Kentucky Souvenir

In our Kentucky Goody Bag, Paula put a six pack of Kentucky's own Ale 8 1 soda.  We meant to drink them our first night in Kentucky but they weren't cold and were then forgotten.  What a nice surprise for the kids last night!  

Thanks again Paula for having us!  We had such a good time!

(Is it just me, or does this picture look like he's guzzling a Heineken?)

Horses and More Horses!

When I did my Things to Do Lexington List, I found out about these horses.  While in Kentucky we were able to photograph 5 of them. (Good work, Paula!)

Kentucky Day 3

After touring the Mary Todd Lincoln House yesterday, we decided it might be too much for the little ones to tour Ashland, but we did stop by and walk around the grounds.

Going down into the "refrigerator".

There was a drain pipe from the ice house into the cellar.  As the ice melted, the cold water drained into a trench and kept the crocks of perishables cool.

The cellar was wet and clammy.  The perfect habitat for these guys:

These were apparently MUCH more interesting than anything else Ashland had to offer!

Looking for slugs:

Still looking for slugs!

Picture courtesy of G-man.

Next we stopped off at Thoroughbred Park.  This is a statue of Lexington.

Hold on tight!

We had planned to go to the Kentucky Horse Park on Tuesday, but due to the rain, we postponed it until today.  

I could have spent ALL DAY there!

We even had Colonel Sanders tell us all about farriering!

Chairs left over from the giant's table from a 1978 jumping competition.

Inside the International Horse Museum.  

This place was fantastic.  We will definitely have to plan another day to see everything!

Castle, Chocolate, and Crazy First Lady

After we left the racetrack, we stopped at a real Irish castle. (Not open to the public, but cool none-the-less.)

We toured the Mary Todd Lincoln house.  What a FABULOUS tour!  

No photos, unfortunately, but our guide was wonderful and we really learned a lot.

It rained ALL.DAY.  Although worse than the rain was the very high risk of losing an eye to an umbrella-wielding maniac child!

Next stop-Old Kentucky Chocolates for a tour.

A chocolate horse and foal.  I'm sure you can guess how wonderful it smelled in this store!

We took the tour and learned all about how they make their candy.  Here is a giant Willy Wonka-ish vat of chocolate:

And how happy were we that we all got a free sample?  

The sample was so good I bought a box (even though Paula had put one in my Kentucky goody bag!)

We finished our day with dinner at Joe Bologna's, an Italian restaurant in an old synagogue.

These two were thick as thieves the entire trip!

Kentucky Day 2

We started Day 2 bright and early at Keeneland Racetrack.  Here is Coleman taking a turn around one of the warmup circles.

We watched the morning workout.  The kids (and me!) were fascinated at the horses trotting and racing around the track.

Carolyn really liked this groom's hat.

These may be the cheap seats, but you could not beat the view!

Careful, now!

After watching the horses exercise, we ate breakfast at the Track Kitchen with real-live jockeys and trainers!

Lawn jockey!

This track is beautiful.  Everything is green and lush with beautiful hedges instead of fences.

We even found the starting gate.  And they're OFF!

 Well, in this case, ON.

All this and it was only 10:30 when we left.  (Tells you how early we started today!)

Kentucky or Bust

We had a great drive up to Kentucky today. We stopped in Tennessee for lunch and followed the signs for a BBQ place that took us straight into a state park. The restaurant had a patio overlooking the mountains. We even saw a helicopter take off from a field a few hundred feet away!

Kentucky is a beautiful state!

Sweet Paula made a GREAT Kentucky license plate bingo game for the kids and also a trivia sheet divided out by mile-markers on our route. I am TOTALLY stealing this idea for the next time someone drives to visit me! The kids L.O.V.E.D. the license plate hunt. It seriously kept them busy the entire hour and a half from the state line to Paula's house!

We made it to Paula's mid afternoon and decided we had enough time for our first outing; a trip to the Valley View Ferry.

This ferry has been in operation since 1785, making it the oldest continuously operating ferry in the country. The charter was signed by Patrick Henry (yeah, THAT one!)

We decided to ride across as pedestrians; we rode over and then back.

Halfway back across the river, Christian asked why we didn't set foot on the other side.

After a meal of make-your-own pizzas, the kids took off outside. When in Rome...

You can't go to Kentucky without playing some b-ball!

What a shot!

Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!