I just can’t stay away..

After only being gone from Kentucky for two months, I just can’t seem to stay away. Back in July, I made a whirlwind of a trip down to Parkers Lake and just last weekend, I went back. But this time, I had a 3 day weekend thanks to our Labor Day holiday, so I got to spend even more time in KY.

The trip started with me driving out to Roanoke, IN to pick up my former roommate and good friend, Ann. We then proceeded to make the 6 hour drive to Parkers Lake, KY. We left around 10:30 on Saturday morning, and should have gotten to Parkers Lake by 4:30; however, we happened to run into a little car trouble…we got a flat tire!! Thankfully, though, a nice KY man flagged us down and we were able to make it to a truck stop without blowing the tire. And go figure, the truck stop had a tire repair shop, so we were able to patch the tire and be on our way in an hour. God is so good!!

Well, we arrived in Parkers Lake fashionably late, but were still greeted by two of our good friends that we worked with. It was really good to see them. That night, we also made it to the Cumberland Falls ’square’ dancing night and got to see even more people that we knew. And the best part (at least for me) was that we made it right at the end of the dancing, so I didn’t have to get out on the dance floor – oh happy day!

On Sunday, we went to Grace on the Hill church and got to hear some amazing music and an awesome message by Pastor Tim. I really do miss that church. I would love to be able to move it and transplant it here in IL . After church, Ann and I stopped at our favorite ice cream place which is the Brown Cow – got to love their twist (a.k.a stacked) ice cream. After our ice cream, we headed on up to Jackson County for the BBQ that the Jackson House was hosting. It was a little weird seeing all the new volunteers, but at the same time very cool. I am still in awe at how so many people give a year of themselves to serve with CAP – it truly is awesome. At the BBQ, I also got to spend some time catching up with my good friends, Jenny, Jenna, and Shannon. Jenna and Shannon will be ending their volunteer time in the next few months, but Jenny has stayed on for another year. I so incredibly happy for her.

The best ice cream in Corbin, KY

After the BBQ, Ann and I made a second trip (yes, second!) to the Brown Cow and enjoyed another twist cone! We then attempted to see the Moonbow again (we missed seeing it on Saturday night by 30 minutes) but it was a bit too cloudy for it.

On Monday, Ann went to visit another friend and I decided to just relax in the trailer. It was like old times, me laying on the couch reading a book and listening to the falling rain. It was great. Somedays, I really do miss that trailer!

Around 12, we hopped back in the car and made the trip back home, but of course not without one last stop at Cumberland Falls. Oh and the Mellow Mushroom – yea for pizza!

Again, a great trip to Kentucky and another reminder to me that I really do love that state! And of course, I am already planning another trip back down..I am thinking perhaps November

Rainbow at Cumberland Falls

Peace.

Cumberland Gap

For all those that read my blog, I am terribly sorry that I have not posted in over a month. These past few months have definitely been a whirlwind for me. I want to fill everyone in on what has been happening this summer, but before I do that, I want to tell you all about this past weekend which included a trip to the Cumberland Gap! For those of you that don’t know, the Cumberland Gap National Park has the spot where you can stand in 3 states at once. Here I am standing in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.

After spending ten months in KY, I was never able to make it to the Gap until now – it was well worth the wait! So, last Friday, I headed back down to KY after work (for those of you who don’t know, I am back in IL) to hang out with my fellow roommate, Ann! I arrived on Saturday morning, we chatted for a bit, and then along with Alex headed to the Gap. It is about 1 1/2 hours away, so it gave us plenty of time to catch up.

So we get to the park, get directions on which trail to take to get to the famous spot and off we go. Of course, Alex and Ann make me lead the hike…bad idea! We hike for about a mile and never find the famous spot and soon we find ourselves right back to the beginning of the trail. And this is why I never lead hikes! Well, apparently, we had missed a sign that said ‘The GAP’ with an arrow pointing in another direction. Nonetheless, we started on the trail again and followed the sign. Here’s a pic of me at the beginning of the trail the second time around.

Well, we made it the second time and the view from the top was awesome and it was also pretty neat to be standing in 3 states at one time. We were also lucky enough to eat lunch up there without anyone bothering us. I ate in Virgina, Ann ate in Kentucky, and Alex ate in Tennessee – it was pretty humorous.

After eating our lunch in different states, we decided to drive to the Pinnacle Overlook located in the Cumberland Gap National Park. More amazing scenery even though it was cloudy.

Being away from Kentucky for a month has made me realize even more just how beautiful Kentucky is and how blessed I was to be able to spend so much time there!

The rest of the weekend included dinner at the Mexican Restaurant, late night chatting, church on Sunday, and lunch at Dino’s. Oh and the Brown Cow which has the best ‘twist’ icecream cones in Kentucky. The weekend went by way too fast and I definitely could have spent another day or two or five there, but I am so grateful for the two days I did have!

And a HUGE thanks to my ‘peeps’ for making this weekend an amazing one (you know who you are ).

Peace.

The end to my Florida Road Trip

I am finally back home in IL after 6 fabulous days on the road. My last day in Florida couldn’t have been any better – the skies were clear, the temperature hovered around 80 degrees, and the ocean was extremely calm. I spent the entire morning and afternoon laying on the beach and reading the book, Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen. I also managed to take a two hour walk along the shores of Daytona. It was such a peaceful and relaxing day

On Tuesday, my friend and I made our way back to IL. We ended up spending the night at my volunteer house. Oh, how I miss Parkers Lake! Wednesday was more driving – I officially made it back to McHenry around 6 pm – just in time to ring in the New Year with my family.

All in all, I could not have asked for a better way to end 2008!

More hiking at Cumberland Falls

This weekend, my good friend came down to visit. It was so nice to be able to show him where I live and work! I introduced him to life in the trailer, wonderboard, and of course Soup Beans. We also did some hiking at Cumberland Falls, Eagle Falls and Natural Arch. Below are a few pictures from our adventures.

Cumberland Falls

Eagle Falls

An overlook on Falls Road

Our Trail Guide at Natural Arch

Enjoying the weekend at Dollywood!

This past weekend, I finally had the opportunity to go to Dollywood. For those of you unfamiliar with Dollywood, it is a theme park located in Pigeon Forge, TN and is literally in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The park is filled with numerous roller coasters, amazing shows (my favorite was the Smoky Mountain Christmas, food (the cinnamon bread is the best), and of course plenty of Dolly memorabilia. 

While the weather was less than desirable and I didn’t get to see Dolly, I had a great time. Dollywood is now celebrating the Christmas season and has all of its decorations up and all of the shows are now Christmas themed, which of course I absolutely loved! It totally got me into the Christmas spirit  

Thanks to my BFF for hanging with me and showing me around the Dollywood town- you rock my friend!!

Here’s a youtube video of part of my favorite show at Dollywood – The Smoky Mountain Christmas. The picture quality is not that great, but it still works:

 And then of course, I couldn’t leave Dollywood without a picture:
 

Me at Dollywood

New favorite – Bluegrass music!

Feet stompin’, hands clappin’, bodies shaking, people singing and praising the Lord – it was all part of my evening last night as I attended my first ever Bluegrass festival in Whitley City. The festival runs from Thursday till Saturday and my friends and I decided to attend Friday night, which was Gospel Bluegrass night. Boy was I in for a treat!! There were 7 different bands: Jeff Bryant, Marcus Neal, Kathy Joy Bell, Mavis (Neal) Hughes, Soul Pickers (my favorite), The Cupps, and Bluegrass 101.

All of the bands were fantastic, but my favorite were the Soul Pickers. Never would I have thought, I would have liked Bluegrass music, but surprisingly, I do! I was dancing and singing along with everyone else. The people here in Kentucky sure do enjoy their music. This will definitely not be my last Bluegrass festival!

Here are some pictures from the evening:

My favorite band of the evening - Soul Pickers

Allen and I at the Bluegrass festival

The stage!

The entrance to the festival

A little camping adventure

Well, I survived my first camping adventure at Natural Bridge Park here in Kentucky. For my first trip, I think it went extremely well. We had great weather, although it was a little warm at night, a great camping spot, and beautiful scenery!

The trip actually started a little rough, when the guys told us girls that the nearest bathroom would be over 20 minutes away. Many of us were not too pleased to hear that, myself included. I don’t need first class facilities, but a bathroom close by would be nice. As it turned out though, there was actually a bathroom within a five minute walk. So, it all worked out!

When we got to the camp site, we promptly set up our tents, since it was getting dark. Here is a pic of me at my tent.

After we set up camp, we built a campfire and had some smores and good conversation. Then it was off to bed for me and surprisingly, I had a great night of sleep.

The next day, we got up and decided to head over to the actual Natural Bridge. We had to hike about a mile to get there – not too bad. Below is a pic:

It was absolutely beautiful at this park, definitely a place I will be returning to at some point.

Overall, my first camping experience was a good one and something I will hopefully have the opportunity to do again. But this time, I will make sure that there is a nice clean bathroom around. (Just kidding).

God bless!

Here are a few more pics from the trip:

Off to a little camping adventure

This weekend, I am going to experience camping for the first time! I will be camping at Natural Bridge here in Kentucky. I have never been there, but I have heard it is beautiful, so I am very excited about that.

I’ll have the full scoop on how the trip went along with pictures next week.

And again, please pray for all those that are in the path of Hurricane Ike.

God bless!

Recap of Star Spangled Country Fest

So the Star Spangled Country Fest up in Richland Center, WI turned out to be a blast.  Here is a little synopsis of the weekend. (I have broken it out for easy reading!!)

Thursday:  We left at about 9:00 in the morning and made our way up to WI.  Before we left town though, we stopped at Walmart so my friend and I could get a lawn chair and sunscreen (although I never did use the sunscreen on the trip).  As we made our way up to Richland Center, we stopped at this antique store – it was a nice store, but I can’t say I was ‘wowed’ by it out.  It had some neat things, but nothing I was interested in buying.  About 30 minutes from Richland Center we stopped at this little restaurant (I can’t remember the name) for lunch.  We then checked into the hotel and then headed over to the park.  The first group to go on was The Wreckers – they were supposed to go on at 4:30 but didn’t go on until 5:30 – they claimed to have missed their flight.  Needless to say though, they were really good.  But not ten minutes after they finished their last song, it started to rain and then lightening and then rain harder.  We were all told to leave the park due to the ’severe’ weather.  So, my friends and I just hung out in the car – fun times.  We waited 3 hours – until the storm blew over and then we were all allowed back into the park.  Darryl Worley and Dierks Bentley both performed – they both put on a great show!!

Friday - On Friday, I found a great trail right by the hotel so I went for a nice 5 mile run.  After I got back from the run, we went to the park.  Bobby G. Rice went on first.  I didn’t even know who this guy was and I can see why I didn’t know who he was. He was good, but I definitely did not enjoy his music.  Next up was the group Heartland – they were great! I may even buy their cd.  After Heartland went on, it started to rain once again. Luckily though this time is was just rain and not stormy weather.  Next was Josh Gracin – who is awesome basically for the fact that he is part of the armed forces! He had a great performance – the best part was that he actually went into the crowd and did a song – he was like 3 feet from me!! Jason Aldean went on next – he was good but not my favorite.  And then Blake Shelton went on…what a hoot he is!! He was such a comedian and he isn’t a bad singer either

Saturday – Saturday turned out to be the best day of all.  The weather was perfect  – not a cloud in the sky and I got to see all of my favorite performers – Josh Turner, Chris Young, Billy Currington.  Josh Turner was amazing – he is such a great singer! I could listen to him sing for hours. And while Chris Young is still just an up and coming artist – he did a really good job.  My favorite song of his is ‘Drinking me lonely’.  I was totally psyched to see Billy Currington - but apparently he was sick because he performed for 30 minutes and then completely stopped his performance and walked off the stage.  We were told later that he wasn’t feel well.  I would have liked him to perform longer, but the 30 minutes I did see him was pretty good.  

Sunday – Drove home  

Overall it was a great four day weekend – it was a mini-vacation that I definitely needed!!! So if anyone reading this likes country, but doesn’t want to spend a fortune (like at Country Thunder) I highly recommend going to the Star Spangled Celebration at Richland Center, Wi.  I know I will be going back there!!

Country Fest in T-24hours

In less then 24 hours, I will be well on my way to Richland Center, WI for their Star Spangled Celebration (It is a huge country festival).  I will be up there for 4 days – Thursday thru Sunday.  The best part of this whole trip is that I get to see my absolute favorite Country Artist – Josh Turner!! Boy, I can not wait  

Here is the breakdown of Country Artists for the Week:

Thursday:
The Wreckers
Darryl Worley
Dierks Bentley

Friday:
Bobby G. Rice
Heartland
Josh Gracin
Jason Aldean
Blake Shelton

Saturday:
Chris Young
Kentucky Headhunters
Billy Currington
Josh Turner
Ronnie Milsap
.38 Special

I make sure to post the full report of the weekend on Monday.