KY Day 1 - Friday

We arrived in Kentucky Thursday night around 8pm. We were all staying in a new place this year. We usually just stay in the cabins at Natural Bridge State Park where the reunion is held but this year we rented a cabin just a couple miles down the road. It didn't have as many things included like housekeeping but the quality of the cabin itself was well worth it as far as I am concerned. I didn't take a photo tour of the cabin but you will see plenty of it in the photos I did take I think. Thursday night we didn't do much except get settled and visit with everyone. Friday we didn't have anything pressing on our agenda but Chance got us up bright and early then ran in and got in bed with Grammy, he did this every morning and although he slept well through the night my Mom said his feet and hands were cold and since his cot was near the ground and the cabin had vents in the floor I think he was getting cold because he was getting up earlier than he usually does at home. After our early wake up call we messed around at the cabin for a while and then went for a walk. The cabin is way up on a hillountain (that's hill and mountain) the road goes up in a way that I can't imagine people getting up in the winter and at the bottom of this hillountain is a gift shop which was our destination. Let me tell you going down was easier than going up. Chance walked the whole way though and even started racing us on the way up, he won and we didn't even let him, he won fair and square.

Then it was nap time for the little guy so while he was sleeping Kristy, Samara (Kristy's friend) and I went geocaching. There aren't too many around there especially that we haven't already picked up in recent years but we did find one, we made it more complicated than it was but finally Kristy spotted it. It was located in a camp ground that was just beautiful and a place that we would never have visited if not for geocaching. On our way to the cache we passed through Nada Tunnel which is only one way so you have to stop to take turns with oncoming traffic. The tunnel is long and very narrow it was originally a railroad tunnel build to get logs to the mill. After the tunnel we traveled on down the road into Red River Gorge to a trail and suspension bridge for foot traffic. After figuring out which trail to take we walked about 10 minutes down the trail to the bridge. The bridge spanned the Red River, it was very pretty, when you are out in the middle of it you can feel every move that is made. After the bridge we drove back to the cabin, where Chance was already awake and a little freaked out because when he was told that "mommy would be home soon" meaning the cabin he thought Mommy went home as in our house in New Orleans. But we were back to the cabin soon after he woke up and set his mind at ease. After we rested for a little while, Scott, Chance and I got in the car and drove down to the rest area that was at the same exit as the reunion and cabin because they have something we knew Chance would love, a caboose. This year it was open so we were able to not only walk around it but go inside too. They have turned it into a little information center it is filled with pamphlets and even a guy who is there to answer any questions you might have, so while Chance inspected the train car I asked why it was there. Turns out the whole area was owned by the railroad companies and a main passenger line went right where the current mountain parkway is, since they owned the Natural Bridge their was an side trip you could buy that would take you over to the bridge for the day. Then at some point the railroad gave the land to the state who turned it into the Natural Bridge State Park that it is today. All of that was news to me, it was great to learn something new about the area. We drove around for a while after the train car just to look around, Chance liked the mountains and he would tell us if we were going up or down the mountain. Then we returned to the cabin where we had big plans to build a fire. This cabin had a wrap around porch that Chance loved running around and around you could hear his little feet so you always knew where he was plus there were lots of windows in the cabin so you could see him a lot of the time too. In the back there was a hot tub and stairs leading down to a fire pit. We cooked hamburgers and roasted marshmallows. Chance did a good job helping to collect wood and hand it to Aunt Kristy and Sam. This was Chance's first outdoor fire like this, we had to go over fire safety things in the beginning but after he understood what he could and could not do he was very good. He had a good time roasting the mellows, but he didn't want to eat one they were too icky which was fine with me. By the time we were roasting mellows we already had our swimming suits on for hottubbing. Chance stood on the stair and splashed us while we enjoyed the awesome hot tub. Hot tubs get two thumbs way up!! It was the perfect combo with the cool mountain air. Stay tuned for day two coming soon. Can you believe we did all this stuff in just one day?