Hey, ya'll! We've got some catching up to do! My apologies, I'm going to cover a lot of ground in this post to fill you in on the last six weeks 😮. When we left Nashville in mid-April we went to Kentucky. We stayed at
Taylorsville Lake State Park outside Louisville, KY which put us in the middle of the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
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| Our first stop on the KY Bourbon Trail. |
We did tours of the Bulleit and Heaven Hill distilleries and visited Maker's Mark distillery as well. We enjoyed the tours, but preferred the tastings at the end of the tour 😀. Let's see if I can remember a few things I learned on the tours: bourbon doesn't have to be made in Kentucky, but 95% of it is because the limestone in the water and the 4 seasons make ideal conditions for making and aging bourbon, in order to be considered a bourbon whiskey the mash must contain at least 51% corn, and bourbon is aged in oak barrels that have been burned/charred on the inside. All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Another interesting fact is that women and millennials make up the largest growing demographic of bourbon drinkers.
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| Vendome copper pot still - the premier and most popular choice for distilling for the last 100 years |
We left central KY and headed east to
Yatesville Lake State Park in Louisa, KY. The standout feature of this campground was the affiliated
Eagle Ridge Golf Course. This was a remarkable course. The pictures in no way capture the heights of this course. The cart path was more like a roller coaster ride, with soaring vertical inclines and descents. It was such a challenging course that we quickly stopped keeping score and decided to just focus on having any balls left when we finished playing. There was only one hole that you could see the green from the tee and that was only because it was a 300 yard drop off down to the green.
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| Magnificent views |
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| Just a few sand traps... |
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| Edge of the tee, 300 yards above the green. |
My take-a-way about Kentucky was that it was gorgeous. I regret that I didn't take more pictures because I kept saying, "It's so beautiful here. It's so green... so lush... so peaceful". From KY, we drove northeast, spending one night in West Virginia and continuing on to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Frederick, MD. We spent a fun-filled weekend together at the end of April, including this trip to Bryan Voltaggio's (of Top Chef fame) VOLT. We are so grateful to have such a close relationship with Scott and Karen, and love our time together so much 💖.
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| Scott, Carol, Karen and Kelly at VOLT in Frederick, MD |
We arrived back in New York at the end of April and stayed at our beloved sister/in-law Kathy's house until the campground we were staying in opened on May 3rd. We spent almost 3 weeks in May at
Ledgeview RV Park in Lake George. We loved this location, and found it an ideal base of operations to attend to family social events and responsibilities.
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| Looking into our site from the road. |
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| Our site 101 |
This was an excellent opportunity to spend time with family while waiting for it to warm up just a little bit more in Saranac Lake. We were able to celebrate my birthday, Mother's Day, and Maria's birthday with family.
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| Birthday dinner celebration |
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| Dinner with Mom and Dad |
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| Mother's Day Peter, Kelly, Gregory, Alana, Carol, Maria with Jack and David on FaceTime |
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| Gregory, Peter and Aunt Kate doing Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil on Mother's Day |
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| Dean, Gregory, Alana and Maria at Maria's birthday celebration |
We also got to see David play Rugby and attend Alana and Gregory's Art shows at school. It was awesome to get a big dose of FAMILY after being away for six months.
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| David and very muddy Rugby players |
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| A muddy hug for momma after the game. |
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| Gregory in front of his Snowy Day piece. |
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| Alana, Gregory and Maria in front of a couple of Alana's pieces of art
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We came to Saranac Lake on May 22 and brought Stella Lance (aka the camper) to
Happy Camping RV Sales and Service in Vermontville for some maintenance. On Friday, May 24th we arrived at our "summer home" at
Charlie's Inn Junction Campground in Lake Clear, NY. Charlie's Inn is a small campground with 24 sites, occupied primarily by seasonal campers who will stay from May to October. Some folks are full-timers here "permanently" like us, and others come and go from home to camp.
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| Our site 15, at Charlie's Inn Junction Campground |
We are happy to be "home", although these days, home literally is where we park it. But being back means reconnecting with friends, Wednesday Night Ladies League for Carol, book club for me, and getting to enjoy one of the most beautiful places you could ever hope to find. We thoroughly enjoyed our first season on the road. But we are both looking forward to settling in and staying put for a little while. I'll keep you posted on our Adirondack adventures - summer's just around the corner! 😎
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| View of Whiteface and McKenzie Mountain Range from Donnelly's Ice Cream, Saranac Lake |
