K is for Kentucky

Kentucky. The Blue Grass State.  My Old Kentucky Home. 

In 1986 I decided to take my sons to Kentucky for Spring Break.  We would have a road trip adventure.  Traveling with three boys under the age of ten would not be a 'vacation', but I had hoped we would at least see some interesting sights and they would enjoy themselves.

The plan was to drive south on I-75 through Ohio and start our trip in Lexington.  We would then make a loop through the eastern half of the state, going east to west and back again.

One of our first stops would be the Kentucky Horse Park.  I do not know a lot about horses outside of watching the big three horse races on TV each year when I was younger. 

The boys enjoyed seeing the horses and it turned out to be a pleasant afternoon.

 Since I love visiting old homes we next made a trip to Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate.

Trying to keep things interesting for the boys, we headed to Pleasant Hill and the Shaker Village.  The boys watched many craftspeople making everyday items like brooms and baskets just they way they were made before everything became industrialized.  We had a typical Shaker meal and had a wonderful day.
From there we headed to Bardstown, where we would visit My Old Kentucky Home State Park, enjoy some more outdoor time and visit Federal Hill. Later, a ride to Loretto took us to the
Maker's Mark Distillery .  This was a concession to my husband's interest in the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Back to our history lesson, we headed to the Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood Home in Hogdenville.

Having traveled on all the back roads from Lexington, we now headed to I-65 to make the trip to Mammoth Cave National Park.  I think this was certainly a highlight of the trip for all of us.

Balancing out Mom's artistic interests (above) with her sons', our final stop of the trip would be Ft. Boonesborough State Park.  As luck would have it there were re-enactors there that weekend.  The boys (my oldest son in this photo) took turns learning how to fire a musket.

Ending our day at Mammoth we then drove the Cumberland Parkway to Somerset where we again hit the scenic drive to make our way to Berea to visit the Kentucky Artisan Center.  This still hangs in my foyer.

From here we made the return trip home up I-75.  The trip used up every bit of our week.  We had a good time and made lots of memories.  There was something for everyone.

K is also for Kalamazoo, MI and Knoxville, TN.