Kentucky Vacation 08

Last week we vacationed in western Kentucky. Three of the days were at a lake and the remaining visiting our good friends The Gasts (Christi, Bruce, Griffin 4, Lucy 3 mo.). I have a ton of photos to show and I'll share a few stories.

LAKE BARKLEY:
We started our adventure on Sunday at 4:45am (Eastern time). Mommy was up at 3am finishing up packing and woke up the rest of the gang at 4:15 am to get on the road. We had a long drive ahead of us and wanted to arrive in Eddyville, KY hopefully with a few hours of daylight. Around noon we started our way around Cincinnatti. While driving we hear this loud "POP" sound. Both of us knew right away what is way. We BLEW a tire on our boat trailer. I have the best husband he's almost always prepared for any situation we may run into. It's been a habit of his to always have a spare trailer tire with us while towing the boat on long trips. He was a pro and replaced the blown tire with a new one is a record 30 MINUTES!!! While the kids and I waited for Daddy we happened to be parked directly under an airport runway path. It was amazing. We saw 3 ENORMOUS jet planes soar directly over us and land at the airport in the field next to the interstate. Jake loved all of it and was jumping and smiling waiting for the next to fly by. We were in a lucky spot.

We arrived at the Palisades Resort in Eddyville at 4:30 (Central time). That was 12.75 hours of driving. Uggh! We stepped out of the truck to a cozy, small resort tucked in the woods on beautiful Lake Barkley. The Gasts house is 1 hour away from the resort and they joined us to help unload we had a BBQ dinner together. Jake, Griffin and Casey gave each other big HELLO hugs and were off playing on a big grassy hill outside of our room, the volleyball court (to them it was a big sandbox) and the playground at the resort. This was the first time we got to meet Baby Lucy. She is 3 months old and very adorable. She has the best smile and a good snuggler. After dinner we enjoyed a quick night time cruise on the lake. We said goodbye to the Gasts and would see them again on Wednesday.

Monday we went swimming, wakeboarding, and tubing for 5 hours. We ended the evening at a fun restaurant at town 30 min away called Grand Rivers. It's a prime spot for tourists and locals and requires reservations otherwise you'll be waiting over an hour to get a table. It's called Patti's 1880 Settlement. They had yummy food, great old time decor, excellent wait staff, and a cute store in front of the restaurant. Outside was a large garden area with walking paths, waterfall/pond, playground, more small stores, mini-golf, remote controlled boats and a petting farm. I highly suggest to anyone in the area to check it out.

Tuesday was our best day on the boat. The weather was sunny and warm. The water was calm and we were ready for a big day of water sports. We started off with wakeboarding for mommy and daddy. Jake and Casey became our spotters and learning the hand signals and when to call out "DOWN" when a skier has fallen. They were very worried about mommy every time she fell and needed to know if she was alright. I assured them that I was having lots of fun. We went swimming in a small little cove. Casey was our star swimming with her lifejacket and water wings. Casey and Daddy did laps around the boat and floated in the water. Mommy worked with Jake trying to comfort his fear of the water. He's terrified of floating alone with his life jacket and doesn't want to be in the water. We're hoping the more we do it the more he'll get to like it. We ask him to swim with us for a few minutes then he's allowed to sit on the boat. In the afternoon the kids napped while daddy and mommy cruised on the lake for 45 mins. It's a huge long lake and allows you to boat for miles and miles. On the eastern side of the lake there are resorts, houses, and marinas to look at or stop by. On the west side is a national park called Land Between the Lakes and filled with beautiful trees and wildlife.









VISTING WITH THE GASTS:
On Wednesday we said goodbye to Palisades Resort and drove an hour to Madisonville, KY to spend a few days with The Gasts. They have a beautiful 100+ yr old house in downtown Madisonville. The house has high ceilings and large rooms. A cozy front porch and large backyard. We quickly felt comfortable and called it home. Wed and Thursday were relaxing days while the kids played with each other. Christi and I caught up on all that's happening with each other. When Bruce got home on Thursday evening we drove to a small town called Dawson Springs to watch a hometown baseball game. Imagine the movie "Field of Dreams". Instead of being surround by corn fields the field was tucked away into a forest. After the game we stayed for a fireworks show. This is the first show for Jake and Casey. They loved the large fireworks covering the entire sky and Casey especially was excited to see the pink and rainbow fireworks.





On Friday, July 4th was a day of more relaxing.We started the day with a long walk through town. Nearing the end of the walk we stopped in a small Gazebo to watch a train go through town. These trains travel through Madisonville up to 70 times per day.The trains are long having up to 100 cars attached to it. The kids took an early nap after being out late the night before with fireworks. The adults enjoyed some yummy appetizers and drinks together. Bruce and Christi are wonderful cooks and we enjoyed all the delicious meals they prepared for us. The second half of Friday was rainy. For dinner Bruce cooked up brats and corn on the cob and we tried Chrsiti's version of Fruit Pizza (she adds chocolate chips). Again yummy!






Saturday was our big day and we traveled 2 hours to Cave City, KY (about 1 hr southwest of Louisville) to visit Dinosaur World. The Gasts had been there in May and loved it so much that they wanted to take us there. This place was awesome and perfect for 2 four year olds and 2 year old. We walked on a path through the woods and creeping out in various locations are life-sized dinosaurs. All kinds. There were signs posting the names, facts and details about them. Jake wanted to run as fast as he could through the entire thing, we had to ask him to slow down and try to enjoy it. At one point off the main path they have a display of woolly mammoths. The kids got to climb up for a photo. The highlight was the T-Rex and tall Brachiosaurus's. We also went through a museum with fossils, the kids participated in a Fossil Dig and we ate lunch at a nice play/picnic area. We picked up a few souvenirs in the gift shop on our way out.









After Dinosaur World we drove across the street to the Onyx Cave. Caves are the big tourist attraction in that part of Kentucky, the biggest being Mammoth Caves. Chris had visited this area before as a child and his memories where coming back to him while we were there. The Onyx Cave was not a big open cave as we expected instead we carefully walked on small rickety steps to get down below to view the formations. It was an interesting adventure. The kids didn't understand what they were looking at but they enjoyed climbing the steps. It was a bit scary and we had to keep a strong hold on the kids as they climbed. Afterwards we drove back to Madisonville and had a final dinner with the Gasts at Applebee's.





It was hard to say goodbye to the Gasts. We'll miss them very much. Jake, Griffin and Casey played great with all the Griffn's wonderful toys (knights playset, drums, Geotrax, kitchen set). Jake has asked me numerous times this week when we'll be going back to Tatucky (Kentucky). He also asked me this yesterday while we were driving around town.
Jake: "Mom, is this Michigan?"
Me: "Yes, this is Michigan"
Jake: "I wish we were in Tatucky"

It was great to visit with them and hopefully we'll make it an annual trip. Next summer will be fun watching Lucy interact with the big kids.

We drove back on Sunday. It took 11 hrs on the way home and luckily all our tires stayed intact. The kids did not want to be in their carseats. Mommy was getting impatient too and wanted to be home. It was a long day and Daddy did a fantastic job of driving. Even though it's far, I'll take a long car ride to get the 1 week we had together as a family on the lake and visiting with our friend anytime.