Typical Mountaineers Cabin Great Smoky Mountains Tennessee

Here is another great, old, unused postcard showing a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains.

The Hermitage Kitchen near Nashville TN

This beautiful old postcard was sent through the mail in 1940!  The back says, "The kitchen of the Hermitage, Home of General Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the United States, Nashville, Tenn."

Haunted Hikes by Andrea Lankford

Oh man, I have had VERY mixed results with books that have the word, "Haunted" in the title.  Some are really bad and some are good.  I don't want to read another book ever about self proclaimed psychics seeing orbs.

Luckily, Andrea Lankford did not go that route with her VERY WELL DONE book, "Haunted Hikes."  Her book is a really nice written book with lots of great stories of the weird, strange and dark in our National Parks.

Sure, there are some ghost stories here, but the author also gets in to talking about UFOs, Bigfoot, Native American legends, etc.  If you enjoy strange stories in general, this is a great book to pick up!

Andrea writes with enthusiasm too.  She cares about the National Parks and their often unexplained mysteries.  She also gives info on other places to look for more information on these stories (I recognized a lot of sources she brings up).

AND, since the book IS called "Haunted Hikes" she gives hiking suggestions relating to the strange park stories that she tells.

Andrea Lankford gives some very interesting information about strange things happening in the parks...  there are brain eating amoebas, disappearing hikers, criminals, a rock star...  I could really go on and on!

I am a bit late getting around to this one...  It came out nearly a decade and half ago.... but it holds up well and the info is still relevant.  This was a book that I thought might be a fun reference book, but after flipping through it, I ended up reading it straight through and taking notes!  It gets my highest possible recommendation!

"Secret Louisville" by Kevin Gibson

I received "Secret Louisville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure" by Kevin Gibson recently and I really enjoyed this one.,  I find myself in Louisville a lot, and this book included several things that were off of my radar.  AND, the copyright on the book is 2017, so it is a pretty updated book too!

There are the entries you might expect in a book like this (there's a shoe tree, stories about ghosts, and contested food birth sites).  There are some great lesser known obscurities too, like a (staged) crashed airplane, lots of caves and caverns, and cemeteries.

Each entry gets a couple of pages, and there are about 100 entries here, so this is a nice book to pick up if you enjoy exploring Louisville!

Birds in Our Area

Here is a mommy bird taking care of her babies outside of a friends window nearby!

Kentucky for Kentucky and Cocaine Bear in Lexington Kentucky

We stopped by the Kentucky for Kentucky shop in Lexington recently to see Cocaine Bear.  he is there, and you can get a good look at him if you stop by!  if you aren't familiar with him, google him.

They have some great, unique items here too, like shirts and stickers.

They are also selling bottled Kentucky souvenirs that I will just call questionable and leave it at that.  I love weird stuff, but there are certain things I would not allow in my home...  and they are selling some things along those lines.

Still, I like what they are doing and you should stop by!  They do have a smaller location at the Summit.

Pioneer Playhouse in Danville KY

Hey, I wanted to mention Pioneer Playhouse in Danville again!  They are on their 70th season!  So far, we have been to each performance and had a great time at each one.  Get out there early just to look around at their props and buildings outside of the theater.

The plays have been lots of fun this year!  They did a play about King Kong earlier, and it was great.  It was sort of a secondary story going on while the original Kong movie is happening.  It worked great and they even got Kong's hand on stage!

The Henson family is really continuing a great tradition!

Common Grounds Coffee on Richmond Rd in Lexington KY

 Hey, one of my favorite downtown Lexington coffee shops just added a second location on Richmond Rd!  Its a little hidden but I'm glad its there!  Look for it near the Ollie's Outlets.

They have great coffee and friendly staff.  There are some tables inside, but they have a convenient drive thru too!

Agave and Rye in Lexington KY

 Man, if you are on Nicholasville Rd in Lexington, definately stop by the mall to check out Agave and Rye!

It's located where Newk's used to be (I LOVED that place too and hated to see it go) but this taco place is a great addition to the area!  It is also my new favorite restaurant.

My wife had a work meeting here the other day and loved it!  AND, she usually doesn't like Mexican food.  For her to rave about tacos is a big deal!

The restaurant is clean, slick and attractive.  There are funky cool images all over the place.  It's one part steampunk, one part Day of the Dead, and one part bees (it works).  This is original.

the food is original too.  They have "Epic Tacos" on the menu.  You can choose from nearly 20 unique ones, and they are each priced differently, starting at around $4.50.  Some of the more unique ones (one has lobster on it, and one has kangaroo!) are around $10.  Two were plenty for me, and I had the "Hell Yeah" (crispy chicken breast, sweet and spicy bacon, pimento cheese, pineapple slaw and dill pickle- $6).  I also had the "Bang Bang (crispy Cauliflower, corn fritters, queso, and spicy crispy carrots- $4.50).  We also shared chips with salsa which was $4.

The chips were thick and very different.  The tacos all come in a hard shell AND a soft shell.  The soft shell really does a nice job of holding it all together.  The tacos were crazy good and unique.  This is something special.

We had a great waitress (I believe her name is Erin) who kept the refills coming, checked on us a lot but not too much, and she boxed our leftovers up!


 Check out the photos and get there when you have a moment!

Martine's Pastries in Lexington KY

 We have been fond of Martine Holzman for a long time!  She has done several cakes for us over the years, and she has really set up a nice shop in downtown Lexington!

Martine's Pastries is in a nice location, and it has a nice, coffee shop vibe, though the word is out!  It can get crowded, but I think most of the friendly locals will share their tables.

We have stopped here a few times lately and it has a really nice vibe going.  They have great coffee, and ANYTHING you eat here will be nice.  AND you can have them make a nice cake for your next party (I've included a picture of one we bought recently).

West Side Story at the Lexington Opera House

 I was able to catch a performance of "West Side Story" in downtown Lexington at the Lexington Opera House!

This was my first time catching an event at this venue, though I am near it at least once a week.

I honestly wasn't expecting much.  I think I might have had community theater, or something like that in mind, but this was the real deal!  Flipping through the program I saw that some of the actors actually had BROADWAY credits!  The two leads were absolutely amazing and the live music was simply perfect.  The talent, and the quality of the production really impressed me.  I cannot image a production of this musical with more talent- it was polished and simply came off flawlessly.

The theater itself is amazingly preserved.  It IS an old theater, and it feels that way.  We had cheap upper deck seats, in the back row.  It was cramped, and the stage was hard to see (we could not see all of it).  Next time, I will pop for better seats, but we still truly enjoyed the performance even from our perspective!

Crank and Boom Ice Cream in Lexington Kentucky

I want to mention Crank and Boom Ice Cream in Lexington Kentucky.  LOVE this place!

I have had their ice cream here and there...  But we stopped by the location at the Summit in town the other night, and I had about the best ice cream concoction EVER!

I had a few scoops of ice cream in a cup, and then espresso poured over it!

This is seriously my new favorite dessert anywhere.  Go there!  GET ONE NOW!!!!

Holiday Drive-In in Reo Indiana

Hey, I took a photo as I passed by the Holiday Drive-In in Reo Indiana!

I saw several movies here when I was growing up in Owensboro!  Glad to see its still up and running!

River City Coffee in Evansville Indiana

We stopped by the very bright and open coffee shop in downtown Evansville called River City Coffee.

They have great staff here, good coffee, AND they sell cool local merchandise.  If I lived in Evansville, this would be my hangout!

This is a great, vibrant coffee shop in a great area!

USS LST 325 in Evansville Indiana

I took a few photos from the outside of the LST 325 ship in Evansville Indiana.  I took my disabled Vietnam Vet father with me, and they were not able to accommodate him on a tour.

There were other issues here too.

I know the ship and tours are ran by volunteers, and I understand the stressors of running a non-profit.  I did send an email to them expressing my disappointment.  I did receive what I thought was a sincere email apologizing for the situation.

I don't want to be too critical of a non-profit trying hard to keep a mammoth piece of history alive, and I may try to give the ship another visit some other time.

Downtown Evansville Indiana

I hadn't been through downtown Evansville Indiana in years!  I drove through recently and remembered how attractive it is down there!