Hello faithful reader (Susie). After a several year absence, I thought it high time to resurrect the travel blog. When a global pandemic shut down the world in early 2020, all travel was halted. Our trip to Yosemite for summer of 2020 was cancelled, and we ended up getting a dog instead! And now that 1.5 year old puppy is on her first NP trip.
We are traveling with my mom and dad. We were supposed to come with my sister's family as well, but sports camps are keeping them at home this summer. And after realizing how difficult it is to get to our cabin (up a mountain), when they were going to be staying somewhat far away, this may be for the best. I don't think it would have been easy to meet up here.
We left yesterday morning and had an easy drive to Louisville, KY. We made one longer stop on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, just before the border of KY. This state park left much to be desired. The kids wanted to go down by the river, but the paths were full of glass and garbage, so the dog and I stayed up top. It was humid and buggy. My parents left early in the morning and had already been to the Louisville Slugger museum and gotten a flight of bourbon. They were resting in their downtown hotel, so we opted to simply get to our hotel, outside of downtown.
Our hotel was not great. Tiny, dingy, and in need of major tlc. This was Mione's first hotel stay, and while she did fairly well, she did not love having people walking past our door often, as she is protective of our areas. When it was time for bed, she only barked once (a neighbor dog was very vocal!), but I was anxious all night, and that anxiety, paired with some shoulder aching, meant I maybe strung together 3 hours of sleep.
We set off in a rain storm around 9 for just a short 4.5 hour drive to our place. My parents left after us, so we took our time, stopping off in Berea, KY, an artsy town and home to Berea College. We went to a visitors center full of fun crafts, and also turned it into a college visit by driving through town and seeing the campus. Pretty, but small, and I'm not sure we will encourage either child to go to school there. :)
We also stopped off at a state forest, the name of which escapes me. It was a much longer detour to see this lake than we anticipated, but we did do a short trail down to some water. Eleanor deemed it her favorite hike so far. Considering it was our first hike, I wouldn't take that for much. Because we took so long, my parents, who left over an hour after us, caught up, so we met them at a Wendy's for lunch, then caravanned the rest of the way.
We stopped at what seems to have been the last large chain grocery (a Kroger) on our way, which was a great choice since our other option would have been an Amish market. The trek up to our place, which we knew was up a mountain, is a bit nutty. We are up here, and it took 15 minutes to get from the gate house (we're in a gated community) to our cabin. The views, though, are pretty sweet!
After unpacking and getting set up, we had a gourmet dinner of frozen pizza and salad before hitting the hot tub. My dad and I also tried the peach bourbon they bought yesterday. Will and the kids walked the dog down the road and ran into a family who had just seen a bear on our property. I'm sufficiently freaked out about that but am hopeful they are used to people and don't want any trouble.
The only issue with this place is that because it is not easy to get in and out of, we will only plan to leave once and come home once per day. That means that leaving the dog won't really be an option. This wouldn't be annoying if she was actually allowed on trails. She is only allowed on two, though, and we're not even sure how close those trails are. But she is allowed in picnic areas, in the car, and along the road. We may just have to divide and conquer and split up for some hiking. We knew this would be a different trip than our usual ones (because of the dog), so we will make it work. Honestly, I'm just happy to be some place other than home and trying not to get too caught up on what we will miss but think about what we will see.
I will stop here because my brain is hardly functioning. I may be outsourcing these entries to Eleanor, to get ready to read some much better writing.
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