Road Trip 2010: Day 5

The winner of yesterday's caption was....

and here's what you'll be getting in the mail.  A Superman tin pencil box, 2 pencils made of sticks from Missouri and a bag of Kryptonite.  Be careful, it says it's more powerful than green M&M's.

Today we spent most of the day without cell phone service in the back woods of Kentucky - pretty much all I can say is "WOW!".  We started out in Cave City, Kentucky because we were planning to go here...

Considering we couldn't even take a purse or computer bag on the tour we definitely weren't going to be able to take Duke.  Luckily the US Government was thinking and actually offered kennels.  All we had to do was put down a $5 deposit on a lock and we were off; however, we got there and saw this...

Have you seen Duke?  He could totally fit through that.  Luckily again they had cat kennels; however two of them had hornets nests in them.  Look how sad he looks.  We found out later he wasn't all that lonely as everyone figured out he was there and kept wanting to go look at him cuz "he was so cute". 

This cave has the longest tunnel system in the world - all naturally formed.  We wanted to go on the tour to see the stalactites and stalagmites but it was cancelled due to all the water they have gotten in the area.  This particular cave is more known for their dry caves so I'm glad we still went on the tour.  I was in awe at the shear size of the cave.  At one point she turned off all the lights to show us how it really is in there - you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

During the war of 1812 they did a lot of Salt-Petre mining in the cave.  These are old tools left over.

Beautiful waterfall that normally isn't there but due to all the rain they've had it appeared.

It was so cold in the cave you needed a jacket - it's a constant 54-56 degrees.  Upon exiting we got a little foggy...

We stopped at a couple of stores.  Have you ever been to a store that had SOOO much stuff you couldn't see anything?  That was this place.  Not sure who would buy a ham like that - didn't look sanitary to me.

Next we headed back north to do The Bourbon Trail.  We started out at Jim Beam.

Next was Heaven Hill.

Because of some closed roads (due to the flooding) we ending up on some back roads and came across this...

BTW - per Sean the camera puts on 10 lbs.

Then on to Maker's Mark - by far my favorite (so far) and the people were so nice and we even got there after they closed.

Each vat has 10,000 gallons of fermenting bourbon.  There were 6 in this room and they said there are 33 additional ones in another building.

Sean getting a taste (don't worry, they said it was ok).  Love the look on his face.

They let him have a taste of some one day old bourbon.  Their normal bourbon is 90 proof; this stuff was 130 proof.

Then we followed some very narrow, winding roads to Woodford Reserve.

As we tried to get to our next location, Wild Turkey, we passed many closed roads due to the flooding still and then finally came to this...

He made it through, as well as a police officer, so we decided to follow this truck.

Sean was so excited when we got to the other side; he wanted to do it again.  "This is why we have a Jeep".  But we weren't prepared for what we saw on the other side...

It wasn't all devastation though.  We also got to see the beautiful horse stables and the Kentucky bluegrass.

Yesterday didn't go quite the way we had planned (expected to no longer be in Kentucky) but it was a great day.  Today was going to be a light day so we'll be able to make up time.  I have to say though, our experience yesterday was the Kentucky people we came across were not the friendliest (except the guy at the hotel desk - he's actually staying at the hotel because his apartment is flooded - he was ever so helpful!).  I can't wait for today - I hope you can't either!

Road Trip 2010: Day 4

We really enjoyed reading your favorite road trip memories.  The first winner (randomly generated) is....

Here's what you'll be getting in the mail - chocolate covered sunflower seeds and a sunflower wheat weaving.  I was also going to throw in the recipe for the items I made for the shower as a bonus but you already have both of them.

Today we began our trek east.  We headed through Columbia, Missouri and St Louis.  We even got to see the arch.  It was created as a momument to western expansion - read more facts here.

After seeing multiple people pulled over on the side of the road to relieve themselves and tons of dead stuff on the road we reached our next destination...

Metropolis, Illinois (4th state) - the official home of Superman.  I'm not kidding - read about it here.

These pictures are from the museum.  They are part of a private collection - we met the man's daughter and got all the scoop.  The pieces we saw are worth an estimated $8-10 million and is only about a quarter of his entire collection.  He also has another collection but of Hollywood memorabilia.  He's been collecting for 50 years and the lunch box (picture above) was his very first item - he got it when he was just five.  We talked the daughter into selling us a triangle piece of Superman fabric so I can make Duke a new bandana.

We continued to head east and south and finally crossed into Kentucky (state #5).

We're both REALLY tired after all the driving today - approximately 10 hours.  Thanks to everyone for their discussion topics.  We determined toothbrush and toothpaste for the Survivor question, kids didn't get much of a discussion, couldn't come to a conclusion on when to head to Key West, money would be spent selfishly, barefoot and vanilla.  We also did a lot of research about various places and random topics as they came up such as "dry" counties and numbering of highways.  I also figured out that we couldn't be more opposite in our Love Languages (except quality time which is why we probably haven't wanted to kill each other yet) so we're both going to have to work really hard at that.

GIVEAWAY ALERT

For today's prize post us your best caption for the picture below.  We'll pick our favorite and they'll be the winner.  We'll pick and announce the winner in tomorrow mornings blog about day five.  Good Luck - it's a fun prize!

Road Trip 2010: Day 3

Today was the big day of the shower.  Sean got up early and went to breakfast with Amy's husband Craig and then they headed to the golf course to play a round.  Before you laugh about golfing in Newton, Kansas you should check out the course - go here to read about it.  I just have to laugh every time I think of Sean and Craig hanging out - Craig being a cop and all....

We had a very nice shower for Ashley.  I made jalapeno pimento cheese sandwiches and lemon almond tea.  We also talked Mom into making broccoli salad (Ashley's favorite) and we had a cake (so cute!).  I got the idea for the vase with the hot pad and cooking utensils from a gift I got at one of my showers.

Ashley and her sister trying to figure out the game.  It was a love letter from Deek to Ashley with blanks and you had to fill in the blanks with cleaning or household supplies.  It was HARD!

My niece, Maddy, trying to help open presents.

After the shower we headed to Mom's to do some final packing up of the Jeep, celebrate Mother's Day and my nephew's birthday.  We hopped in the Jeep and were off to my brother's house in Lee's Summit, Missouri (yes the same brother we had the shower for and is now our 3rd state).  If you've never seen the Kansas countryside it's just like they show in the movies - wheat fields and cows.

My niece was still up so we got to play with her for a little bit and chat with Ashley.  Deek was at work and wasn't going to be home until really late so we didn't wait up for him.  Duke was a pistol during the night needing out twice.  Sean took him out the first time along with Marley and Daisy - of course Marley ran off and we had to go find her.  That was around 12:45 am.  Luckily Deek was almost home and helped in the search.  We did (or rather Ashley) find her.  Duke wanted up at 4 something too.  Sean made me take him out but I was smart enough to not let the other dogs out.  Can you believe this sweet face would run off like that???

We got up early and had breakfast with Maddy and are now headed east.  She's so good with that spoon.

She absolutely loves books and had to get a quick read in after breakfast with Daddy.

She wanted to help drive.

Where will we stop next?  You'll just have to check back tomorrow to find out. 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

Today is your first chance at a special prize from our time in Kansas.  Post a comment with your favorite road trip memory and a randomly selected person will be the winner.  I'll announce the winner and prize in tomorrows blog.

Road Trip 2010: Day 2

No progress was made today because we actually had an ulterior motive for making Newton, Kansas our first stop.  My baby brother is getting married and we had a shower for our soon to be sister-in-law.  Friday morning I got up extra early and headed to the grocery store to get stuff to make for snacks for the shower.  I promptly headed back to my Moms and made some stuff.  It was then time to work - it was Friday after all.

Remember how I said I realized I forgot something when we got to Oklahoma.  Well, it was time to take care of that issue after I finished working.  Can you guess now...

Yep, left all undergarments in Texas and I didn't have any waiting for me in Maine either.  Well now I'll just have a full set at both houses - easier that way and my goal for almost everything any way.  Once we got back from shopping we headed to watch my niece, Kylie, play softball.

This is Kylie.

Duke was enjoying the action and got a cheer or two in (in the form of a "woof" of course).

There was quite a good crowd.

As soon as her game was over we headed over to Craig and Amy's house for a BBQ with Mark & Susan and them.  Old year books were broken out and we enjoyed some time out on the picnic table and by the chimnea with good food and good friends.  We finally got home about 12:30 am.  Now do you understand why I'm behind on my postings already??