Slow Movin', Good Eatin', Parkway Kind of Day

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

It was pouring down rain when we got up, so we just didn’t get moving.  We caught up on some computer time and were just avoiding the inevitable when we got a call from the place where our mom lives in Durham.  They reported that mom had been found on the floor next to her bed that morning, and that while she seemed okay, could I please come take her to the doctor?  Needless to say, that was a no, so they took her to the ER at Duke, where she spent the day but was released in good shape.  David and Rex went to visit her last night and said she seemed none the worse for wear and that she apparently just rolled out of the bed in her sleep.  We are grateful that it was nothing more!

We had thought we might go back to the Loveless Café for breakfast, but Laura had told us about another place we might want to try called Barbara’s Home Cookin’ on Old Hillsboro Road.  You can read about it at http://www.hollyeats.com/BarbarasHomeCooking.htm  It was almost 11:30 and still raining by the time we got over there, but boy, was it worth it.  We were greeted at the door by a lovely South African woman and a sign that said “Barbara’s Home Cookin’ welcomes all families HOWEVER, unruly children Will Be DEEP FRIED  (the secret is in the sauce)” – ya gotta love it!  We had the CUTEST server in the world named Matt.  We knew we loved him when he brought us a basket of three huge hot rolls with our iced teas.  For those of you Clark School kids who remember how you never wanted to miss Thursdays because it was hot roll day in the cafeteria – these were the closest thing to those that I’ve had in years!  Heaven in a yeast roll, with a huge bowl of butter, too!

Matt proceeded to help us order from the giant blackboard right above our table.  Kim chose a vegetable plate with cucumber and tomato salad, broccoli cheese casserole, and fried okra, and I had a scoop of the chicken salad on top of a bed of spinach with feta cheese and fresh fruit – strawberries, grapes, and oranges – with a little yummy dressing.  Right after we ordered, one of Kim’s college roommates, Debbie, called.  She lives just up the road, so she came over and joined us.  She got the poppyseed chicken casserole with turnip greens and zucchini and tomato casserole.  Dessert proved to be impossible to resist – we were going to share the peach cobbler, until it became either blackberry or blueberry, so I went for the chocolate chip bread pudding with caramel sauce, and Kim had ice cream.  Debbie abstained, and she also didn’t eat her basket of rolls, so we took them with us to go with our pimiento cheese.  We wanted to take Matt with us, but we didn't have room in the car...

It was still raining when we left Barbara’s, so Debbie led us to the terminus of the Natchez Trace, which is right next to the Loveless.  It was almost two when we started off, and it’s 444 miles of 40 to 50 mph parkway.  Yikes!  Right away we pulled off to photograph the beautiful Birdsong Hollow bridge, and the rain even let up some.  The bridge is 155 feet above the valley below, and its double-arch construction has won design awards.  We considered stopping at the historic Leipers Fork, but it was raining too hard to be worth it.  The rain was short-lived, though, once we got going on the Trace, and we stopped off at several overlooks, historic sights, and hiking spots along the way.  In fact, we stopped so much that after almost three hours, we’d only covered about 50 miles!  We hiked down about 900 feet to see a waterfall that we thought would be raging, given the recent rains, but we were wrong.  It was better than the Western Australia waterfall, but it was not much!  We stopped at an old tobacco barn and were able to drive about a mile down an original section of the Trace, and we hiked down to a place where there was a ferryboat landing, way back in the day.  We stopped at Meriwether Lewis’s grave, crossed the bridge spanning the Tennessee River, and saw several ancient Indian burial mounds.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Natchez Trace, read about it at this website, http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm and make plans to drive it someday when you are not in a hurry to get anywhere.  It was originally a buffalo trail, then an Indian one, and then it was a postal route from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.  Now it’s a parkway, similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, just without the mountains.  It’s a beautiful drive!

It was almost dark when we rolled into Tupelo and found our hotel.  We got the car unloaded and then went to Harvey’s, a local restaurant.  Great food and friendly service!  Kim and I both had Blue Moons, then she had a salad and I had the tenderloin kabobs with rice pilaf, vegetables, and a side salad.  We split a delicious coconut chess pie for dessert, then headed back to the hotel.  We had a long drive ahead of us tomorrow since we still had about 270 miles of Parkway to go before we got to Natchez.

Dreaming of fluffy hot yeast rolls,

Jan

Where in the World Are We?!?!

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

As predicted, the day dawned a bit on the overcast side.  We wondered why we had not saved the cave for today, but since it sounded like it was REALLY raining in the area where we would be going, we decided to spend a little more time in Kentucky.  After getting clean in our little slanty wigwam shower, we headed out into a little Mother Nature shower, bound for the Cream and Sugar Cafe that we passed yesterday in Cave City.  It was a lovely space, with a hardwood floor and cheery yellow walls filled with original art.  Our server was a little ray of sunshine on this cloudy day, and our breakfast arrived in a jiffy on darling little cherry plates.  Kim had country (not city) ham and eggs with a biscuit, and I got the Highlander omelet - ham, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese - with a biscuit.  The perfect way to start the day!

Here’s how nice they are at Cream and Sugar – my friend Anne liked the dishes in this picture so much that she emailed the cafe, and they wrote her right back with info about where to purchase them!

Our morning's destination was Kentucky Down Under, an attraction in nearby Horse Cave that boasted a collection of Australian animals, a cave, and several other items of interest.  Since I've just returned from Australia, I thought it would be funny to have pictures of kangaroos taken in Kentucky!  We got there just in time for the 10 AM cave tour, which we weren't necessarily planning to take, but when we heard it was a short tour and that the cave had lots of formations, we changed our minds.  Our tour guide, Shannon, was a local girl whose grandfather had led tours of this same cave.  The only other cavers with us were a mom and her four-year-old son, so we got personal attention.  This cave used to be called Mammoth Onyx Cave, as the owners of this land tried to catch tourists before they got to Mammoth Cave (back in the day).

The cave was allegedly discovered by a young girl in 1799, who stumbled upon the entrance (a 30 foot deep sinkhole) while she was playing in the woods.  When the owners first began exploiting the cave as a tourist attraction, visitors climbed down (and back up) a wooden ladder through this hole.  Imagine the clothes women wore back in the early 20th century and picture that!  Since this small cave is open to the surface and is not protected by a sandstone layer like Mammoth Cave is, it is a wet cave and therefore has lots of wonderful formations.  It was slippery going in the cave, and some of the passages were quite narrow, but the formations were pretty cool.  My favorite one looked like a chocolate fountain!  The colors ranged from a light brownish yellow to deep red-orange to chocolate brown.  Early visitors to the cave were allowed to break off pieces of stalactites to take home as souvenirs, but today more care is taken to protect the cave. 

There was a small pond in the cave that used to be a home to eyeless fish and crawfish, but they are no longer living due to the number of pennies that were thrown into the pond by sightseers (over $20,000 worth!)  One of the fun things they always do in caves is turn out all of the lights so that you can experience utter darkness – it is always a surprise to me how very BLACK it is with no light, and how even one little light can illuminate so much!  On the way back up the stairs and out of the cave we spotted several small (two or three inch long) salamanders, which is a good sign for the health of the cave.  Thankfully, even though it had been overcast and much rain was predicted for the day, we didn’t get flooded down in the cave.  Shannon told us she had given tours ankle deep in water!

Back out in the heat and the light (did I mention the humidity?), we went to our first Down Under exhibit, which was about bringing non-native plants and animals to the continent of Australia.  I found it interesting that there was no mention of bringing non-native animals (like kangaroos) to the US, but maybe that’s just me.  The presenter of this exhibit, Jesse, did a great job.  He talked about seemingly non-threatening animals that the British introduced that have since caused much harm, chief among them being rabbits.  The Australians had even built a LONG ‘vermin-proof’ fence in Western Australia just to keep rabbits out of the many sheep stations there.  Of course, the rabbits just burrowed under it.  Other animals he talked about were dogs, sheep, goats, and camels.  The camel turned out to be a good thing, as it was good for traversing the desert which occupies so much of the interior of Australia.  We met Camelia (original name, huh?) and then we were on to our next stop – the kangaroos!

The exhibit here had three kinds of kangaroos – the reds, the Eastern grays, and the smaller wallabies.  We were able to pet a couple of them, but most of the kangas were just lying around being lazy.  They were cute, though, and it sure was funny to see them in Kentucky!  Also in the enclosure were black swans and emus.  We got to pet an emu, too, and feel how thick its feathers are.  No wonder it can’t fly – they were heavy!  From the kangaroo pen, we walked over to the lorikeets.  These birds were by far my favorite Australian birds – they are so colorful!  Green, blue, red, and yellow – just like a rainbow of birds.  These guys knew it was feeding time, and they could hardly wait until we got in the pen.  One landed on Kim’s shoulder and stayed there the whole time!  Another stopped on her head for a little while, but it was really funny to see the birds on the heads of the bald men!
 

We had missed the border collie shepherding event, but we got to feed some lambs and see several different kinds of rams.  I didn’t realize that some rams do not have horns, and I surely didn’t know that one variety of ram can have up to twenty horns!!  The little boy who had been on our cave tour also got to milk this GIANT cow.  From here, we went through the exhibit that had lots of different bird cages.  The birds are so exotic and pretty!  We had missed the morning digeridoo recital, and we chose not to wait for the 3:00 show, so after a quick stop at the dingo pen, we were on our way.  This was a nice little park and one I would recommend if you find yourself in the area for a few hours.

Since we were trying to let the southern torrential rains work their way east before we went south, we decided to take the Cordell Hull Scenic Byway down to Tompkinsville, KY instead of going straight to Nashville.  This route took us through the metropolis of Glasgow, where we got hungry for some lunch.  Even though we had our Road Food book with us, it was of no use in this part of the state.  As much as I’ve liked most of the places I’ve eaten on the Sterns’ recommendation, my biggest gripe about their books is that often, you need to stay in one area for many meals, and then you might go hungry before you find your next good place to eat!  You’ve probably realized that our trips are as much about food as anything, and we’ve learned to sniff out the local eateries pretty well.  Now with Garmins and iphones, in addition to AAA and books like Road Food, it’s even easier.  And so we found ourselves navigating the streets of Glasgow, circling the town square and landing in the parking lot of the Li’l Country Diner, a very non-descript looking building with a large, mostly empty, gravel parking lot.  Given that it was about 2:00, this didn’t dissuade us.  Good thing, ‘cause there were some good eats inside!  We got the meat and two, for which both of us chose roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes (and gravy), and green beans.  I also succumbed to the pull of a freshly made deviled egg, and of course we each had a roll and a huge glass of iced tea with lemon.  The pie of the day was butterscotch, but for once we were able to control ourselves.  We did have the foresight to take a half-pint of homemade pimiento cheese with us, and you can’t beat the prices here – both of our lunches, plus the cheese, cost under $15…

Off we went, stopping at the Sonic for our road tea, headed for Tompkinsville, where we didn’t know what we might find.  The road was pretty and before too long we were there.  We saw signs for the Old Mulkey Meeting House, so we went to see what that was.  It was a lovely old log church meeting house, set in the woods next to some old cemeteries.  In the afternoon mist it made a great picture.  Several of Daniel Boone’s relatives, including his sister, were buried there.  Sheila, the lady at the visitor center told us that back in town, Tompkinsville was famous for its Rolley Hole Marble players. She suggested that we stop in at the Monroe County Marble Club Super Dome and watch some marbles being played.  She gave us a map and a description of Rolley Hole marbles, so off we went.  Well, I’m not exactly sure what I expected, but this was NOT it!!  I’m afraid a written description won’t do it justice and neither will my photos.  You sort of had to be there, and meet the three men who greeted us at the ‘dome’.  By all means, please go to http://www.wku.edu/kentuckyfolkweb/KYFolklife_Gates__fun.html and learn a bit about Rolley Hole marbles.  And if you have a dead LaZBoy, send it to Tompkinsville, KY.  They can use it at the Marble Dome! 

On the way out of town, we stopped at the IGA to get supplies for the road – saltines for our pimiento cheese, cold brew tea bags, and ice.  We were good to go!  We had thought we might take scenic route KY 100 over to Scottsville before heading south to Nashville, but after our Close Encounter of the Deliverance Kind, we just went south!  Right past the Tennessee state line, we came face-to-face with a grazing buffalo, and then we started seeing some large horse farms.  Soon we were nearing Gallatin and surely we were passing some homes of country music stars – big spreads!  Kim’s son’s girlfriend, Laura, works in Gallatin, so we gave her a call and stopped in to see her.  We invited her to dinner with us and made arrangements for our room for the night, and then we took off for Franklin via downtown Nashville.  Even at 6 PM and leaving about 15 minutes after we did, Laura had time to go to the grocery before Lee (our Garmin mate) had gotten us through the center of town.  We did get a good look at the Titans stadium, the Cumberland River, the old Union Station, and the state Capitol though!  We drove right through Vanderbilt’s campus and eventually got to our hotel in Brentwood.  Laura met us there and we enjoyed being in civilization by getting sushi at Peter’s Sushi in Cool Springs.  I got Spicy Catfish (a Thai entrée) and Kim and Laura got sushi rolls.  We didn’t see anyone famous except In the photos on the walls.

We were grateful to have made it to Tennessee and to have missed most of the rain, although it was POURING when we got home from dinner.  Tomorrow, it’s Natchez Trace time!

Lost in time but not in space,

Jan

Stepping Back in Time

Monday, 14 September 2009

This morning we were up before the sun – a rare occurrence – because we had lots to see and do.  Just as we were leaving the hotel, we got a message from Jim, another of our high school friends who lives in Louisville.  We decided to take a short detour by his house to say hello on our way out of town.  It was great to see him and his home studio – he’s gone from lawyer to artist, so that’s a good thing in my book!  I ate part of my caramel Dutch apple pie (no, Kim didn’t want any) on the way there and we didn’t ever really stop for a proper breakfast, so Kim scarfed down a granola bar for sustenance.

Today’s destination was Mammoth Cave National Park, which is in south central Kentucky.  I think we took Hwy 31 E down there – whatever road it was went through some pretty green rolling hills and some not too thriving looking little towns.  We decided this part of Kentucky is nice where there is no population center, but looks pretty shabby where there are people.  Not sure exactly what that says…  We passed very little industry – a small cooperage, likely making bourbon barrels, was about the extent of it.

Our route took us through Hodgenville, which is the birthplace of Kentucky’s favorite son, Abraham Lincoln.  Just north of there we passed Abe’s Boyhood Home, which was being reconstructed (?) by state workers and cleaned up by state detainees.  We didn’t linger.  The town square of Hodgenville is dominated by a large statue of Abe, and banners were flying that noted it was the 200th anniversary of his birth.  We sort of took a wrong turn (I know, hard to imagine) on our way out of town, so we missed the shrine to the cabin where he actually entered the world.  We had seen it before in our formative years, so we didn’t turn around.  We were on a bit of a schedule, never a good thing with us, since we had a cave tour at noon.

We knew we were getting close when we passed Wigwam Village #2, which was where we would be spending the night.  We drove on through Cave City and as soon as we neared the interstate interchange we found fast food joints lining one side of the highway and really cheesy looking ‘attractions’ lining the other (cave side).  This couldn’t even qualify for one of our “Gatlinburg of the ____________” designations – too depressing!  We saw Dinosaur World, a couple of closed and/or abandoned mini golf courses, Big Mike’s, an almost reasonable facsimile of a water slide, and a few campgrounds and playgrounds.  You could tell there is a recession here! 

The drive to the cave is lovely – tree-lined and peaceful, at least for today.  One of the many benefits of traveling in the off-season!  We arrived at the visitors’ center (also under construction, so at least someone is working) in plenty of time for our tour.  As we sat through the requisite warnings about the dangers of city spelunking,  we wondered about the people in our group to whom the ranger seemed to be talking, but who did not seem to think they were the targeted audience.  I’m thinking it would be a great idea to have something akin to the height requirement sticks like they use at Disney, except for girth here!  No lie, sitting near us was a large man so square that he looked like Sponge Bob, and he didn’t even look at his wife (also on the large side, but in a completely different way) when the ranger talked about traversing Fat Man’s Misery and walking up 400+ stairs in the dark, gloomy, cold, remote, deep cave.  Go figure.
    

We had chosen to do the two hour Historic Tour of the cave, which meant we just walked down the hill to the original entrance to the cave.  Before we even got down the stairs to the entrance, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees.  The cave stays about 54 – 60 degrees F year-round, so most of us were putting on jackets at the entrance.  Mammoth Cave is VERY aptly named – it is HUGE!!!  To date, about 367 miles of passageways have been mapped, and some people estimate there could be as many as 1000 miles of caveways!!!  Our first stop was the enormous Rotunda, where there is still evidence of the salt peter mining that took place here in the early 1800’s.  An essential ingredient for gunpowder, the cave was a major supplier of ammo for the War of 1812.

Deeper into the cave we walked, wondering what it must have been like to have been one of the early explorers of such a giant underground labyrinth.  Because this cave is covered by a layer of sandstone (the cave itself is limestone), it is largely protected from the elements and is a dry cave.  That means a couple of things – it’s not slippery and wet like some caves, and it doesn’t have the same kind of cool formations like stalactites and stalagmites that most of us associate with caves.  That did make the walking part a bit easier, but we still squeezed through the serpentine Fat Man’s Misery and duck-walked through Tall Man’s Misery.  We sort of stayed at the end of the pack, not wanting to witness anyone getting stuck…Thankfully, no one did that we saw!

We passed the Giant’s Coffin and the Bottomless Pit, the Methodist Church and the Cathedral, and then it was time to start back up and out.  We didn’t find the stairs to be too bad, but we were in the minority.  Lots of whining and huffing and puffing going on!  One man kept asking if anyone had ever had a heart attack down here – who needs to know that???  Turns out our ranger, William, was from near Paducah, but he never would say exactly where.  Out we went from the coolness of the cave into the heat and humidity we’ve long been accustomed to.  It was 2:00 on the nose (I don’t know how they do that) so we headed back to Cave City in search of food.

But wait – a detour – we stopped in at Big Mike’s, where we somehow refrained from buying more glass rocks (even though they had some nice ones!) and went straight for the main attraction – Big Mike’s Mystery House.  At only $1 per head, how could we resist seeing gravity defied???  Clearly devised in the late 60’s or early 70’s by someone stoned, we loved it!  Black light posters that we used to have lined the hallways, and we stood up on a slanty table, watched water flow uphill, and got damn near dizzy with the optical illusions there.  David, our guide, cracked us up, too.  As he reminded us – it’s only a dollar!!

By now, we were really hungry, so we stopped in at the Watermill Restaurant  because it was open.  They had a great buffet, but since it was almost three, we didn’t want to spoil our dinner.  I had the vegetable plate with green beans, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy.. pinto beans, and cornbread.  Kim (of the no-breakfast) had a cheeseburger and fries.   We were ready to face the rest of the day!

 

We had just enough time to run down to Bowling Green and see the National Corvette Museum, so off we went.  WOW!!  It's a huge complex, just across the street from where 'Vettes are manufactured.   Be sure to go to www.corvettemuseum.com and get a bit of a feel for it!  They've done a wonderful job with the displays and dioramas, and you just wouldn't believe how many people have donated or loaned their cars to the museum.  Of course, we loved the Route 66 display!  There's also a Hall of Fame section (which is housed in the cool part of the museum that you see from the outside).  One of the cars there is the only 1983 Corvette still in existence.

 

After the museum closed at five, we headed back to Cave City and our Wigwam, and then we called my friend Leanne, who lives nearby.  These wigwams weren't quite as nice as the ones we stayed in while in Holbrook, AZ, on Route 66, but they were very similar!  Not much extra space, and no internet connection (unless we sat outside on the bench in front of our teepee).  Leanne came over for a wigwam visit and then she went with us to eat dinner at Snapper's Pizza in Horse Cave.  Kim and I had spaghetti that was just fine, but we were closing the place down at about 8:30.  Sidewalks roll up early here!

 

Back at the wigwam, we sat outside on our computers until a cat jumped up on the back of the bench, leapt over me, and walked across Kim's keyboard.  That put me inside, where I had to take care of a giant green grasshopper in our shower.  It's such an exciting life!  The TV was attached to a cable, but reception was awful, so that was it for me.

Have you slept in a wigwam lately?

Jan

Looking at Louisville

Sunday, 13 September 2009

Having a bad day in Louisville?  Just head on over to Lynn's Paradise Cafe and World of Swirl and everything will be all better!  And did you know they take reservations there - definitely the way to go!!  We had made reservations for 11:30 Sunday morning and even though the place was packed and the line was long, we got seated on the patio right away!  It was a gloriously beautiful day, and being surrounded by all the pink, purple, yellow, and red silk flowers just made it perfect.  And then we saw the menu.  OMG!!!  I almost got what would have amounted to dessert for breakfast - thick slices of cinnamon swirl bread, griddled in vanilla nutmeg batter, smothered with chocolate sauce, strawberries, and whipped cream, disguised as French Toast - but sanity prevailed.  Instead, I had the Kentucky Farmhouse Scramble - three eggs, scrambled with roasted red peppers and country ham, topped with local cheese and tobacco onions, served with fried green tomatoes, bread with honey butter, and a side of cheese grits like you've never tasted!  I guess that could be a heart attack disguised as breakfast, but it was SO GOOD!!!!  Kim had the fried green tomato BLT with a side of fruit.  She is so good...

We loved the people watching there and had fun after breakfast looking through the gift shop (the World of Swirl) and checking out some of the fun displays out in the parking lot.  Peppy had fun posing as a spoon.  From here, we drove over to the lovely Cave Hill Cemetery, which is the final resting place of Colonel Sanders and George Rogers Clark, among others.  The cemetery is HUGE, and even though we got directions to the Colonel's grave, we got a little lost.  Imagine that.  But we found it, many other interesting monuments (we loved the magician's), AND we got out.

Our next stop was Churchill Downs, where the famous twin spires have pretty much been overshadowed by the sky boxes, museum, and other signs of progress...  The museum was closed due to flood damage, so we just took some photos out in the parking lot.  The monument to Barbaro was stunning - he looked like he was in full gallop, riding through the air.

We drove through the UofL campus and found our way back to the Hyatt, where we parked the car and started off walking.  On the way to the Louisville Slugger plant, we passed lots of the Gallopalooza horses on display throughout town, and then we went past the 21c Museum Hotel, which was decorated with red penguins and had a pomegranate stretch limousine parked out front.

Perhaps we should have stayed here - check it out:

"21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY is the first of its kind—a 90-room hotel dedicated to accessible luxuries, Southern-style hospitality and contemporary art from living artists, exhibited throughout its galleries and public space. Among the many upscale offerings: iPods with a wide variety of music for guests' listening pleasure, award winning design and décor, poster art, 42" HDTV flat screen televisions, WiFi, 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets imported from Italy crowning the exquisite bedding, silver mint julep cups, gourmet coffee makers, mini-bar refrigerators, Malin + Goetz bath amenities, and nightly turn down and Concierge services. The hotel also offers a full exercise facility with a steam room, sauna and spa services. And, of course, red penguins."  And its bathrooms are rated in www.bestrestrooms.com (who knew?!?!) Worth a trip to their website - www.21chotel.com - for more details!

Around the corner, we passed a strange sculpture of Daniel Boone, and then we arrived at the Louisville Slugger factory and museum.  You can't miss it - the world's largest baseball bat is propped up on the building.  It's 120 feet high and weighs 68.000 pounds!! It's hollow, and could hold 30,000 gallons of water....  We had to laugh, because right next door is the Kentucky Mirror and Plate Glass Company, complete with a mural of a baseball breaking a window.  We popped in long enough to get our tour ticket, even though supposedly they don't do tours on Sunday, and then we walked around the corner to GlassWorks.  One of the cool things about Louisville is that lots of the museums are all situated near each other - the Science Museum was just across the street from Louisville Slugger.  Makes it easy to see a lot in a little bit of time!

Worth a look at www.louisvilleglassworks.com, we wanted to see the gallery there.  Kim is a fused glass artist (she has done some great stuff!!!) so even though there was a lot more blown glass than fused, it was still fun to see all the creativity and talent on display.  Back we went to the Slugger, where we joined about 20 other people for a really interesting tour of the factory.  Great interactive displays and very knowledgable guides made this a fun activity.  It was hard to believe that all Louisville Slugger bats are made here, and that most of the wooden bats in use are Sluggers.  Yet another example of a family-owned, small, very successful Kentucky companies - they may be onto something!  Learn more at www.sluggermuseum.org and make sure to stop by next time you're in Louisville!

On the way back to the hotel, we walked down by the river (the mighty Ohio, for those a little geography challenged) and we agreed that Louisville has really not capitalized on the riverfront like it could have.  The Ohio also flows past our hometown of Paducah, where it is a focal point of the city.  No wonder riverboat riders are pleasantly surprised when they stop over in Paducah!  We re-entered the city on 4th Street at the Galt House and took our souvenir bats back to our hotel room.  When we got hungry (did you notice we didn't have lunch???) we walked down 4th Street Live in hopes of finding something good, but we found nothing that suited us.  Back to the car!

We found our way down Bardstown Road and stopped in at Wick's Pizza, which was hopping with football fans.  It reminded me of Mellow Mushroom, so you know it was good!  We chilled over our Blue Moons and pizza and watched a little football, then we went looking for Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen.  Aaahh, sweet reward!  This is my kind of place!  We shared a piece of chocolate chess pie with cookie dough ice cream, and I got a piece of caramel Dutch apple to go (for a healthy breakfast).  We sat outside - perfect weather - and enjoyed our slice!

Since we didn't have a wheelbarrow, we had to waddle back to the car and to the hotel, where I was too stuffed to blog.  What a satisfying day!!

Loving Louisville!

Jan

Let's Potty!!

12 September 2009

We were up early for the exciting festivities of the day, but it was still later than we wanted it to be by the time we got going.  We went back to the area where we were last night, since we had seen a little diner that we were hoping would be open.  Sure enough, the "Open" light was glowing in the window of the Backstretch Diner, so we found a booth and settled in.  We were glad to see country ham on the menu, so we both ordered it - that is some good eatin'!  The diner was not full, but was doing a brisk business - well, not too brisk - we had to wait a pretty long time for our food, but it was tasty.  After breakfast, we stopped at a little bakery across the street and got some cookies for the road - you never know when you might find yourself out in the middle of nowhere...  We were so impressed that the young girl behind the counter at the bakery tied our box with string, although it was clear she had grown up there.  Her pictures, from birth to present, were covering the walls of this family-owned shop.  Any place that you can get freshly baked cookies at 9 AM is all right with me!

From cookies to candy we went - straight to the Rebecca Ruth candy factory, which is housed in a house!  There's a wonderful story here - read all about it at http://rebeccaruth.stores.yahoo.net but all you really need to know is that they make the BEST bourbon balls, as they should, since they invented them!  It's hard to believe that all this delicious candy is made in this little factory inside a house on a regular street in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Around the corner we went, and soon we were standing on the front steps of Kentucky's state capitol.  Here's a link if you'd like to take a virtual tour of the building http://www.lrc.ky.gov/pubinfo/tour/tour.htm - we found it to be one of the most beautiful capitol buildings we've seen, and we make it a habit to stop in any capitols we happen on as we travel.  We had to laugh though, to realize that even though we spent our first 18 years living in Kentucky, we had never been to our own state capitol.  Guess that's what happens when your parents are from Tennessee!  I was most surprised to see that Kentucky honors Jefferson Davis in its rotunda - not that I think they shouldn't, I was just surprised they did.  It has always been interesting to me that both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were from Kentucky, a border state that never went one way or the other during the War Between the States.  Of course, we're still a bit backwards, since smack in the middle of the First Lady Inaugural Ball Dress exhibit was Martha Layne Collins, and she was the GOVERNOR, not a first lady!!!!!  What gives there?

Capitol buildings intrigue me, too - some are in small towns like Frankfort, in the middle of a very normal, middle-class neighborhood, while some are in the center of huge cities.  Some are surrounded by security and official looking cars and signs, and some you just walk right in without seeing anyone around, but ALL of them are such works of art, built at a time when building was not easy, and I always wonder if buildings like this could even be built today.  They are a testament to the power of our government, too - democracy in action, buildings that house the people who we elected to make the laws of our states.  Check out your own capitol someday!

We stepped out the back door of the capitol in search of the Floral Clock that Kentucky is famous for.  Never heard about it?  Here's what the website says: 
There are other flower clocks in the world -- one in Canada at Niagara Falls, some in Europe, and smaller ones in the United States. Kentucky's is unique because it keeps time over a pool of water instead of resting on a bank of earth. The face of the giant clock is 34 feet across. The planter that holds it weighs 100 tons. Dedicated in 1961, the floral clock was a project of the Commonwealth and the Garden Club of Kentucky. 
We had a little trouble finding it, but it's hard to hide a 34 foot clock made of flowers!

From the stately halls of the capitol, we went in search of a truly Kentucky Saturday afternoon event - the Great Outhouse Blowout, which would be held on the grounds of Penn's Store in the bustling metropolis of Gravel Switch, Kentucky.  I know you think we are making this up, but we're not.  Go to www.pennsstore.com and see for yourself.  We had hoped to have time to stop in at a few distilleries along the way, but we didn't want to miss the Privy Parade, so we chose to believe that if you've seen one bourbon distillery, you've seen them all.  I know that's not true, and we'll probably stop in at at least one more, but we have our priorities.  We had gotten directions from the website, from AAA, and we had the Garmin (Lee did NOT want us to go the way we wanted to go), but it was the Maps app on my iphone that got us there.  We were afraid that we would have missed all of the outhouse action since we were running late, but not to worry, so were they!

Once again, we had the experience of driving to some remote location, not seeing any other vehicles headed our way (or even going the other way), and arriving at our destination only to find HUNDREDS of people there!!  Where do they come from, and how did they get here?  It's enough to make you believe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind...  We paid our entrance fee (for door prizes!) of $3, well under our $5 limit, and parked our car in the huge pasture available for parking.  We could see the rolling outhouses across the meadow, so off we went.  There is one paved road leading to Penn's Store, and it was serving as the racetrack.  It was turning out to be a really hot day - I was glad we didn't have an entry into this race!  We watched a few heats and talked to a couple whose daughter was running in one.  They told us we had missed the near-collision of an outhouse and a loose dog on the track - no injuries, but the privy was damaged when it turned over.  Hate that we missed that!

When we'd had enough, we strolled over to the store for a look see.  Penn's Store is the oldest country store in America being run continuously by the same family.  It's been in the Penn family since 1850!!  You may have seen it on the Today show.  There were about 20 people crammed in the shade of the store, and since that was about 18 too many, we didn't stay to browse.  We paid homage to Penn's Privy, the outhouse that started it all (reminded us of Girl Scout Camp!) and then got in line at one of the 'caterers' outside, hoping for a cold drink, but waiting way too long with nothing happening.  Time to get back to real life!  We gave up any chance of winning a door prize and headed for the car.

With no particular plan in mind, we decided to wander over to Danville, Kentucky, home of Centre College, and another place we'd never been.  It's a pretty little town and we strolled around an almost deserted campus for a while, then drove down to Constitution Square.  Danville was the capital of the Kentucky Territory of Virginia, and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky was written here.  We stopped at a street vendor's market along the way and bought some grape tomatoes, which were juicy and tasty.  We wandered around the old buildings in Constitution Square - the first post office, a church meeting place, the jail, a tavern, and a schoolhouse - and then we took off for Louisville.  You may have wondered what happened to lunch - we did, too!  We broke out the cookies to sustain us for the long ride ahead.  Yum.

We got to Louisville a little before five, after passing some beautiful horse farms in this lovely bluegrass section of Kentucky.  The rolling hills and green (didn't look blue to me!) grass reminded us of Amish country - it was the perfect day for a ride through the country.  Once in Louisville, we checked in to our hotel, and then met our friend Mike Dalton for a beer and some reminiscing.  And some football!  Note to Jonathan Crompton, Tennessee quarterback:  The object is to throw the ball TO the guys in the bright orange uniforms.  It is not like hunting, when you try NOT to hit the men in orange.  I hate UCLA.

We didn't really eat dinner either, unless you count chips as dinner, which we did.  Thanks, Mike - great to see you and we appreciate the hospitality!  Back to the hotel we went, where I promptly crashed and Kim watched football.  It was a great day, except for Tennessee football.  But go, Duke!

Privy to fun!
Jan

Making Our Marks

11 September, 2009

Our first thoughts this morning were of this date eight years ago and the lives that were lost in America that day.  How much things have changed in America since then!  We honor the memories of those who died and we are grateful for the men and women in the armed forces who continue to defend our borders and protect our freedoms.

Even after all of our chances to learn the "don't start the day without eating breakfast" rule last year, we left without eating, which we would soon regret.  But, we had lots we wanted to see and do today and time was a wastin'!  Our first stop this morning was the Old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, KY, which Kim's friend Jim told us about.  One of his good friends from college is married to the owner, so of course, we dropped by to say hello.  Kathy wasn't in, but we loved the old (1779) place.  Check it our at www.talbotts.com

Next door was what used to be the old jail and is now another bed and breakfast, complete with stocks our front.  We took a few photos and got ready to leave, when a man in a UK cap stopped to talk about John Calipari when he saw Kim's Memphis Tigers license plate.  He ended up telling us about lots to see and do in the area and pointed us in the direction of My Old Kentucky Home.  On the way to the Home, we passed the Stephen Foster Story, so we had to stop there first.  It's an open air amphitheater that's only open during the summer, so we wouldn't get to see the performance.  We were able to look around and go down to the stage, all the while listening to a medley of Stephen Foster songs.  We were in the middle of one of Kentucky's many state parks, most of which have really beautiful golf courses.  This one is no exception, and given the nice day, the links were busy!

Just down the road was My Old Kentucky Home, originally known as Federal Hill, which was the private home of the Rowan family.  Now there is a lovely visitors' center, gift shop, meeting facility, and large outdoor rotunda and they give guided tours of the home.  History tells us that Stephen Foster was related to the Rowan family and had visited them here, where he was inspired to write "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night."  The house was HUGE - the three stories were each 13 feet tall and the rooms were big.  Renovated just a couple of years ago, the house is decorated in a style befitting a family of such wealth in the 1840's.  The colors were bright and bold, and the look was really quite modern.  We were not able to take photographs in the home, but you can get some ideas by going to the website at http://www.myoldkentuckyhome.com/mokh/index.htm

The day was heating up and we felt sorry for the women dressed in period costume (well, except for the tennis shoes) who led the tours, but we were getting pretty hungry and were a little afraid we might be having a touch of low blood!  Of course, the people in our little tour group kept asking questions that Tammy, our guide, didn't know the answers to.  Like, what did they use for toilet paper on the cushioned chamberpot seat?  Seriously.  Now we can say we daughters of Kentucky have finally been to the mecca.  Weep no more, my ladies!

We couldn't get back into town soon enough - we were so hungry!  We decided to go back to the tavern, and just as we got there, Kathy called and said she'd come over to say hello.  Business was booming, and Kathy arrived just as we were being seated, so she joined us at the table and then proceeded to treat us to a most delicious lunch!  Thanks, Kathy!!  Kim yet again showed remarkable restraint and ordered a salad, while I was lured into trying the Hot Brown.  And the fried green tomatoes!  Kim and I shared the tomatoes, which were beyond good.  My Hot Brown was mighty fine as well.  For those of you who don't know, a Hot Brown consists of a piece of toast topped with ham, turkey, tomatoes, a supremely yummy cheese sauce, and bacon.  It's served hot and in a casserole dish - it's a Kentucky favorite that was invented at the Brown Hotel in Louisville.  Try one if you get a chance.

After lunch, Kathy showed us around the property - we saw the tavern, which is a hopping and lively place at night, the old pub, and some of the guest rooms at the inn.  We decided to walk over to the Tom Moore Distillery to see the world's largest bourbon barrel, so Kathy came with us.  On the way, we passed the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, which used to be the archdiocese of Kentucky until it moved to Louisville.  This particular distillery used to be Barton's, then it was Constellation Spirits, and it is in the process of becoming the Tom Moore Distillery now.  We were too late for a tour, and it turns out you can only see the giant barrel on a tour.  Oh well, maybe we walked off half of a fried green tomato!


On the walk back to the Tavern, we passed some fun yard art, old businesses, and great homes, and then we found ourselves at an old cemetery just behind the old jail.  Turns out the tavern is supposed to be haunted, so it's no wonder - with this ancient burial ground just next door, the ghosts don't have far to go.  We told Kathy goodbye and started down the road to Heaven Hill and Maker's Mark, more stops on the Bourbon Trail.  We really wanted to see Maker's Mark, where the last tour started at 3:30, so we waved as we passed Heaven Hill and took off for the tiny village of Loretto.  Maker's Mark puts on quite a show!  Did you know that if you go to their website at  www.makersmark.com you can become an Ambassador?  That means your name will be put on a plaque (along with 29 others) which is put on a barrel of your very own bourbon.  You'll get updates about the status of your mash (it takes 5 to 7 years to make this liquid gold!) and when it's ready, you are invited to come fill two bottles and dip them in Maker's Mark signature red wax.  Sign up today!  Our tour guide, Mike, was great and once more we were surprised when we arrived for the tour.  We had been driving on back roads in Kentucky all alone - no other vehicles on the road - and we arrive to a full parking lot and about 50 people on our tour.  How did they get there and where did they come from???  Shades of Oatman on our Route 66 adventure!

After the tour, we were ushered into the gift shop for a bourbon tasting.  First, we were taught how to smell it (not with your nose - inhale through your open mouth over the glass) and then how to sip it (letting the liquid roll over your whole tongue before swallowing it).  Before we sampled the finished product, we tasted "white dog", which is the uncured pure grain alcohol - pretty raw stuff!  Then we got the sweeter amber concoction - so smooth!  Kim hated it and thought she was going to die - it took her breath away!  I loved it, so I finished hers, too.  Nothing I wouldn't do for my sista!

We had considered going to Louisville this evening and watching a ballgame - the Louisville Bats were playing the Durham Bulls!! - but instead we opted for the capital city.  We were beat and just chilled in our hotel room for a while, then we went to a nice little Italian restaurant down next to the old state Capitol building.  The restaurant was Serafini's - good food!  We ate outside right next to the street, where we were surprised to see that a train track ran down the center of Broadway in front of the old Capitol.  I had one of my favorite salads - apple, goat cheese, candied pecans, greens, and the risotto of the day, which came with a fish I've never heard of and can't spell and therefore cannot google.  The risotto was portabello and leek with a pink peppercorn sauce and asparagus - very nice!  Kim had Penne Santini, which had shrimp and a spicy tomato cream sauce with vegetables.  We were strong though, and didn't have dessert, even though they sounded wonderful!  During dinner, we were "serenaded" (although not nearly as nice as the Stephen Foster music) by an amateur guitar player/singer who unfortunately had access to a microphone & PA system across the street at the old Capitol.  There had been a 5K run earlier and lots of kids were still milling around and listening.  About the time we finished up, so did our troubador....  We took a walk around this area of Frankfort after dinner - lots of small bars and bistros with an eclectic crowd - interesting place!  We found a diner we may check out for breakfast, and we look forward to seeing our home state's Capitol in the light of day.

So that was our day, and you won't believe your eyes when you see what's in store for you tomorrow!!  Here's a hint: it involves a parade, but one we bet you've NEVER seen or even heard of!  Talk to you later!

Kentucky bred,
Jan

From Loveless to Gasless!

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Welcome aboard!  We're glad you decided to ride along with us this year - Peppy is always happy to have some company, and it should be an exciting trip, since we haven't planned it in advance.  We're just taking a page out of Daddy's book and making it up as we go along, so fasten your seat belts!  Everything is inside out and upside down this trip - I flew over to Nashville where Kim and Peppy picked me up, and Kim's driving and I'm navigating.  This has already proved to be a great example of us not working to our strengths - we had done at least two (maybe three) U-ies before we got out of Nashville, and we came mighty close to running out of gas.  Could be interesting!

Kim had never eaten at the Loveless Cafe before, so that was as far as I'd gotten by way of planning for today.  What a treat!!  Check it out for yourself at www.lovelesscafe.com and check out our pix!  It's been a Nashville institution since 1951, and is famous for its homemade biscuits and jam, fried chicken, breakfast all day, and just FINE country cookin'!  It was almost dark when we arrived, which was great because the neon was looking good and the sky was gorgeous.

There was no line tonight, so we got right down to the business at hand - devouring the hot biscuits set down before us, complete with butter, homemade jam (strawberry and blackberry) and honey.  They were calling to us so loudly we had almost finished them before we remembered to take a picture for you!

 

And check out those giant glasses of refreshing iced tea with lemon.  I'm in heaven!  Choosing what to eat was no easy task, either.  I'm trying to undo some of the damage I did Down Under, but I had to take a pass at Loveless!  When someplace is famous for fried chicken, you order fried chicken!  Or at least I did.  Kim got grilled catfish, which looked great.  We had both toyed with getting veggie plates - the list was so good!  I settled on slow-cooked green beans and hashbrown casserole and Kim got fried okra and mac & cheese.  We both exhibited a little restraint and didn't clean our plates.  Of course, that was because you know when you walk into a place like this that dessert will find its way to your table.  We split a bowl of peach/blackberry cobbler (with ice cream) and didn't eat all of it either!  We had fun chatting with Tammy, our server.  She was intrigued that we could spend this much time together in a car.  We are so lucky that we like each other and we get along!!  Miles of smiles!

It helps to laugh, especially when your navigator (that would be me, today!) is too ADD to pay attention to the road signs.  But we found our way from the airport to Loveless AND back to the highway.  It was dark thirty by the time we left, so onto the interstate we hopped, bound for Our Old Kentucky Home.  Really!  We'll show you pictures tomorrow!  I was no help at all, as my very early (3 AM) morning had caught up with me and I was soon snoozing while Kim drove.  I woke up in time to help her find the hardly traveled on Bluegrass Parkway, but I didn't notice that the gas tank was on empty.  Or beyond.  Neither did Kim, until we passed the last gas station...

So, for my gratitude journal today, I'm thankful for airplanes that land safely, country cooking, my sister, a car that says it can only go 323 miles but really goes 405, and a 24 hour gas station in a town where nothing is open 24 hours!!  And my iphone, that got us where we were going!

 

We even found a place to stay, so we're ready to crash tonight and hit the trail - the Bourbon Trail - tomorrow!

Live, but sleepy, from My Old Kentucky Home!

Jan