Harvest Host is the best service to turn to on a weekend, particularly a holiday weekend, to get us closer to our next park when campgrounds are full. The Blue Heron Winery is a beautiful property that overlooks the Ohio River. There are several decks with tables and chairs to relax and enjoy some wine…

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The blue Lincoln trail bridge got us back into Kentucky, which is our destination for this road trip. First stop is the Mammoth Cave National Park. We are staying in the campgrounds right here which is nice because we won’t have to drive to the cave tours or hiking trails around the main cave entrance.…

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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…

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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