travel
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Versailles and the Arboretum in Lexington, KY
My husband has traveled through Kentucky for work and mentioned seeing a castle in Versailles which is really close to Lexington and just downt the road from Keeneland. We headed there and were pleasantly surprised by this fun castle which is a hotel and spa. One of my readers, Leslie shared the following link if you want to read about how this castle came about: https://myoldkentuckyroadtrip.com/2011/09/20/versailles-lexington-road-castle/ From the road you can see the castle and wonder what it is! I wasn’t sure if we would be able to walk around so we were able that we could. I was very impressed with the grounds and thought this would be a…
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Mount Sterling, KY and Keeneland, KY
To take a break from hiking, we decided to find a small picturesque town to visit. Someone at the grocery store suggested Mount Sterling so we headed that way with a picnic packed. We did save money on this vacation by buying groceries and packing a picnic lunch every day. We shopped in a couple local boutiques, ate our lunch in a little square and took some pictures. Mount Sterling This outfit of the day was fairly comfortable until I realized that we were walking too much for these shoes. By the time we visited the arboretum, I took them off and walked barefoot! This town was pretty small so…
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Rock Bridge and Angel Wings Trails, Daniel Boone Forest, KY
Welcome back to my synopis of our spring break to Kentucky. On our second day, we planned two hikes. We were pleased with the 3 short ones we had done the first day so we choose a slighty longer one and decided to add another one before heading back to our rental. I chose the hikes by searching them on the internet, looking a distance and features such as arches. Once again, I packed lunch but we left it in the car to eat at a picnic table since we knew the hikes were not especially long. Rock Bridge Arch I chose this trail because it was a longer ones…
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Daniel Boone National Forest: Day 1 Hikes
One of my favorite things about our hikes at the Daniel Boone National Forest was that many were very short (less than a mile) and very scenic. The forest is renown for its many arches and on our first day there, we were able to see some pretty fantastic ones. These first two pictures were taken off the main road where a trail started. We did not take the trail but had to stop because the view of the ridge was amazing. Sky Bridge Trail Now this trail is 0.8 miles long and was special due to the crossing of the sky bridge which is wide but does not have…
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Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park, Tennessee
I always try to take advantage of a road trip to visit a historic location. We have loved visiting forts on the coast and when I looked up the town where we were headed for a wedding, I looked up points of interest in the area. I came across Fort Watauga at the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area. The visitor center hosts a gift shop, a museum and the fort is built by the Watauga River. It is a reconstruction of the original one. There is a one mile loop trail that follows the river as well as an arboretum, a butterfly garden and an amphitheater where they would usually…
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Spring is in the Air: Our First Hike of 2021
As soon as the weather gave us a taste of spring, I corraled the kids and we headed to our nearby state park for our first hike of the year. I was very nice and chose a short 1 mile hike that I knew would be an easy one for everyone and a way to ease in back into walking outdoors again. Thankfully everyone enjoyed the hike! We gave our 6 and 10 year old some old cell phones to take pictures and they thought that was really fun and spent a lot of time finding things to take pictures of. I love how when we hike, we always see…
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Tennessee Aquarium: February Visit
After our last visit to the Tenneesee Aquarium during the Christmas break, I told the boys we would take their cousin on our next visit and try to visit a few more times before our membership expires at the end of May. We just made good on that promise this past President’s day. Chattanooga is just 1 hour and 30 or so from our house so it is not a bad drive. This time around, the return trips wasn’t as fun. It rained consistently and heavily for about 45 minutes and I was also dropping my nephew home which added an hour and half total to our ride. It still…
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Finding Beauty in Small Things in Nature
While we do not have the cold and ice from up North, it has gotten fairly cold here for us in Georgia with most day temps averaging between 30 and 45 degrees. Lows do get in the 20s and high sometimes get in the 50s but add some wind to the weather and it can get downright cold. After a January with very inconsistent walking, I vowed last week to do better with getting out there and walking and hopefully back to running regularly. I did have some issue with my right shin after my first run last week so I am going to be careful and watch it with…
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2021 Travel Plans
We were able to go on vacation a few times last year, choosing spots that offered outdoor activities and where we knew we would not be around too many people. That allowed us to spend quality time as a family and gave us a nice break from our daily routine. In these uncertain times, that is how I am planning this year’s vacations: no traveling abroad but taking advantage of what our nearby states have to offer. Spring Break My husband brought home a Southern Living magazine from the grocery store last week and while I had originally planned to spend a week in North Georgia for spring break, pictures…
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Tennessee Aquarium: Part 2
Last week, I shared some pictures from our winter break visit to the Tennessee aquarium in Chattanooga. It felt good to get out of the house and do something fun. We enjoy our visit as well as a nice lunch at a nearby restaurant. We found a cool spot for pictures outside: this painting was really pretty. Now isn’t this leopard ray amazing! I shared a lot of these pictures on my Instagram and thought this was a propos for all of us lovers of prints and leopard. Did you know that this creature existed? The sea turtle was very agreeable and hung out near the window where we sat.…