was an outspoken critic of slavery even though they were present in her household. She knew and spoke often with Henry Clay who shared those views. Mary left the house at age 21 to move to Illinois and make her life. Her father died shortly thereafter and the house and contents were auctioned off to settle the estate. The Inventory from that auction was used for the restoration. The house was used for many commercial ventures thereafter (including a brothel) until saved in recent years.
OK Mom, Grand mom and Aunt Alice, I visited Henry Clay’s estate, Ashland. You can rest easy now. Yes, that was our next stop. This house is big and flashy. However, it is not the house Henry Clay lived in, but most of the furnishings are original. The house was demolished after his death and rebuilt to original design. Why? It was damaged in the New Madrid earthquake many years before. Our guide was Charlie and he did an outstanding job. He was informative on both the interior and family history. Since we only had 5 of us on the tour, it went overtime. The house has a central building with 2 wings and is 3 stories high. The main entry way is a rectangular octagon. It is quite airy and light despite the heavy oak woodwork. The most impressive room was the library in the left wing. It has a domed ceiling with skylights. Virtually all of the downstairs has the original furnishings, including artwork, with many of Henry Clay’s personal items.
One major accomplishment of Henry Clay was as a farmer. Early in his career accumulated over 10,000 acres. He was involved in the early days of Kentucky horse racing and introduced Hereford cattle into the US. Henry Clay was described as possibly the greatest orator and Senator of all time. He is the only person elected Speaker on his first day in the House. His compromises likely delayed the Civil War for 20-30 years, but he never achieved his goal of being elected President. He died in office at the age of 75 after forging the Missouri Compromise. His funeral was massive and served as the blueprint for both the Lincoln and Kennedy funerals. Abraham Lincoln used Clay as his model for his political life. The role Mary Todd Lincoln played in this cannot be underestimated. Both of these houses are a must when visiting Lexington.
After leaving Ashland we drove southeast through Lexington. The houses are magnificent. We then drove towards home using the back roads to see the many horse farms and famous stables. The countryside is lush green dotted with big trees and unfortunately with “for sale’ signs, even on some of the bigger horse farms.
Our final stop was at a gastronomical landmark…The White Castle on US 60 south of Frankfort. Burgers are a bit more than a nickel now. But oh my, they haven’t changed: a wafer thin burger, a dollop of greasy cooked onions, a dill pickle slice, jammed between 2 halves of a steamed micro roll. Of course it is still square and tastes just as crappy as they did 40 years ago! We ate a dozen. Burrrp! They sell them in pairs, so when you order “six,” you get 12 of these tasty morsels! Be forewarned!
Plans for an early start went awry as we slept in. At least we were up before our friends left for the State Capitol tour. Everyone else is heading south for Mammoth Cave today. Tomorrow we head there. We intended to try to do 4 old houses today. No way that was going to happen. We drove through downtown Lexington, which is undergoing finishing construction touches to get ready for the World Equestrian Championships. Brightly decorated and painted horse statues dot the downtown area.
Our first house was the childhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln. The house is an in town example of simple elegance and is the only featured home of a first lady. The Lincoln’s did visit one time shortly after he was elected to the House. The Todd’s were well to do as exemplified by the interior furnishings. The house is of common design with no ostentatious features. Our tour lasted 1 hour. Most of our guide’s discussion focused on the life of Mary Todd and was excellent. The furnishings are period but only a few are original family pieces.
Herb Garden in back of the house
Back of Mary Todd Lincoln House
Mary’s mother died at an early age and she did not get along well with her stepmother. Her father treated her well and she was educated more than most men of her time. She was an outspoken critic of slavery even though they were present in her household. She knew and spoke often with Henry Clay who shared those views. Mary left the house at age 21 to move to Illinois and make her life. Her father died shortly thereafter and the house and contents were auctioned off to settle the estate. The Inventory from that auction was used for the restoration. The house was used for many commercial ventures thereafter (including a brothel) until saved in recent years.
OK Mom, Grand mom and Aunt Alice, I visited Henry Clay’s estate, Ashland. You can rest easy now. Yes, that was our next stop. This house is big and flashy. However, it is not the house Henry Clay lived in, but most of the furnishings are original. The house was demolished after his death and rebuilt to original design. Why? It was damaged in the New Madrid earthquake many years before. Our guide was Charlie and he did an outstanding job. He was informative on both the interior and family history. Since we only had 5 of us on the tour, it went overtime. The house has a central building with 2 wings and is 3 stories high. The main entry way is a rectangular octagon. It is quite airy and light despite the heavy oak woodwork. The most impressive room was the library in the left wing. It has a domed ceiling with skylights. Virtually all of the downstairs has the original furnishings, including artwork, with many of Henry Clay’s personal items.
Ashland - Home of Henry Clay
One major accomplishment of Henry Clay was as a farmer. Early in his career accumulated over 10,000 acres. He was involved in the early days of Kentucky horse racing and introduced Hereford cattle into the US. Henry Clay was described as possibly the greatest orator and Senator of all time. He is the only person elected Speaker on his first day in the House. His compromises likely delayed the Civil War for 20-30 years, but he never achieved his goal of being elected President. He died in office at the age of 75 after forging the Missouri Compromise. His funeral was massive and served as the blueprint for both the Lincoln and Kennedy funerals. Abraham Lincoln used Clay as his model for his political life. The role Mary Todd Lincoln played in this cannot be underestimated. Both of these houses are a must when visiting Lexington.
After leaving Ashland we drove southeast through Lexington. The houses are magnificent. We then drove towards home using the back roads to see the many horse farms and famous stables. The countryside is lush green dotted with big trees and unfortunately with “for sale’ signs, even on some of the bigger horse farms.
Typical pasture.
The traditional Kentucky stone walls from times past.
Just another country road.
Our final stop was at a gastronomical landmark…The White Castle on US 60 south of Frankfort. Burgers are a bit more than a nickel now. But oh my, they haven’t changed: a wafer thin burger, a dollop of greasy cooked onions, a dill pickle slice, jammed between 2 halves of a steamed micro roll. Of course it is still square and tastes just as crappy as they did 40 years ago! We ate a dozen. Burrrp! They sell them in pairs, so when you order “six,” you get 12 of these tasty morsels! Be forewarned!
Yes, White Castle lives on in Kentucky.
Day 13 – The Kentucky Horse Park, Rebecca Ruth Candies, & Frank?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
We got a very early start this morning, before 9 am and made the beeline to The Kentucky Horse Park north of Lexington. This will be the site of the World Equestrian Championships this fall, first time outside of Europe. We were told you haven’t visited Kentucky until you’ve been to KHP. I can now endorse that sentiment. Forrest and Pat joined us on the early start.
We got there just in time to be second in line for the Trolley ride. The trolley is pulled by 2 Clydesdales, Thunder and Lightening. It is only a short ride, but the guide points out all the various buildings where events are held. Good thing we made the first trolley ride as we just had time to hike over to the Hall of Champions.
One of our team - Clydesdales
Front row seats!
The Hall of Champions is a circular area where several champion horses are introduced and walked around the ring. The four horses we saw were: Fancy Dreamer, Funny Cide, Da Hoss and Cigar. Fancy Dreamer is one of the winningest trotters in history. Funny Cide is a Thoroughbred who won both the Kentucky derby and the Preakness, but not the Belmont Stakes. A beautiful stallion, but he is sterile, too bad for those investors. Da Hoss is another popular Thoroughbred who was a bust on the regular tracks but was nearly unbeatable on turf!. The final thoroughbred we saw was Cigar, a gelding, who won 16 straight races he started. All were beautiful horses who showed their spirit. No, you do not get to pet them, as they are at times unpredictable, maybe why they are winners and champions.
If you can tell them apart yer better than me!
Our next stop was the Breeds Barn for 2 shows. First was the Parade of breeds. Each Breed was shown individually with an explanation of their particulars. These were the Friesian, Arabian, American Morgan Horse, Quarter Horse. The Friesians are large black horse especially popular in dressage. The Morgan is the first American horse breed. Of course the quarter horse derived its fame from the old west. The Arabian is especially known for endurance and can complete a 100-mile cross country race in 10 hours! The next show at the same arena was the mare and foal show. Two miniature mares were shown with their foals.
Our final stop was the International Museum of the Horse. This building was air conditioned so it was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. The Museum main display traces the horse from pre-historic times to the present around the world. There are many interesting exhibits to view and you could easily spend several hours there. The main display ends with all the trophies from Calumet Farms. This is quite an impressive display and includes the Triple Crown trophies for Citation. The final two exhibits are dedicated to Secretariat and Seattle slew, the last 2 Triple Crown winners. This year there was a special exhibit dedicated to the Arabian horse. This was filled with art and antiquities depicting the Arabian horse in BCE times.
What do you do after lunch? Why go for a candy factory tour at Rebecca Ruth Candies. This is a very small family run operation with 8 employees. What’s the story? Bourbon Ball were invented here. They still make them with bourbon and various liquors. The equipment dates from the 1930’s and looks identical to that in the classic comic bit from I Love Lucy when Lucy and Ethel are trying to box candies.
Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory
Since we were in Frankfort, the State Capital we went to see the Capitol. We only drove around it as it was too late for tours. About 2 blocks from the Capitol is the Rev. Jesse Ziegler House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright! Not something you’d expect in a city block of otherwise non-descript houses! No tours, it is a private residence. I bet that house brings big bucks!
kentucky State Capitol
Rev. Jesse Ziegler House - Frank Lloyd Wright
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