Berea Arts and Crafts Festival

My camera has been overloaded with photos, and I JUST got around to emptying many out. Here are a few pictures from the Berea Arts and Crafts festival. I think it was $5 to get in, and the artists were great. My gang picked up some nice garden decorations and books.

I love the location of this fair too. Plus, it gives me an excuse to get to Berea!

Random Thoughts On Friday

I know I have mentioned this before, but I am really getting ready for the Halloween Season! I might try to get some creepy book recommendations up soon.

Every time I go to a bookstore, I check out the "local interest" section. I love the books documenting local sports teams, regional postcards, and books about certain landmarks.

In our state of Kentucky, I love finding a book I have not read about Mammoth Cave, Berea College, or oddities in the state.

I went through a phase where I would pick up any "ghost" or "hauntings" book relating to a region. I don't necessarily believe all of the stories in the books, but I enjoy a good ghost story.

After a while though, many of the "ghost stories" sound the same.

I have read about crybaby bridge, ghost hitchhikers and the like in Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

To be honest, a lot of those books and stories can be a bit boring if you are not familiar with the region.

Also, books about hauntings are pretty common, and anyone off the street can write a book claiming to have witnessed or heard about a haunting.

Personally, I find books with a bit more research more fascinating. I have read the phrase "legend has it" many times. Rarely does the author take the time to thoroughly research that legend.

I find myself more interested in books about documented weird stuff, and true crime. It is more solid, and easier to research. I have more respect for that kind of a book.

Still, weird is weird. A good ghost story is still creepy.

I will try to get some interesting and well researched book reviews for the Halloween Season up soon.

U.S.S. Indianapolis

The USS Indianapolis and her crew served this great country from the early 30s until July 30th, 1945 when a Japanese submarine hit her with a torpedo. She sunk in 12 minutes.

Approximately 300 of the almost 1,200 man crew went down with the ship. 317 of the men left would survive over the next 4 days.

The ship has still not been found. The remaining crew from the ship does get together in Indianapolis ever so often (they JUST had a reunion that I missed!). The Indiana World War Memorial Plaza has a GREAT room dedicated to the ship the men who served on her.

I am going to have to find some books about the ship and the events around the crew, as this is a fascinating story. More importantly, it is an overlooked tale of bravery. Forget any other over romanticized stories about sinking ships. This one is the most incredible one I know of period.

It gives me goose bumps thinking about the brave men who have put their lives on the line for us!

Horsemania in Lexington Kentucky

http://www.kentucky.com/horsemania/
I know in Cleveland they had guitars. Cincy had pigs. Lexington has horses. I love the painted horse statues all over downtown! Here are a few of my favorites. Artique next to Joseph Beth has some small ones that also look great. Check them out!

Random Thoughts On Friday

The weather has been a little cooler lately in my neck of the woods! The heat was getting to me!

I am already getting my flannel shirts out and fantasizing about some apple cider.

This should be a great weekend to get out and do something! The Multi-Cultural Festival is going on in Owensboro. The Woodland Park Art Festival is going on in the Lexington area too!

http://www.lexingtonartleague.org/woodland.htm

Don't forget that baseball season is winding down. Get out and see a game!

I do have a camera full of pictures from a few different trips recently that I am overdue on unloading! I need to get some pictures up soon of another trip to Indianapolis. Their State Museum, and their War Memorial Museum are unbelievable! At the War Memorial, they have a room devoted to the USS Indianapolis. If you are not familiar with this WWII ship and it's story, look it up. The ship was hit and went down. The survivors were in the ocean for 4 days before they were rescued.

Postcards: Berea College

The bottom card is postmarked 1953 using a "Berea College Sta." cancel!

It reads: The Anna Smith Hall is the newest addition to the Campus for College Girls. This beautiful building is ultra-modern inside and out, and has rooms for about seventy girls.

The top card is in great shape, and shows James Hall. It hos no other identifying marks on the back.

Kentucky Explorer Magazine

Hey! Check out Kentucky explorer magazine! My friend Mary has introduced me to this one! I wish I had known about it long ago!

There are some regional mags that are, in my opinion, very thin, and full of adds. Some regional publications are obviously struggling for content. I am very frustrated when a magazine about an area does an average article on a trend that has nothing to do with the area. I recently read a nice article about "going green" in a regional magazine that had nothing to do with that region.

NONE of those problems occur in Kentucky Explorer. This is a very real magazine about Kentucky loaded with great articles and pictures, often provided by readers.

If any of my family or friends (Mom) are reading this article, a subscription would be a great birthday gift! Again, A SUBSCRIPTION TO KENTUCKY EXPLORER MAGAZINE WOULD BE A GREAT BIRTHDAY GIFT!!!!!!

Random Thoughts On Friday

Today is a Friday the 13th! Celebrate as you see appropriate!

I personally do enjoy horror movies. It might be a fun evening or night for viewing one of the classic "Friday the 13th" flicks. It might also be a good day to kick off your Halloween season festivities (I think I have mentioned before that I like to celebrate Halloween starting in late July, I usually settle down on my festivities relating to the holiday in mid November).

This reminds me of some road trips from previous seasons- relating to scary movies! I can't think of any mainstream scary movie with a strong Kentucky connection, but many were filmed towards the north.

Pennsylvania is a hotbed of horror film locations, many of which I have visited!

Horror icon George Romero put Pittsburgh on the horror map filming just about everything in that area. "Night of the Living Dead" was filmed in the Evans City area, and "Dawn of the Dead" was filmed at the Monroeville Mall, which is still a functioning (and very happening) mall! Tom Savini directed his "Night of the Living Dead" remake in nearby Washington PA.

Phoenixville PA. was the filming site for "The Blob". Phoenixvlle is a very fun, cozy town with a great 50sish downtown area. PLUS, they have a great "Blobfest" each year!

If you are up for a more ambitious road trip to the states of New jersey and Connecticut, you might be able to see some of the filming locations for the first couple of Friday the 13th movies!

I have personally made road trips to each of the places I have mentions, and I will try to get some photos and entries up soon for the Halloween season!

Rabbit Hash, KY.

Check out Rabbit Hash! This is one little area I have had on my list of places to go to for some time, but I just haven't been able to get there.

We stopped by on a casual day of just driving around. We were told that the town is tough to get into on a Sunday, as bikers fill up the area. There were plenty here on this particular Saturday!

This is a really cool area, right next to the river, and just very casual!

Big Bone Lick State Park, KY.

Kentucky has such a great system of parks. I am really interested in the state parks now.

I know many people make the drive to Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio often. It is such a great area.

I also know that a lot of people have noticed the sign for "Big Bone Lick" state park.

The park is really only a few miles off of the main road. It is easy to get there.

When we walked inside the visitor center, the very friendly and informative staff started chatting with us immediately. This was one of the most informative staffs ever. We were given information on the history of the park and the area. Every question was answered. We were even given directions to Rabbit Hash and to a local restaurant! Oh, and the ranger gave us a very nice map of state parks!

We were told to go check out the bison, as they were close to the main fence. We appreciated the tip off!

The visitor center itself was very nice, with several displays. Check out the mastodon skull! There are other bones and relics on display.

Independence MO.

We stopped by Independence while we were in the Kansas area. This was a great little town well worth a visit.

Frank James spent some time in the jail here. Future President Harry Truman had a first job here at Clinton's (which is still in operation) and some LDS members consider the town to be a very significant place.

We went to the visitor center for the Harry S. Truman Historical Site and had a very nice chat with a ranger there. The ranger had spent several years working at the Arch in St. Louis and talked about the differences in working at the two historic sites. I believe she said that the Arch gets 40,000 visitors a week, while the Truman site gets the same number in a year. The staff at the visitor center were very helpful not just about the Truman sites in Independence, but they were helpful with giving us information about the entire area.

The Temple, connected to the LDS religion is here, and it looks amazing. We actually noticed some other very nicely constructed buildings dedicated to other religions.



There are some very nice antique shops. I found some great older postcards in the area!

A real treat that we found by accident was the Court House Exchange. We had lunch here one day. We were all very happy with the food (I had a perfect Reuben) and the atmosphere was cool.

On the outside from the street, the place looks like any other bar. When you go inside, you go downstairs, and have your meal in an old basement type area. The building has been around a long time, and it is rumored to be haunted. It felt haunted!

This is a fun small town with a lot of history.

Random Thoughts On Friday

Hey, check out the Shaker Village craft fair this weekend:
http://www.shakervillageky.org/

Berea is having their quilt festival this weekend too!

Something cool is going on next weekend at Mammoth Cave (the weekend of August 14th). I heard a little about it on the radio. It looks like they are offering free self guided tours over that specific weekend!

I am starting to get excited about the changing season and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I know there are some ghost walks that you can do now, and some areas will offer them closer to the holiday. Does anyone know of any good ghost walks going on in some of the smaller Kentucky towns? How about Tennessee or Indiana?

I will try to get some ghost walk links up (and maybe some reviews) soon.

Hallmark Visitor Center and Museum-Kansas City

We made several stops while in Kansas City. I have mentioned that we were very impressed.

I was particularly impressed with the class shown by Hallmark, and I wanted to put up a separate blog entry about their visitor center.

We walked in around opening time. In fact, we got there a few minutes early, by our watches, but the very sweet lady watching the desk came and opened the doors.

She enthusiastically told us about the company and the visitor center when we walked through the door. She explained the center and talked about the pride the company was taking in their

100th anniversary.

There were several displays throughout the museum area. I personally enjoyed the old postcards, and seeing some of the other products made by the company.

There is even an area where you can see cards being printed and made. There is a machine where you can make your own gift wrap bow! VERY COOL!


There is a very comfortable theater showing a short film about the company and its artists.


On the way out, our incredible hostess gave us some Hallmark freebies! We left with some postcards and singing cards! The visitor center is admission free, AND they hook you up on the way out!

I would put Hallmark at the top of your "must see" list if you are in the area. The very top.

Postcards: Berea College

The top and bottom postcards are used, and they are both postmarked 1914!!!

The bottom two are both of Phelps-Stokes Chapel. We would see moves and Convos here a lot when I was a student.

The middle card is dated 1953 in writing. It reads:

Student labor built Phelps-Stokes Chapel in 1904; its auditorium accommodates the student body of approximately 1700. The William G. Forest Memorial Chimes are in the chapel tower, and are played several times daily by students.

Postcard: Diamond Caverns, Park City, Ky.