Trip to Kentucky and West Virginia

Well, we're back! We made it home safely after a week-long trip to Kentucky and West Virginia.


Left: Jon, Emma, and Michael standing next to a tree with what we thought was unusual-looking bark. Notice all of the fully developed leaves in the background.

We don't travel often, so this trip felt like an adventure. We left at 6:15 in the morning and drove until evening (though we did make short stops along the way). We managed to get as far as Louisville, Kentucky that first day.

Our first planned destination was Susan's house in Russell, Kentucky, but since Susan had to work the following day we thought we'd do some sight-seeing first.


Above: Up close, this tree by our motel in Louisville looked like a giant houseplant with its thick, rubbery leaves.






Turns out, we were fortunate to find a place to stay in Louisville that week. We didn't realize it until we got there, but we arrived the week of the Kentucky Derby.


The main race wasn't until the weekend, but smaller events related to the race were ongoing and apparently last throughout the month. Our motel was located near Churchill Downs, the site of the race, so we decided to pay a visit.

We found Churchill Downs fairly easily but were dismayed that some nearby parking lots were charging $40 fees. Luckily once we explained we weren't going to the race but just wanted a quick look around, someone directed us to a free parking lot.


As we approached the main building we saw a man hurry over to have his picture taken with another man who was obviously a jockey. Jon wasn't sure but thought that the important-looking jockey looked a lot like the guy who won the Derby last year. It's hard to say, though-- jockeys share a similar look. Someone told us that in order to be competitive, the rider, gear, and saddle must all weigh in at under 130 pounds. That calls for some unusually small (but wiry) riders!


We were afraid they'd stop us at the gate and want us to buy tickets, but instead we were graciously waved through. Everyone there was pretty busy, so we showed ourselves around. It was a very exciting and impressive atmosphere. The grounds were immaculate and beautifully landscaped, with statues of horses everywhere and all the structures painted a genteel white. Many of the passersby were very well-dressed, with ladies wearing elaborate (and unique-looking) hats.

To our amazement, the stands were still empty enough we were able to get right up to the racetrack without bothering anyone. The track was about as wide as a highway but covered with simple dirt. We were told that there is more to the track than it appears: underneath the racing area is a wide tunnel so horses can be moved on and off the track discreetly.



We saw some of the race horses and their trainers take practice runs around the track.

These are big, handsome animals, so it was impressive to see them up close.

Driving through Kentucky we passed all kinds of horse farms, including some very ritzy ones that serve as retirement homes for thoroughbreds. Apparently the horses that win races can be worth millions of dollars in their retirement, due to their value as breeding stock. And if any of their offspring turn out to be a winner too, their value goes up exponentially. Horses are big business in Kentucky.

Anyway, it was an interesting glimpse into a world we know very little about!


Our next stop was Frankfort, Kentucky, where we toured the state capitol building. That experience turned out to be rather stressful and short-lived; the building was loud and echo-y, and it was hard keeping Leila quiet.


One kind of fun, quirky thing there was that they had display cabinets filled with portrait dolls that were meant to represent Kentucky's different first ladies. I had kind of a deja vu feeling... did we visit the Kentucky capitol building when I was a kid, Dad?


I had mixed feelings about the display. On the one hand I admired the dolls--they were beautifully costumed and wigged, and I can appreciate that. But somehow the rows of porcelain faces seemed to emphasize race... all these pale white first ladies... different colored hair, different colored dresses... but all very white. I couldn't help but feel that if I weren't white I would feel excluded by that display.


The other weird impression I had was that miniaturizing these women, making adorable dolls of them, somehow trivialized them as real people. All of the faces were child-like and similar. Perfect little ornaments. What were the real women like?

Anyway. We also stopped by a local candy factory, Rebecca Ruth Chocolates, and sampled their Kentucky Derby Bourbon Balls. They packed a punch... sweet chocolate flavor at first, but a definite whiskey aftertaste.


Finally we arrived at Susan and Jay's house. Susan was able to leave work a couple of hours early... you can see her here coming home in her scrubs.

She took us over to the clinic so we could see the place she works. The Bellefonte Clinic is one of two new buildings associated with Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland. We met her boss, the doctor she assists in surgery. Once the practice has been built up, there will be four doctors at her building.

Susan has her own office with a window overlooking the woodsy clinic grounds. Jon had fun sitting in her desk and trying out her stethoscope.






After showing us the building she took us for a walk outside. The staff at the clinic enjoy use of a large outdoor patio and paved walking paths that wind through a woods and around a pond. There are little thickets of bamboo here and there. It's very quiet and restful.



Susan's neighborhood (below) is picturesque and rather eclectic. The street in front of her house is brick (cobblestone?) and many of her neighbors have nicely decorated lawns and porches. Susan's house is within easy walking distance of at least four different antique shops, I am happy to report.

Her house is spacious but still pretty empty of furniture :). It's an older house with its original hardwood floors and wood detailing throughout. It was built as a duplex, so the two halves of the house (which are now opened up to each other) are mirror images. Two sets of stairs lead upstairs to two pairs of bedrooms and a pair of baths.

There are four large rooms on the first floor: the kitchen, living room, and what will someday be a dining room and a library. Jay's started stripping wallpaper and fixing the walls, but there's still lots of work to do.

While we were there Jon and Jay did some landscaping around the house.

Like other homes in the neighborhood, Susan and Jay's house has a deep front porch.

And so ends the house tour!


After a day of visiting in Kentucky, we drove the two hours to Beckley, West Virginia to see David's play (Susan and Jay came along for the show too).

This play was something new for Mountain State University. It was their first theatrical production, and David was excited to be a part of it. The play, called "Nickel and Dimed", is based on the true life story of a woman who set aside her money and advantages to work "undercover" as a minimum wage employee. She wanted to know how people making that wage get by.

As she works various low-paying jobs at a restaurant, motel, and retail store she meets a number of interesting characters, each with a different story. The play has 22 different characters, and since there were only six actors playing them, each actor played multiple parts.

Two of David's roles were female characters. In the picture above, David's wearing the hat and sunglasses. Can you tell?

The play was a lot of fun to watch... we had front-row seats. And it raised our consciousness enough that we started leaving tips for the housekeeper after checking out of motels.

We spent the night in West Virginia so we could visit more with David the next day. By 8 the next morning, Susan, David, Michael, Emma, Leila, and Logan were all swimming in the motel pool.

For lunch, we met Jay's parents at Pies and Pints, a restaurant I've featured in this blog before--remember when Flat Emma visited Susan last year? She ate at Pies and Pints. Anyway, it's a fun place that features some truly unusual (but tasty) pizza toppings. My favorite was the grape pizza. I know that sounds terrible, but it was actually very good.

At right: Jon and I with Jay, Susan, and Jay's dad David. Jay's mom, Sharon, is taking the picture.

But I've skipped ahead a bit.

When we pulled into the restaurant, the Tahoe was making a terrible noise. Which was rather unsettling, considering we'd just been driving through remote mountain roads and I had forgotten to renew our AAA.

We had our lunch and let the car cool down, then Jon and David (Jay's dad) went out to take a look at it. It turned out to be a minor thing-- just the belt that controls our air conditioning-- so no big deal. But their working on the car did provide the rest of us with an opportunity to visit one more antique store, just a block away...

After fixing the Tahoe, Dave and Sharon took us on a drive out to Fayetteville, to a place they knew was good for collecting driftwood. We were actually at that point a 3-car convoy: Jay and his parents in their van, us in the Tahoe, and Susan and the kids (minus Leila) in her mom's convertible. The picture above shows the kids having fun during their car ride with Susan.

The drive there was unbelievable. These next photos are pictures I shot from the car window. We drove up, down and around winding mountain roads, past tiny remote houses and the smallest post office I ever saw. Sometimes we were looking up at overhanging cliffs and sometimes we were looking down at a mountain stream running right alongside the road. Sometimes the stream splashed down into a waterfall.

We finally pulled the cars over, parked, and got out. Then, following Jay's dad, we climbed down a fairly steep embankment. Jon carried Leila. Once we reached the rocky river bank, we climbed across boulders and through underbrush for about 1/2 mile before coming to a large, partially sandy part of the river bed piled full of driftwood.

We didn't just find wood there, either! We found shoes (no matching pairs), balls, bottles... you name it, and it has been washed and worn by that river at some point.

We saw lots of rafters as we hiked. It was a fairly dangerous walk, not so much because someone could have fallen into the river (we were a safe distance from the water) but because someone could have twisted an ankle. But everyone made it through safely, though Jon had to carry Leila the whole way and ended up with a sore back the next day.

Anyway, this blog is already so long I'll spare you the details of the rest of the trip. We made it back to Wisconsin Monday afternoon, tired and car-weary and glad to be home!

It was a good trip-- thanks to Susan and Jay for hosting us.