My wife, Wendy, and I recently enjoyed a trip that included stays with friends in Cincinnati, Ohio, London, Ky. And Smiths Grove, Ky. (near Bowling Green).
Here is a recap of some of what we experienced.
Friday, Sept. 8:
What a beautiful day for a road trip. Sunshine and moderate temperatures ruled, and we encountered very little traffic on I-64 through Illinois and Indiana.
Our chosen route took us through Louisville, Ky., which turned out to be a very picturesque city on the Ohio River, with cool old draw bridges, a nice skyline and – again – not much traffic. We arrived that evening at the home of Jason and Theresa Rathbone, on Cincinnati’s west side.
Saturday, Sept. 9:
The four of us visited the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. I’ve been to several zoos around the country, and this one was among the best, with animals mostly housed in very large, well-maintained enclosures.
Since it’s also a major city’s botanical garden, the grounds were beautifully landscaped, with many varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers, often equipped with signs indicating what they were.
Highlights included seeing a baby hippo and a baby white rhino, and an amazing cheetah show featuring the big cats running at top speed after an extremely fast-moving toy on a rope. We also enjoyed an unofficial chimpanzee show with a toddler and an older one putting on an awesome mock battle. We were also impressed by the Asian sea eagle – a very regal (and big) bird we were able to view from only a few feet away.
The day ended with a nice home-cooked meal and watching the Ohio State University football team losing big-time to Oklahoma.
Sunday, Sept. 10:
We visited the annual Ohio Renaissance Festival with the Rathbones, their daughter and a friend of hers.
We did lots of walking for the second straight day, but also took in numerous unusual sights, sounds, tastes and smells.
We enjoyed the jousting match, which was 100-percent authentic, with fully armored knights on larges horses bashing the heck out of each other with heavy duty wooden lances. One of the competitors took second place in last year’s world championships (who knew there was a world tournament in jousting?). These guys were serious – very cool.
We also liked watching Dirk Perfect and Guido Crescendo – a.k.a. The Swordsmen – perform their unique and funny act. And the “pot roast sundae” wasn’t bad (a big cup of mashed potatoes smothered with pot roast, gravy and cheese).
Try to imagine a 30-acre theme park that looks like a town in England in the 1600s with thousands of people walking around eating, drinking, watching shows and buying stuff – and all of the staff and half of the visitors are dressed up in medieval-looking costumes. That’s the Ohio Renaissance Festival since it opened in 1990.
On the way back, I was able to cross something off of my bucket list, because we ate at a Skyline Chili Restaurant. The place is famous for its brand of Cincinnati chili and I wasn’t disappointed.
Yep, Cincinnati had its own version of chili. It has cinnamon in it and no beans, and is often served over a bed of noodles and topped with a layer of shredded cheddar cheese about four inches thick. Yum.
Monday, Sept. 11 through Thursday, Sept. 15:
We traveled south into the Daniel Boone National Forest area of eastern Kentucky. Our dwelling for four nights was on Wood Creek Lake near London, Ky.
On our second day there, Wendy and I were joined by our hostess from a couple of days earlier and two more friends from Flowery Branch, Ga.: Mike and Sandi Vinson.
The weather was puzzling for the time of year; the high temperature for the first three days was only 62 degrees and a cold drizzle fell almost continuously. The good news was, our little abode was very secluded and there was lots of good company.
The result? Lots of great conversation, a ton of great eating and hours spent playing games.
Speaking of games, if any of you are familiar with Yahtzee, than you’ll understand how weird something that happened was.
On Wednesday night, we had played several games and came to a point where someone said, “this is the last game.” Other than Wendy, nobody had enjoyed seeing all five dice look similar before that. But that changed in a big way, as she got three more and three people each got two!
Nine Yahtzees in one game! Unheard of !
The weather did let up a time or two, and one of those times Mike and I took advantage and caught a few sunfish from the pretty lake.
On Thursday, we drove a little way south to visit Cumberland Falls, where the Cumberland River is 125 feet wide and drops 68 feet over a cliff. It was a beautiful scene, with mist flying above the falls, and huge bluffs and gigantic lining the river below the falls. It was loud, too. Cumberland Falls is the second biggest east of the Mississippi, behind only Niagra Falls.
On the way there we stopped in at the historic Sanders Cafe – in Corbin, Ky. – where Col. Harland Sanders first served Kentucky Fried Chicken in the 1940s. Pretty cool place.
Friday, Sept. 15:
We made our way to western Kentucky for a night’s stay at the home of Dennis and Lynn Crabtree in Smiths Grove (no apostrophe in Smiths).
Not long before arriving, Wendy and I stopped at Mammoth Cave National Park, about a half hour north of Bowling Green.
Mammoth Cave boasts the largest system of underground passageways in the world, and the park offers many different tours through it. We chose one called “Domes and Dripstones,” and it was awesome.
We thoroughly enjoyed squeezing through some extremely narrow openings and corridors, and going up and down metal staircases that were somehow built in spaces where human bodies barely fit. The highlight was the dripstone formation called the “Frozen Niagra.” Nobody is allowed to use flash photography in the cave, so I couldn’t get a good shot if it. But Google it; it’s beautiful.
We also liked hearing the guide’s stories about the people who first found the cave and opened it to the public.
Before our tour (which included about 60 other people), a guide warned tall folks to beware of low rock ceilings in many spots. I only bumped my head twice. Not bad, I guess.
That evening, we were joined at the Crabtree’s place by another local friend. Dennis is an avid bow-and-arrow deer hunter, and he served up a meal of deer burger tacos.
I ate four and could have gone for more, but stopped before I popped.
Saturday, Sept. 16: We drove the 395 miles home from western Kentucky.
But before we left Smiths Grove, Dennis cooked up a breakfast of deer back strap, eggs, and biscuits and gravy (made from the fixin’s left in the back strap frying pan). To say it was good doesn’t do it full justice.