Ol' Kentucky: Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace

We stayed with Forrest's dad and brothers for a couple of weeks in July last summer about 45 minutes outside of Louisville.

I'm just going to come right out and say it: if you're not really into horses, there's not a whole lot to do in Kentucky in the middle of summer. It's too hot to do anything outdoors except swim (for this PNW girl at least) and there aren't any clean rivers or lakes nearby (less than an hour drive). We did go to Kentucky Kingdom, a waterpark located right outside of Louisville, but the only day we could go ended up being one of the coldest days of our entire trip (~65-75).

Forrest had been promising me forever to go and see Abraham Lincoln's birthplace when we went to Kentucky. We somehow didn't get a chance when we were there six months before, but this time I was determined. We chose an extremely muggy day to go with even a few scattered showers. Notice that I am in jeans because it was even a little chilly that day! There weren't very many people there (maybe because of the weather) but I can't imagine that it's ever very crowded.

The cabin is protected inside a large mausoleum.

I couldn't actually get a picture of the whole cabin because I only brought my 50mm lens and it was pretty close quarters inside. But you get the idea.

Abraham is the baby.

"Here over the log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born destined to preserve the union and to free the slave. A grateful people have dedicated this memorial to unity, peace, and brotherhood among these states."

There is a lovely grotto built around the old well or the Sinking Creek as it is called. Once you step down inside the walls, all you can hear is the trickling water. There are trees all around the top and it is very serene and gorgeously green.

It only takes an hour or so to watch the introductory video at the visitor's center (worth watching in my opinion), have a short chat/tour with a ranger up the trail, see the cabin, and walk the whole trail around which is about half a mile. Forrest and his brothers had already been to Lincoln's birthplace and warned me that it wasn't very exciting, but obviously I wanted to see it anyway. From there, we traveled the few miles to Abraham Lincoln's childhood home (which doesn't exist anymore). Basically it's a big field with another little cabin (below) that may have belonged to a neighbor which was moved to where the Lincolns' cabin was thought to have been.

This building above was some sort of historical tavern/visitors center that is no longer open. I think it had a renovation sign on the front and they are intending to fix the floors and the structural integrity of the beams, if I remember correctly.

And this is one of the fields belonging to the Lincoln's farm. 

The most interesting thing I learned from this expedition was that Abraham Lincoln's family was not destitute as we are all taught (born in poverty). Rather, his father was actually a semi-wealthy farmer belonging to the middle class! You had to have money to buy your own 300 acres of land (duh). This was a little bit of a shocker to me, but when I saw the cabin up close, it's really not that small, especially if there was a loft (the ceiling is really, really tall!). Seeing the cabin once is good enough for me, but I'm really glad I got the chance to visit.

If ever you're in Kentucky, this is a pretty good afternoon out!

The Dismals (+ the time I saw my first snake!)

This post took me a million years to finish, but it's finally done. My life has sort of been taken up with apartment hunting, but mostly we have just been sitting around waiting for the apartment people to call us back (why must you play with our emotions in this way, apartment people?!). One day feels like a week when a good apartment is at stake. Forrest and I each have at least one meltdown a day and feel like we are probably going to end up living either a)in our car (why didn't we buy a bigger car?) or b) an hour-ish commute from our school. Each way. In traffic.

Anyway, we're still waiting for some calls, so I figured I might as well be semi-productive. 

Brad and Megan and Forrest and I went to the Dismals Canyon: a place that our grandparents and parents (except not Forrest's parents) visited and swam at many a time in their youth. My grandma told me that once she saw a snake there so she never went back. I guess I know where I got my fear of snakes (or I'm just a normal human).

They had a super cute gift shop and cafe with big porches for us to sit on and wait for tours to begin.

We decided to go all out and took the night tour to see the famous dismalites. Dismalites are a type of glow worm very similar to those found in New Zealand and Australia. I didn't take any pictures of the night tour because it was kind of impossible, but they basically just looked like little blue lights (sort of like stars). It was interesting to see because that is really the only place they are found in such a high concentration. 

The next day, we went down into the canyon again to walk around and also to go swimming because the heat + humidity were sweltering.

ALSO, we saw a snake. 

I had never seen a venomous snake in real life before except at the zoo and it was terrifying! I mean, I'm not scared of reptiles in general..or non-venomous snakes like the cute garter snakes in Washington that run  (er.. slither) away from you. It's more the fact that it could KILL ME with no warning that makes me cringe just a little. It didn't actually do anything to us, but I mean it was right next to the trail in a very convenient location to bite an ankle.

After this incident, I made Forrest buy me a snake-bite kit.

The canyon itself was beautiful. There was abundant moss akin to the Pacific Northwest and the bluffs were tall, cracked, and impressive. I saw all manner of colorful fungi, several frogs, a few interestingly colored bugs and one giant yellow butterfly.

We went swimming in the arctic pond at the top of the waterfall and, once we were nice and frozen, we headed down to wade in the mysteriously warmer water at the bottom..and to sit in the waterfall. As you do.

A butterfly landed on my head and wouldn't leave. I had to be extra careful not to dunk my head under water. 

And here we have Forrest trying to get back on the dock for a self-timer photo. I'm sorry to say that none of us were fast enough swimmers to ever beat ten seconds. 

And there you have it. If you're ever in Northwest Alabama, I would highly recommend a trip to the Dismals. It was somehow the first time I had ever been there (?) even though I've spent the majority of my summers only ten miles away. I guess I'll blame my grandma's fear of snakes and the convenience of their pool.

HOME + a really fat chipmunk

Six weeks is a long time to be away from home, but we're finally back. We pulled a 14-hour drive (on a cracked rim, no less--eep!) from Yellowstone yesterday and arrived to a yelping and howling Jasper who was so excited to see us that he ran in circles around us for several minutes and then licked Forrest's legs for several minutes more. It was possibly the best welcome home we've ever had.

We had such a great (and needed) trip. It was so wonderful to see our far away families, but it feels great to be home and settled again. Now we just need to find a place to live in Seattle by the end of September...

I took about a thousand pictures (literally) at Yellowstone over the course of three days. I can't wait to get those up here, but until then, I'll leave you with these:

What you are looking at is a very large and majestic chipmunk. As my sister Megan so aptly put it,"He looks like he swallowed a tennis ball."

I saw this particular chipmunk or "Fat Daddy," as Forrest called him, from a distance while we were eating lunch one day and I wondered out loud how close I could get to him. So I inched closer and closer until I was about a foot away with my face at the same level as his. He looked at me and continued eating with no regard for the clicking of my shutter. Forrest came up to take a picture of me with "Fat Daddy," but as soon as I handed over the camera, the spell was broken. The chipmunk leaned toward me with a gleam in his eye, and I thought for a split second that he was about to leap onto my shoulder and pose for the picture (as is such the charmed life I lead, of course). However, it was not to be and instead he sprang in the opposite direction and disappeared among the rocks. Then I spotted him again, because it is nearly impossible to hide such a girth as his.

He was really, really fat.