Friday, July 3, 2009

Kentucky Here We Come


Pine Mountain News

Things are summer normal at the ranch. Weeds and grass to mow around the ranch house. Normal ranch chores, animals to look after, stalls to clean, fences to mend, etc. It is the price we pay for living the country life.

Local news

Michael Jackson died this week and folks around here are remembering June of 1995 when Michael came up to Mt Pinos to film the song for Free Willy II.

In other news it will be slow going on North Interstate 5 for the next 5 weeks as Caltrans fixes and resurfaces the interstate.

Well enough about Pine Mountain, Next is the Poem of the week.



Poem of the Week





Travel Tokens

by emily d stine

I tiptoe on past postcards of travels abroad
a euro here, a peso there, a merci at the
tabac shop and on you're way with a
sepia-toned memory. A mermaid on Capri,
sails on the Piscataqua, cloudy Golden Gates,
and a sunset palm tree Puerto Vallarta.

I sit in Mexico for the sunset, dust my feet
off for a red light district drink in amsterdam
catch a taxi through NYC to the ruins of Delphi,
splash in Lake Michigan at night, pause
on the beautiful bridges of Florence...Firenze,
that is to say. I criss.cross through this post
-card past, losing myself in passport stamps,
wishing I could stay lost in a lonely wanderlust.



Kentucky Here We Come

When you were last with us we traveled through Ohio along the Ohio river. We had stopped for the evening just outside of Cincinnati and were trying to decide if we should continue west through Indiana and Illinois or go south through Kentucky. In the end after much debate we decided to go south and see the state of Kentucky.


Whiskey

Kentucky is known for tobacco, horses, whiskey, coal, caves, and blue grass music. Originally it was part of Virginia but it became a state in 1792. Bordered by the Ohio river on the north and the Mississippi on the west, Kentucky has one of the largest system of caves in the world.





Kentucky horse ranches are well known for the race horses they produce. The state also has the largest elk and turkey populations of any of the states.

History

The first settlers came to the state in the early 1700's led by Daniel Boone over the Cumberland Gap. The Shawnee and Cherokee Indian tribes used the meadows of Kentucky for hunting grounds and were not happy with the arrival of the settlers. The Shawnee allied themselves with the British during the revolutionary war and there were many battles and raids into Kentucky. Forts were built and settlers had to be ready to head for the nearest fort at a moments notice in order to survive being killed and scalped.

Our Journey

Our first day in Kentucky we crossed the Ohio river at Cincinnati and headed south through Florence on I- 75. Florence is known as the gateway to the south.

Driving on I- 75 is a scenic drive and we stopped at several places along the way. South of Lexington the capital of Kentucky we went west on 31 and saw the enormous cave system that is called Mammoth caves. These are some of the largest caves in the world and they go on for miles. The western part of the state has many coal mines.



coal mine



Wolf Creek Dam


After the caves we checked out wolf creek dam which forms Cumberland lake, the largest lake in Kentucky and the largest lake east of the Mississippi.



Cumberland Falls


We checked out Cumberland falls , a 68 foot waterfall known as the Niagra falls of Kentucky. We stopped at Corbin to see the first Kentucky fried chicken store. It was a gas station run by Harland Saunders.

We came back to I - 75 and headed south into Tennessee. In 3 weeks we will tell you about our Tennessee adventures.



Pine Mountain Evening

It is evening once more at Pine Mountain ranch. We have just finished dinner of steak and mashed potatoes with fresh corn on the cob. We had home made apple pie for desert. Now we are in the family room relaxing by the fire in the fireplace. Tonight I am enjoying Vanilla xxxx. This coffee is one of the special Friday Brews at http://www.coffeefool.com. If you really love vanilla this is the coffee for you. Instead of a little vanilla in your coffee this is more like a little coffee in your vanilla. It is a sweet silky smooth brew made with American roast coffee. It is just the ticket before bedtime.
Well it is getting late and my coffee is finished now. Time to get some sleep before the festivities on the 4th of July. Good night all. See you next week.






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