Category: 2024 Kentucky Trip
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Red River Gorge Geological Area
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A most fortuitous meeting while ordering pizza at Callie’s campground led to our adventure today. A couple who work down the road at Four Guys Campground absolutely love Callie’s pizza. While we were all waiting for our orders we discovered that he was born and raised in the Dubuque area and she has family living…
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Natural Bridge State Park
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Hemlock Lodge has a big parking lot that I’m sure fills up on nice summer days. We stepped out into gentle rain and thought we had time to get one trail done before more rain came, but heard thunder. Change of plans; had lunch and waited until RADAR looked mostly clear for a bit. The…
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Mary Todd Lincoln house and Callie’s Lake and Campground
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Lexington was on our way to Callies’s Lake and Campground, our home for the next three days. The Kentucky Horse Park is closed today, so we drove into downtown Lexington to see the houses where Mary Todd Lincoln lived as a child. The first home has a marker out front with No Smoking and No…
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Heaven Hill Distillery
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The museum ticket from yesterday still gets us into two more museums today, so Tony worked while I walked through the Women’s Civil War Museum and Lt. Gen. Hal Moore Museum. Again, these two places housed in the same big building together are packed full of memorabilia. The women’s Civil War history talked of nursing,…
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My Old Kentucky Home
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This historical mansion, Federal Hill, is part of the state park property along with a golf course, campground and picnic area. The name comes from the Stephen Foster song, the Kentucky state song, that this house inspired; at least the first verse. He was a guest here as the Rowan family were his cousins. The…
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Birthplace of President Lincoln
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When I think of states associated with President Lincoln, I think of Illinois first. We visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park on our way north from Nolin Lake. President Teddy Roosevelt officiated when the cornerstone of the monument was put in place and President Taft presided over the dedication ceremony. Kentucky makes a…
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Oh, yes there is a waterfall at Nolin Lake
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Perhaps the young helper in the check-in booth has never hiked the Waterfall trail, but we got some great advice (keep left) from some hikers leaving the trailhead this afternoon. The pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall has tadpoles, salamanders and water bugs swimming around. I also found other things that might…
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Nolin Lake State Park, KY
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Laundry day first, then traveling on to Nolin Lake State Park which is on the north side of Mammoth Cave National Park. The prettiest laundry room I have ever used on the road was at Johnson Shut-Ins State Park in Missouri. The walls were lined on two sides with single-hung windows taller than I am…
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The Historic Tour of Mammoth Cave
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The Historic Tour is the most popular tour in the park. It is listed as moderate rather than easy because of the length at almost two miles, and the 500+ stairs (spread out, not all at once), and the narrow passages where you walk bent over. It was fun to do the narrow passages while…
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Mammoth Cave Exploration 1
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A self-guided tour seemed in order for today as almost all tours were sold out; thankfully, we have reservations for the Historic Tour tomorrow. We ended up hopping onto a Mammoth Passage tour which was departing in 5 minutes and had about 40-50 people on it, most were families with small children. It was fun…