National and State Parks

07/12/2016

London, Kentucky (Arrived on July 6, 2016)


Just a snap shot of the campgrounds where we stayed (in red) and the many different locations we visited.

Just a snap shot of the campgrounds (in red) and the many different locations (in green) where e’ve visited. Click on the picture to go to our live map.

We are finally getting into rhythm with Kentucky! We had a rocky start when we first arrived in the Land Between the Lakes in late May.  Click here if you missed that post. We hoped our difficulty was not a sign of things to come while in Kentucky. Well, guess what? It was! We’ve had to turn around, unhook, go back, and make more u-turns in Kentucky than ever! But we are on roads less traveled and it has all been worth it!

Our trip to London, Kentucky from the Mammoth Cave area was just over 100 miles. We are actually enjoying the short trips between stops, and we have decided to stay longer at each location. Seven days per location has become comfortable, and we stayed eight days in the Mammoth Cave area. Continue Reading

07/10/2016

The Rest of the Story (near Mammoth Cave)


IMG_4305

Fort Williams, Glasgow, KY on July 1, 2016

We are loving our rural road adventures in Kentucky – once we learned to read the “signs” better. I haven’t really talked much about the four times we’ve had to turn around: twice we had to unhook the car and twice the turn around added a total of 60 more miles to our journey….Thanks to Pam over at Oh the Places They Go! who recommended we use Google Earth to check out the roads before we go.  And now we do ….

Anyway, who knew there could be so much history, so many sights to see and such great hiking in rural Kentucky!  When Bill first decided we’d drive through Kentucky on our way from Illinois (to see his mom) back to Virginia (where our grandsons live), it was easy after seeing how many state parks there are. We thought there would be good hiking and a few points of interest around all those parks. We’d hope to camp in parks-But alas, we’ve discovered many of them don’t have 50 amp hook ups, what we need to run our air conditioners in this HOT summer! But we did find two and now we’re staying NEAR the parks

We are now up to our third day (July 1, 2016) in Cave City, Kentucky, which is just 10 minutes from the amazing Mammoth Cave National Park. We actually thought we’d get in a lot of hiking after exploring the caves and visit the Corvette Museum. Bill did mention there was a Train Museum to think about for a rainy day. Um, not sure I’d like that much more than looking at cars. We discovered an outdoor venue to explore (more to my liking), the South Union Shaker Village not far from Bowling Green (read here if you missed our last post) and now we’ll finish the rest of the story…. Continue Reading

07/08/2016

Bowling Green, Day 2 (near Mammoth Cave)


National Corvette Museum

    National Corvette Museum from the website: corvette museum.org

It took three posts to really capture the essence of why we came to this area. But there was one other reason Bill picked this area. Can you guess?

What I hoped to do was lots of hiking. But it ended up raining so much, we had to find some indoor things to do. Can you believe the Mammoth Cave National Park has 84 miles of trails! These trails are not just for hiking but some are designated for bikes and horses. There is also canoeing and kayaking at this park. We only got in one day of hiking, but it was 8 miles! And it was a glorious trail.  Click here to read more about the trails and view maps.  Continue Reading

07/07/2016

Mammoth Cave National Park, History Continued


Heritage Trail and Old Guides Cemetary

Walk with a Ranger on the Heritage Trail and to the Old Guides Cemetery.

After our Frozen Niagara Falls tour, we asked about additional things to do at this wonderful visitor center. We learned of two free opportunities (most tickets sale tours were sold out): a 45 minute long Porch Talk by a Park Ranger and a walk with a Ranger on the Heritage Trail. We love listening to their stories, so we enjoyed both. The  Porch Talk conversation was with about 20 others and the Heritage Trail walk with two other couples. Their talks were open for questions and answers. They seemed to fill in the blanks from our tour and added to each others knowledge. Below are the interesting tidbits I picked up from these talks, from our Frozen Niagara Falls tour, as well as from materials provided at the visitor center.  Most of the areas discussed below are available to see on various tours. Continue Reading

07/06/2016

Mammoth Cave National Park, June 28 to July 6, 2016


IMG_4158 (1)

Mammoth Cave National Park, A World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Preserve

Finally, Bill got me here to see the world-famous Mammoth Cave National Park in south central Kentucky! I talked about our anticipation to visit here in our last post, Caves or Caverns.

We made our reservations to Cave Country RV Campground a week or so ahead since we knew this was the 4th of July holiday weekend.  We knew we couldn’t get into the campgrounds in the park, so we didn’t really explore them. Soon after we arrived, we decided to add a day on to our stay. We loved the warm welcome we received and all the brochures we were handed to help us make the most of our time here. There was so much to do in this area, but first, let’s check out Mammoth Cave National Park, which is part of the America the Beautiful pass program. Our tickets for the tours were half price! Continue Reading

07/03/2016

Caves or Caverns?


Cave City, Kentucky

We are here, in Cave City, Kentucky

Bill doesn’t remember traveling very much with his family, except every summer, his family went to the Jersey Shore. But he remembers visiting Mammoth Caves in Kentucky with his parents and an Aunt when he was 18 or so. The caves left a great impression on him. Every time we visit caverns, he says he can’t wait to bring me here – and we are finally here! This is the fourth cave system we have visited in our marriage. So before we talk about the Mammoth Caves, let’s figure out the difference between caves and caverns and then look back at our previous three caves or were they caverns?  Continue Reading

07/02/2016

Canal Campground, Grand Rivers (Part 3 and final)


Patti's Restaurant and Mr. Bill's Dining Room

Patti’s Restaurant and Mr. Bill’s Dining Room from an article in “The Lake News” dated June 18, 2015, announcing they had been awarded the “Certificate of Excellence Award” from TripAdvisor

Let’s continue with our time travel from our “Part 2” last post, which you can read here if you missed it.

Patti’s 1880’s Settlement Fine and historic dining in a casual atmosphere! If we heard it once, we heard it a dozen times, we had to eat at Patti’s Restaurant, especially the pork chops! We rarely eat out, saving it for special occasions, family times or when Bill just needs a break from cooking!  We had the opportunity to eat here with our new friends and former neighbors at Columbus-Belmont State Park. They recommended we stay in Canal Campground and gave us lots more pointers. And they also recommended we eat here. They live in Paducah, so it wasn’t too far for them to come join us. And now, of course, we will have to visit them in Paducah on our next trip to Illinois.  It’ll be on the way.

Continue Reading

07/01/2016

Canal Campground, Grand Rivers (Part 2)


A view while out walking

A view while out walking. Many great views also have a bench or two!

We really liked Land Between the Lakes (LBL) the first time we camped at its Hillman Ferry Campground (HFC). When we left, we said we wouldn’t go out of our way to return….Who knew we’d be back within a month!

It was wonderful when our friends, Betty and Bob, recommended a stay in a hidden gem, Canal Campground, just at the northern tip of LBL. We loved it and extended our stay to eight days! Two things made this a better experience for us: the fact that it is an US Army Corps of Engineers campground (so we paid 1/2 price), and we had excellent cell phone and Mifi signal to research where we were going next and beyond.  We heard other people say they used to go to HFC, but, also discovered this campground and preferred it. Some turned 62 and some said there were fewer children here. 😞

There is so much to do in the LBL area, besides hiking, which is what we did the first time in this area. Here were the few things we finally were able to do and really enjoy, which we missed during previous time.  But first a few more pictures of this lovely campground. And you’ll see why it was hard to leave …. Continue Reading

06/28/2016

Canal Campground, Grand Rivers, Kentucky (Part 1)


It was so easy to find, just put 1010 Canal Campground Rd., Grand Rivers, KY in your GPS.

It was so easy to find, just put 1010 Canal Campground Rd., Grand Rivers, KY in your GPS.

We’ve spent a wonderful eight days in this US Army Corps of Engineers campground (COE) from June 20-28, 2016. We never would have found this campground had we not met a couple, Betty and Bob, from Paducah, Kentucky at the last campground, Columbus-Belmont  State Park (CBSP). They were a wealth of information and helped us learn more about Kentucky. We hit it off and planned to meet up again, and we did yesterday afternoon. So not only did they tell us about Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tennessee, but also the Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site, both discussed in this post hyper-linked in case you missed it. Continue Reading

06/26/2016

Columbus Belmont State Park, Kentucky (Final post)


Confederate Trenches

Confederate Trenches: the State Park has preserved this elaborate system of earthworks dug by Confederate soldiers.  It was not hard to imagine how hot and steamy the job was for these men as they dug the trenches. One soldier wrote home, he thought he would melt!

While Bill and I are students of history, our favorite way to learn is up close and personal! We didn’t discover our common affinity for history until we moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1996. We not only went into Washington D. C. to visit the museums, we also set out to visit nearly every nearby battlefield, and Virginia has its share of them. We really enjoyed the few times we were able to listen to a National Park Ranger give an oral history report.

In the Columbus Belmont State Park, they have great signage as you take your own self guided tour, which is complimented by the Museum and 8-minute video presentation.  Continue Reading

06/21/2016

Columbus Belmont State Park, Kentucky (Part 2)


IMG_3523We were in this beautiful state park from June 15 to June 20, 2016.  Part 1 is dedicated to the drive here. Part 2 will be about the actual grounds and two other places we visited. Part 3 will contain the Civil War history we learned while we were here. The most notable thing we learned was how pivotal Kentucky was to the North (they originally were going to remain neutral) and how important this particular battle was – although every battle ground we have visited, we seem to walk away with that impression. One thing we now know, it’s best to really learn the history up close and personal!  Continue Reading

06/20/2016

Columbus-Belmont State Park, Columbus, Kentucky (Part 1)


After an 11 day visit with family in Illinois and Missouri, we hit the road. When Bill began researching the routes to and from Illinois, he discovered that Kentucky has 37 state parks! That intrigued him, so he wants to visit as many as we can in a six-week period. We are going to travel west to east through Kentucky on our way back to Virginia. We did stop in Land between the Lakes, a national recreation park on our way to Illinois.

Kentucky State Parks

Kentucky State Parks Regional Map from Kentucky Official Visitor Guide – 2016 Digital Edition

We started with a five-day stay in the “Western Waterlands,” in what we think is one of the most beautiful state parks we’ve visited so far, Columbus-Belmont State Park. Just remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for us at this time, this is the park we needed.

WARNING, this short post will have lots of pictures…

Continue Reading