A Kentucky Vacation!

Hello dear friends.

Yes, I do realize that it has been a few weeks since I last posted.  You know how life gets in the way.  First we had pre-vacation preparations to attend to...then we were off to Kentucky for a week to see the sights (more about that in a moment)...this past week has been spent catching up on the yard work after taking time off....sometimes I wonder if vacations are worth it!  LOL

We headed off to Kentucky.  I've always wanted to see it, and wanted to knock one more place off of my 'bucket list'.  We tagged along with our oldest son and his family.  This is the first time we have tried using AIR B&B.  We rented a house in Bardstown, KY.  It was a quaint little place, with plenty of room for us all, a nice deck and a lovely screened porch.  Central to everything, with stores nearby, as well as many historic places, it seems like it was a good choice.

We arrived on Saturday evening after 11+ hours of travel.  I hate highways, but sometimes they are the only way to get from here to there quickly, so most of the travel congested.  The weather turned terrible south of Cleveland, with torrential rains...add very heavy traffic and construction to the mix, and it made for a stressful drive.  We were glad to finally arrive and unwind.  I had made a batch of fried chicken at home, so we were all set for dinner.  Every time we go on vacation, it is expected that I will make a batch of my friend chicken - it is always looked forward to.

The following day our son came down with a terrible sore throat and cold...needless to say, his vacation was not too enjoyable.  He did tag along when he felt up to it, but couldn't fully enjoy anything.

Our travels led us to the National Parks for Lincoln's birthplace and Lincoln's boyhood home.  

We toured the beautiful old mansion at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, 

...went antiquing, and visited the Makers Mark distillery, which was very neat!  They give a wonderful tour and the grounds are gorgeous.  We ended with a whiskey tasting...not too much to my liking, but the guys enjoyed it.

We attended Mass at the Basilica of St Joseph, First Catholic Cathedral west of the Allegany Mountains.  This historic church contains some very fine and huge paintings, gifts of Francis (King of the two Sicilies) and Pope Leo XII. The area has many more museums and sites to see, but we simply ran out of time.  

We also visited Mammoth Caves National Park.  Now, be it known that I am not a fan of enclosed places, so it was with some hesitation that I allowed DH to buy me a ticket to go along with them into the cave.  But, I was determined to give it a whirl.  I got in line, rode the bus to the cave we were to tour, listened to the talk given by the cave guide...and looked at the entrance....it looked like a tomb vault...I am still determined to be brave....then the guide asks for a volunteer to be at the end of the group to 'bolt the door shut behind us'....OK...I AM GOING TO STILL BE BRAVE...get towards the back of the line I tell my husband..just so I don't have a ton of people pushing me into the cave...I get into the cave entrance...the last people are just behind us...our son and his family are further ahead...I'm lagging behind with DH, who is trying his best to reassure me...they bolt the door...and I turn to Chris and say...I can't do this...sorry honey...but I am unbolting that door and waiting outside...you can rebolt it....A #1 Chicken....out the 'tomb' door and into the sunshine.  I felt rather foolish, but I never could have done it....but at least I tried.

Would you?

 The last night we enjoyed a dinner out at a local "southern' eatery, where I had country fried steak for the first time - ooooh...so good!  I came home and made some from a recipe by the Pioneer Woman.  It was very good.   We finished the evening by taking little Allie on a guided carriage ride around town. DIL Steph and I thought it would be a fun treat for her.  She was so excited!

We could have easily spent another few days visiting more for the sights, but we were headed towards home, with a stop in Dayton, OH for the night, and a tour of the awesome National Air Force Museum.  We were awe-struck by all the real airplanes within the museum...it was just stunning.  Humbling too, as we looked on the history of the air plane, from it's humble beginning at Kitty Hawk, NC (which, by the way, we visited last year), to the modern day aircraft.  There was a special display on the Holocaust, which I found especially moving.  We spent nearly 1/2 a day there, but could have easily spent an entire weekend.  There is so much to see...and it is FREE!  I left the museum feeling very overwhelmed with emotion...seeing the Holocaust display, the actual bomber that dropped 'the bomb', the actual Air Force One that carried the casket of John F Kennedy, and where Dwight D. Eisenhower was sworn in. So much history, so much destruction...humbling indeed....

Our son Scott is below the plane. I wanted you to see how huge some of them are.  They are all full size, retired planes.

Air Force One - the one mentioned above.  They also had two older AFOs on display.

Before we arrived in Dayton, we did take a small side trip to the gorgeous horse race track at Keeneland, Kentucky.  Oh my.  It was simply stunning there!   Beautiful grounds, and we even had a chance to watch some of the horses training.  Well worth the stop!  Just don't go into the store on the grounds, unless you are comfortable spending $129 for a tie or $250 for a polo shirt!  LOL.

All in all, it was a nice vacation, but it is always good to get back home!

I hope the last few weeks have been good to you.

I'll be back again next week!

I'll leave you with a wheelbarrow full of smiling faces from our family get together on Sunday, well...except for Elena, who was turned the wrong way.  

Allie, Elena, Peter & Joey