Kentucky Horse Park and Red River Gorge

One day we drove to Lexington. Known as the horse capital of the world, there were many statues of horses.

Just outside Lexington is the Kentucky Horse Park,

with two museums; the International Museum of the Horse

and American Saddlebred Museum, as well as Arabian Horse gallery. We took the trolly ride around the park to see the barns and buildings

There was even a horse cemetery!

It is also the "retirement home" of several champion race horses. Some were featured in the Hall of Champion show, including: . Be a Bono, World Champion 2004

Da Hoss, recordsetting Breeders Cup

Funny Cide, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner

Cigar, winningest horse, Dubai World Cup and voted "Racehorse of the Decade"

Doesn't Be a Bono look like he is wanting to get out and race again?!

We also saw another show, Horses of the World

These Fresian horses danced to music, and was so fun to watch.

I even got a picture of Paul on a horse!!

Other famous race horses honored by statues included Secretariat

and Man o War.

Located closer to the college, we visited the Red River Gorge Geological Area. There are more than 100 arches in the park. The entrance has a 900 ft. narrow one-way tunnel.

Paul let me hike some of the trails and I enjoyed every minute!! This is where I saw the cute little moss head.... ever hear the saying a rolling stone gathers no moss? this one hasn't moved much....

These are the other wonderful rock formations I saw on my hikes.... Whistling Arch

Angel windows

Princess Arch

Chimney Rock Overlook

The road follows along the beautiful Red River

There is so much more to see at the Red River Gorge area, but we ran out of time. One more rock....... Doesn't this rock look like two heads cuddling?

Adjacent to the college was a farm with several horses and colts.... yep, it is horse country, and it is spring!

The other two MMAP couples left Friday, but Paul wanted to finish up a couple of jobs that were started. One of the couples, the Newman's, had a problem loading their car onto their tow trailer, going over the front of the trailer. Ooops!

So Paul got to "play" with the jeep and was able to pull the car back! We said goodbye again, and they left for home in Delaware.

There is still so much to see in the area.... so glad it is close enough, we hope to come back! We left Sunday and stopped in Bardstown, KY, to spend a few days on the way to Indiana.... more later on our stay here.

KY Natural Bridge State Park, country roads

The first weekend here was our 40th wedding anniversary, so to celebrate the day, we went out for dinner at the Natural Bridge State Park. The park was founded in 1895 by the Lexington and Eastern Railroad, a subsidiary of Kentucky Lumber Company. At the time, the only way to reach the park was with a ticket on the railroad. It was donated to the state in 1926. The noon dinner was the Easter buffet and it was a fantastic meal. After dinner, we hiked up to the Natural Bridge.... it was really quite a sight! Larger than I had expected.

There were no railings at the top!

When we got to the top, I showed Paul the alternative route......

but we had more fun the way we went! The trail up and back was a delight.

(including Lover's Leap)

On another weekends while working in Kentucky, we did a bit of "meandering" on some back roads

Saw swinging bridges

and other funky stuff!

We ended up at an Elk Viewing area, but only saw wild horses.

In spite of the ladies working 55 hours during this project, we were able to plan two ladies days out. The first one we shopped at a couple of thrift stores and had lunch out in Jackson, and as usual had a great time of fun. The second day out was more adventurous; we tried to find a craft store that was out in the country....

but when we couldn't find it, we were told it had moved to town. I talked to a local, who was working at the church next to where the store used to be located.

He was there to catch groundhogs that had been destroying the flowers. He only kills what he can eat... and was surprised I had not eaten groundhog. It is the best meal you can have if you can find one of the old ladies around that know how to cook it right! We learned later the store had actually closed. We did find another craft store in Boonesville to visit. But we saw more interesting things as we drove through the countryside; a bed of flowers,

and a little pioneer village

and stopping in Boonesville to eat at Mel's Diner for lunch!

One weekend the school had an open house for potential students, with Courage as the theme. There was a variety show that night, with cute skits.

and Kentucky band.

Wouldn't you be surprised if you thought this was a ball and it was a real person's head?

as well as games

But also became serious when they showcased their singing groups

and showed the movie "Courage". The college has an impressive 80% rate for graduates going into ministry, which is the primary purpose of the students. It is a privilege to support the work at such an organization.