Old Frankfort Pike

At the risk of furthering my reputation (as per my brother, Bob) of being covertly employed by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, here are a few pix from our recent trip to Lexington, Ky. We had heard that the Old Frankfort Pike, which runs from Frankfort to Lexington, was pretty scenic and it was.

We were sort of hungry when we came upon Wallace Station which was an old Stage Coach stop in the days when Stage Coach Stops existed and is now a pretty nifty cafe. It is not only cute and scenic but they make great sandwiches. They have what they call Wallace White Bread which is basically white bread but different and awfully good. The back was very nice and we enjoyed the view of another nice pasture and barn.
The remainder of these shots were taken along the Pike. There was nothing really photo-worthy in Lexington, but we toured the Mary Todd Lincoln house where she lived from age thirteen through twenty. It was actually a good tour.



When we get into our new home and get some of the work done that we are planning, I'll get a good set of "before and after" photos in here. In the mean time, we are kind of marking time.

Kentucky isn't ALL goodness

I finally bought a new pickup truck. It was somewhat a fluke because Rob (Laura's husband) and I had dropped off cathy and Laura to shop for something and we went to a Nissan dealership because I was still looking around for a truck and wanted to see a Frontier (Nissan's small truck) up close and sit in it.

When we got to the dealership, they had no Frontiers but they had a Titan (the full sized truck). Ordinarily I don't like Titans because they usually have crew cabs and short beds. This one had an extended cab and a longer bed and was a pretty good looking truck. The salesman comes out and asks if I'm interested in the Titan and I say"only if you can get me out the door for under $22,000, thinking there's no way they would go down that far on a $30,000 truck. well they did, so I bought it and love it.

Two days later, I walk out in front of the estate where we are staying and some unsavory individual(s) had broken in and stole my new Garmin GPS and my old Canon G-3 camera. All those years in Long Beach and no crime and here I am in paradise and I'm ripped off. The two pictures were taken with my phone camera. 

Car insurance coveres the broken window but not the contents of the car. That would have to be Home Owners Insurance except we don't have a homw yet and our new home owners insurance, even though paid for, doesn't go into effect until we take possession of the new home.

I guess everything can't be perfect.

The Homes of Hunting Creek Estates

As opposed to Hunting Creek where our new home is.

One of Cathy's friends wanted to see some pictures of homes in our area. I took these pictures in Hunting Creek Estates which is actually right next to our neighborhood of Hunting Creek. Our home is not as large as these but the area is very similar.

Ohio River and Crystal Lake

Last Saturday, our friends Boots and Judy, who live in a place called Westport right on the Ohio River, invited Laura and Rob and Cathy and me over for a short river cruise. They have a nice new patio style boat and wanted to show us around their river a little. The Ohio does in fact flood and though their home is forty or fifty feet above the normal river level, their first floor is designed to withstand occasional flooding. It apparently happens every twenty years or so. In 1997 (11 years ago) there was a MAJOR flood. I've seen the pictures.

The pictures below that appear to be taken from high location were taken from their "Widows Walk."





After we sailed the Ohio for a couple of hours, we went to Laura's dad's place where her dad, "Lefty" Callahan, gave us another boat ride. His home is situated on a small lake in Lagrange called Crystal lake. This was a little calmer and was also very enjoyable. Lefty is one of the nicer gentlemen of this universe and has been a great friend to us. He used to be an artist for Hannah-Barbara in Hollywood and is extremely talented as a drawer of caricatures (as well as characters).
The photo with the lawn leading down to water is his back yard. There is also a photo looking back at his home depicting the deck and finally one of "Captain Lefty" at the helm. It's a great house and ideal for him.

Crestwood First Ward, Louisville Stake (for now)

Shortly after we finalized the purchase of our new home, I went on lds.org to use the meeting house locator tool to find out what ward we would be in. lds.org said we are in Crestwood First Ward and we meet in the chapel by the Temple at 1:00 PM. So we went there and found the chapel full to over flowing with families, kids, young people and elderly folks. The meeting started at the stroke of 1:00 PM and there was an entire Bishopric on the stand looking good and a member of the Stake High Council also present for some minor Stake business (new Assistant Ward Executive secretary).

Everyone was very friendly but no one was sure we actually belonged in that ward. Apparently there are some residents of Hunting Creek who live in Crestwood Second Ward and some in the First Ward and nobody was certain why. We finally located a map and determined that the ward boundary is actually the same as the County line dividing Jefferson County from Oldham County. Believe it or not, and bizarre as it sounds, the county line does, in fact run right through Hunting Creek. Laura and Rob, our gracious and generous friends and hosts, live in Oldham County while our home, about 1600 meters west of theirs, is actually in Jefferson County.

What that means is that we are, as advertised, members of Crestwood First Ward and were in the right place.

Sunday School was very good. We met in the chapel and had a good teacher. The High Priest Group is very impressive. There are some pretty high powered guys there and it was fun getting to know them. I think they all were pleased that we had moved in and maybe it was my imagination but moving into Hunting Creek (sort of upscale) as a retiree seemed to be impressive to them so I left out the part about being a retired cop. I tried my best to act civilized, used complete sentences and proper grammer, etc. so when they find out, it should be OK. So far they seem to think I'm alright.

One thing I found out that was interesting is that the new building the Church built not too far from our building is designed to be the new Stake Center and there are plans afoot to divide our Stake. That makes total sense since there are sixteen units (Wards or branches) in Louisville Stake.

It's a pleasant change going to church in a building that can be seen from the street (Woodruff Ward in Long Beach is behind a medical office building if you can believe that). I think I mentioned before that our building is quite new and it is across the parking lot from the Louisville Temple. I'll try to run over and snap some photos tomorrow so if you are reading this and there are no pictures, check back in a day or two.

Early Morning Drive

I have been getting up early and driving around the area where we live. When you come out of our neighborhood onto the abutting highway (US 22), you can turn left and go into Louisville which borders on Prospect. Or you can turn right and immediately be in horse country.

These horses live about a mile from our home. And you get there by driving through incredible green woods. Remember, this is August.

I came across a small farm or ranch known as "Henry's Ark." I wouldn't have even known except this gorgeous peacock was just strutting across the road. Apparently Henry has various animals and birds and actually lets kids come in at times and see them all - kind of an informal zoo.



The I came to a marina called New Harmony Marina on the Ohio River and saw this boat scooting downstream. The second river shot is the Ohio looking downstream with the fuel dock in the foreground. The third is the Ohio looking upstream and you can see a bit of the marina on the left.


Further exploration revealed a beautiful Horse Ranch that I found out is called Shiloh Farms and I think it is the place where the last triple crown winning horse, Secretariat, was bred and trained. I gleaned that information soley from the visible clues.






The rest of these photos were taken as I just explored the area.

Kentucky is a place of incredible beauty. I'm glad we found it when we did because I think it's going to be discovered real soon by the rest of the world.