Louisville Zoo

Entrance to Zoo and a woolly monkey, he has a prehensile tail.

Tiger and meerkats

tamarin monkey and frisky lions

 giraffe and ringed-tailed lemur



As you can see by the pictures the Shaker Village didn't happen.  A huge thunder storm went through the area early this morning.  It didn't stop raining until after 10 so we wouldn't have enough time to go so to the zoo we went.  It was in the upper 80's with 75% humidity, talk about smarmy.  These are some of my favorite animals.  I really love the snakes and spiders but as most of you know Owen isn't all that fond of snakes (scared to death) so there would be no pictures of any reptiles.  There was no rain while we were there but the skies were threatening and the humidity just about did us in, give me Maine any day. Just a funny side note..there are "adult" stores here.  The stores are on one side of the highway and a religious message is across the way on the other side.  I find it rather funny.   We leave here tomorrow.  A long drive so it will be an early departure. 

Caves and Lincoln

Today we went to Mammoth Caves National Park.  It was in the Central time zone so it only took us 10 minutes to get there.  As we entered the park there was a deer in the road and again as we left the park there was another deer.  Also saw many turkeys.  We took a short tour of the caves--1.25 hours and a 3/4 mile walk.  The available tours varied in length and went from easy to strenuous, crawling on the ground type.  Not the most dynamic of guides or the best tour.  Many were sold out even at 10am.  This park is the second oldest tourist attraction, the first is Niagara Falls.  The surrounding area is just full of tourist trap places and gift shops.  We got a national park stamp and checked off another of our 1000 places to see before we die (thanks Sara).

We then went off to find Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.  Well off the beaten path but on the way home.  There are actually three sites in the area but we only made it to this one.  We were back in Eastern time so lost the hour we gained in the morning. A thunder storm arrived just as we did so our tour involved a bit of a run to the visitors center.  The "inn" is a museum which we didn't get into due to the lack of time.  It is named after Abe's mother.

The memorial has the log cabin inside of it.  The stairs leading up represent Lincoln's age at death--56.  The cornerstone was laid by Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft dedicated it in 1911.  Just to the left of the memorial is the sinking spring which still produces fresh water.  The grounds are beautiful and include a couple of trails to hike.  We didn't get to walk around too much because of a good sized thunder storm while we were there.
Another long day but we came home to spaghetti sauce in the crock pot, oh how I love my little baby crock pot.  Not sure what the agenda is for tomorrow, we are still debating the issue, until then...

Muhammed Ali & Churchill Downs

Ali Center was very inspiring.  Made you believe you could do anything IF you believed.  It laid out his life with out any sugar coating, just told it like it was.  So worth the visit.

View from the Ali building, it is of the Ohio River.  The short walk between the two places had art work on display.  We thought this car was rather funny.


 Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.  We got here too late to take a tour but walked around and watched a race.  On the right is a picture of the stands just to the left of the finish line but above the winners circle.

Place your bets.  The winner of the 8th race, the number 4 horse.  We just happened to be standing right by the winners circle.  Don't show a picture of the actual track.  It is dirt and flat.

It was a very long day but lots of fun.  Ended up at Wal Mart (again) to replace the camera before it died completely.  Hope to make it a week or so without going to Wally World again.  Weather was beautiful again, a bit warm at 91 degrees but the sun was shining and there was a nice breeze.  Might not be so lucky tomorrow.  See you then. 

Louisville, Kentucky

 Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.  Two perspectives of the huge bat outside the building. 

Owen at bat using Johnny Bench's bat. One of the workers on the assembly line.  She was at the end, engraving names and getting the bats ready to ship.

BATS!


Took the tour at the factory.  Pretty amazing to see how quickly the bats are made.  Used to take 20 to 30 minutes but today it takes 30 seconds using the electronic lathes.  One employee who has worked over 30 years makes all the bats for the pros.  It is now done with the help of a computer.  If the bat has an actual autograph the pro is under contract with Louisville Slugger, if the name is in block letters then there is no contract so no signature.  The pros do not pay for their bats the team does but the semi pros have to pay out of pocket.  The computer stores all of the info for each batter's preferences making it much easier to create individual styles for each team's players.

Shepherdsville, KY

Long drive today with a good sized thunder storm.  Some really pretty lightning flashes but teeming rain.  The rock walls that were cut through to create the road were neat.  You could see distinct layers in the wall.  One of the tour books said something about it being an ocean at one time.  Many gorgeous horse farms along the way (think Kentucky Derby).  We also passed the Bourbon Trail which has two well known distilleries--Four Roses and Wild Turkey.  The price of gas seems to be going down also.  It has been holding steady at $3.75 but today we saw it as low as $3.50 that is welcome news for us.  Plenty of things to do in the area so we will stay here until Sunday.

We are staying here at Grand-ma's campground.  Very clean and a few small trees. Also quite cheap.  We are surrounded by huge RVs but they block the sun for us so we don't mind.

There is a field with donkeys (mules?) and llamas right next door.  I love this little baby one (above) and would love to take him home to Vivian.  She would love him and they are for sale :-)  The owner takes them out for a walk with a little cart.  He said it was a mule, not a donkey. Not sure what the difference is but there is one.  Until tomorrow.....
GO BRUINS!



Charleston, WV

The state museum and one wall of quilts that were on display in the lobby.  The museum was well done.  It took us almost two hours to go through.  Could have spent more time but we were parked in a metered spot and had to feed the meter.

Well preserved flag.  Perfume bottles, funny story--My mom had a bottle of very expensive perfume that looked just like these tiny bottles.  It was so much an ounce (I think it was Chanel 5) and she used it sparingly.  Well I took the bottle and put it all over my dolls, had the best smelling dolls around.  I wasn't her favorite person for a few days.

Beautiful chandelier in the state house rotunda.  The interior was all marble a very beautiful.

Just a couple of other notes for today.  Skyped with Vivian this morning and she told us to "Come back."    Camera is still acting up so will probably be replaced in the next few days.  GPSally had a TIA this afternoon.  She just kept recalculating though we were on the right road.  Poor Sally has been replaced with George voice again. Kentucky bound in the morning.

Charleston, WV

 War memorial in front of the capitol and a magnolia tree that was all in bloom and smelled wonderful.

Two views of the capitol building,which was surrounded by a very impressive complex of buildings.  The capitol was changed 5 times over the years, Wheeling and Charleston vied for the honor and the original capitol burned down.  This one has been here since 1932.

The governors mansion and the view from the mansion--Charleston University.  We had hoped to get a tour of the mansion but we were too late.

Milton, WV

 Today was another travel day.  We are still in WV but further South close to Charleston, the capital.  Uneventful travel but George, the GPS, crapped out today.  He kept shutting off the last couple of days and today he just lost all of his maps, of course at the most inopportune time.  So we made a stop at Wal Mart to buy another.  The old one is just a few months old so it is very irritating.  We hope this one will last throughout the trip.  We are also having camera issues.  We hope it is just the rechargeable batteries.  If we have to we will go to Wal Mart (again) and replace the camera also, sigh.  Other than George's demise the trip was uneventful.  We had planned on staying at one campground but it ended up being a dirt parking lot so we opted to stay at the Huntington/Fox Fire KOA.  It is a wonderful place very modern and clean with trees.  We will be here for a couple of nights.  Go Bruins!

Weston, WV

Sunday we traveled to Weston, WV and stayed at the Broken Wheel Campground.  We crossed the Eastern Continental Divide and climbed some steep roads--grades mostly 6% but one section of 15-10%.  The highest elevation today was 2870 feet.  We also got caught in an almost parking lot traffic jam due to an accident.  Just as we got to the accident site....it cleared.  The weather was still very warm and humid.  We just missed the storm at the campground so there were puddles and mud.  It was a pretty site but there was no internet to speak of, just a hot spot but not enough to blog.  The water was orange even with the filter on the hose.  I always have some filtered water in the fridge so we used that.  Neither of us would shower in the gross water.  Glad we were staying only one night. Another note, George our GPS totally led us astray and we found the campground sort of by mistake.  More on George in the next post.