Sunday, October 6th we drove to La Grange, Kentucky for her to visit with the Marx family.
Hayden surprised Claude with the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann". Years ago Claude shared that song with Hayden and he loved it. This was a cute moment. It even made Claude have a real grin!!
We returned to Sadieville that evening but would be back in La Grange on Wednesday, October 9th.
Monday the 7th was a rest day.
Tuesday, October 8th, we picked up Papa and headed to Natural Bridge in Kentucky. Papa loves this area and we had never driven Bonnie down there. It was a great trip on many levels. We drove back roads to enjoy rural Kentucky. We found a place called Gladie. There was a big tobacco barn there and and very old wood house. The black tobacco barn had one of the quilt patterns on it. Bonnie noticed this on a previous visit and really loved them.
When we got to Natural Bridge it was a definite we would not hike up to the top. However, there is a wonderful ski lift that will take you there. We opted for the ski lift ride.
Then a brief hike to the top of the bridge.
Now, this picture takes a little explaining. We lived much earlier in our marriage in California. Claude was stationed at March A.F.B. near Riverside, California. In Riverside was a mountain named Mt. Rubideaux. At the top was an enormous statue of Christ. In a most irreverant fashion, Claude would re-enact that scene for us. Only Claude and I got it but it brought back memories of long ago days.
Like Mt. Rubideaux, the top of Natural Bridge offers spectacular views.
To actually see the bridge, one must hike up from the bottom to the bridge or hike from the top down to see the bridge. I opted to leave the monkeys on the top of the bridge and hike down by myself to see the actual bridge.
I have to record this bit for my personal history. My father has no fear of heights. From my childhood I remember distinctly him walking right to the very edge of a high cliff when we traveled to the Rocky Mountains to look off the side. No fear at all. However, he is now 85 years old and not steady on his feet. When he stands still he tends to begin to tilt forward and start to fall. When we got to the top of Natural Bridge and I saw we could walk over it I gently held my father's arm and said, "Now Papa, I know you love to walk to the very edge and look over. However, you are not as steady as you once were and I'm not ready to lose you over the edge. Please don't go to the edge but stay in the middle." He assured me he would do just that. And he did...thank heavens.
After enjoying the scenery and my taking time to hike down a bit, we headed back to the ski lift for our trip back down the mountain to our parking spot. Here is a sweet picture of Claude and his mom in their tram car.
We drove down near Berea and Richmond, Kentucky on those lovely back roads. Our hope was to find the iron furnace Claude and I found on his birthday last year. Amazingly we did. Papa and I walked out to it and he walked through part of the inside to see how it worked. Bonnie and Claude stayed by the fence at the parking lot. Bonnie and Papa were just as fascinated with it as Claude and I were.
Wednesday, October 9th, Claude had an early morning Chamber of Commerce meeting. While Claude took care of business, Bonnie and I opted for breakfast at Fava's in Georgetown. Claude would join us as soon as he finished his meeting. I ordered pancakes. Now, I don't like syrup on my pancakes. I opt for extra butter instead. When our server asked for our orders, I told her I wanted pancakes with no syrup but extra butter. She brought me six, count them, six, packets of butter. I did manage to put one between the two layers and one in the center of the top pancake. Then I spread two more on the three pancakes. I found it poetic that our salt and pepper shakers were piggies and that happened to be where my butter wrappers ended up.
After breakfast we headed to Louisville. Our destination...MegaCaverns. Years ago these caverns were formed when limestone blocks were mined underground. They are enormous. They cover a land mass under the Watterson Parkway and from there all the way under the Louisville Zoo.
They are deep. To be used by the public they have to be filled in so it is not so deep from floor to ceiling. There are businesses who rent space in the caverns and their offices are built into the caverns. Some are document storage businesses and the Pod storage units. There is a visitors center and gift shop. They have a rope climbing area outside the visitors area. These would be great fun to play in. They also have Zip Lines in some of the caverns that have not been filled in. We took the tram tour through the caverns.
After our MegaCavern tour we headed back to La Grange to play with the Mini's again. Bailey modeled her Halloween costume. She was an Egyptian princess.
After a play at the park, we tried to get some generation pictures. It was the end of the day and clearly toward the end of picture taking, Miss B was worn out. Still love having these pictures. They are a moment in time.
Thursday was a day at home. Saturday would be the Friends of Sadieville Chili Cook-off combined with the Sadie'Hill' Bike Tour. Claude and I would miss it. But we needed to leave chili and cookies to help with the event. I baked three huge batches of cookies giving me plenty to take some to Papa, take a big container to Michigan and leave lots for the Chili Cook-off. Claude made two crock-pots of chili. We all packed and got ready for our trip to Michigan.
Friday we were off to Michigan. We planned to leave in the middle of the day to make the five hour drive the Chelsea to pick up Jake. I went into Georgetown in the morning to visit with Papa, take him his cookies and be sure he was okay for while we were gone. When I came home the warning light was on in my car saying I had air pressure problems in my tire. I told Claude when I got home and he went out to check the pressure before we left. Sure enough, the pressure in the driver's side rear tire was way low. When he went to put air in it he found a nail. Goodness!!!
I called Frank Shoop and asked if they could work me in to fix the tire. They were short handed and said I could come but would have to be patient as they fit me in. I told them we would take our air pump that works from the cigarette lighter and pray for the best. Off we went with that prayer that the tire would hold. It did. It seemed the nail filled the hole enough to allow only a slow leak.
Between Cincinnati and Dayton Claude noticed a sign for a Jack in the Box restaurant. When we lived in California this was a favorite place to take our little children for a burger. Loved the Jumbo Jack. Claude made a unilateral decision and whipped off I-75 and into Jack in the Box. We headed inside for a quick lunch break. This is what we found.
That's right folks, we encountered a kiosk instead of a person at the counter. There was a little line but we were doing okay on time. We figured out the kiosk and placed our order. I headed to find a booth and told Claude what soda I wanted with my meal. Claude and Bonnie stayed in line. After a bit they joined me with the drinks, no meal. I told Claude I only saw one person working the window, the counter and making food. Then I saw another person around a corner helping make food. Bonnie was able to see a couple more people. No one was getting their food. Then a couple two place in front of us got their food and sat down to eat. It seems a man came in from a work site and placed an order at the counter for 100 tacos to go. Yep, that is 100 tacos at 12:30 in the middle of lunch. No calling ahead to warn them. In addition, a lot of the workers at Jack in the Box had not shown up for work that day. I was amazed at the manager that stayed so polite. The man in front of us started to rail on her to give him four of the tacos they made for the 100 taco order. She assured him the taco order guy had been in line for 20 minutes and they must finish his order before they did any others. I'm thinking the first tacos they made must have been really soggy by this time. Eventually we got our lunch and found the Jumbo Jack was not really as good as we thought it was. They gave Claude something to get a free meal for each of us the next time we came in. I'll just state here we did not go back on our way home. We just chuckled at the memory as we drove past. Okay, we are now a hour behind from waiting for our lunch. That's okay, we would get there.
Outside of Dayton we ran into a wall of traffic. Never found out the problem. All lanes of I-75 were stopped. As we continued to sit everyone started turning off their vehicles, even the long haul truckers. The man in the car next to us got out and cleaned out his trunk while we waited. I finished a lot on the baby afghan I was crocheting. The man next to us asked us what kind of pizza we wanted, he was considering ordering pizza. We laughed. People were driving up the left side of all the lanes along the middle barrier trying to get ahead. People were getting out and walking along the sides to see what the problem was. Then, suddenly the big trucks started up, the cars started up and we began to move. The comedy was watching all those people walking turn and run for their cars farther behind us. As we all drove forward one lady was really running down the outside of all the lanes. I could only hope that the car she was looking for was in the outside lane. There was even a car that had given up and turned around and was driving the wrong way on the left hand shoulder. What a zoo. And, another hour lost.
At this point I kept sending Jake text messages so he would know we were running a little late and could gauge when we would arrive. They were short clipped messages giving a landmark. When we pulled up in front of his apartment, I said something like "In front of your apartment, now!!" I was intending to express satifaction at having finally made that drive. Jake read it as, "Get out here NOW!! Such is the silliness of digital communication.
We loaded Jake in the car and headed to Muskegon with a stop near Lansing at Cracker Barrel where Jake bought us dinner.
Saturday, October 12th, we went first to Port City Automotive where Todd could look at our tire and give us his assessement. Nissa was able to get first hugs with her Gramma. Then we got Katelyn, Paul and Aubrey and went to The Pita Place for lunch. After lunch we spent the afternoon playing Apples to Apples. We ended with singing around the piano. Even our Paul sang two solos. My heart was full.
Nissa and Todd got home from work and Nissa played the piano and sang for us a bit. Then we all headed to Mango's for dinner. This is Nissa and Todd's favorite place and it is usually a place they go to alone. They called earlier in the day and reserved a table for us in the back. It was a delicious meal and we enjoyed the time for food and conversation.
Sunday, October 13th, Nissa wanted to hit the punkin' patch. With Katelyn working and doing college, Nissa doesn't get all three kids home at the same time very often. They have hit that point in life. Katelyn managed to have the entire weekend off. So we all loaded in the Tyler van and our car and headed through the Michigan countryside. Todd led the way and we followed. Bonnie would get to see some fall color. Gorgeous drive.
We totally enjoyed this pumkin patch. Can't remember the name of the place. They have a bison herd and two herd of elk as well as some other farm animals. Jake and I would take a walk out through the countryside to see the animals and take pictures. The one picture is Katelyn and Paul running toward the pumpkin patch.
I loved this walk with my son. That just doesn't happen often enough for me. I do enjoy that kind of time with my kids.
Then Todd had one more treat for us. He knows a river that has a small dam in it that the salmon jump up to get up stream. The huge numbers of salmon really ran a couple of weeks before we were there but he was hoping we still might see some stragglers. What a lovely place. There is a big area which is full of fishermen when the salmon are really running.
There is a walk across the dam and we spent a good deal of time on it watching for the salmon. We did see some and marveled at their will to swim against that water and then jump over the dam. There is a lovely deck area off to the left of the picture above. We used it for some family photos.
How important and nice to have these family moments when we live so very far apart. Building memories to last a lifetime and beyond.
Sunday afternoon late we left to take Jake back to Chelsea. We would spend the night in Chelsea and return to Sadieville Monday.
Tuesday would be a down day with the exception of an evening meeting for Claude. Bonnie and I were invited. It was a time for the community to come and meet and ask questions of their Mayors and the County Judge Executive. Claude was there as the Mayor of Sadieville. He was eloquent. It was a treat for Bonnie to watch her son in action. She was a happy mom.
Wednesday, Claude took Bonnie back to the airport for her trip home. She had a good visit and got to be with all her family that reside in the middle of the United States. And, after all, that was the whole point.
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