Boonville, Bunceton and Warm Springs Ranch

Today was a rather calm day compared to the last week.  The only thing we HAD to do today was go to Warm Springs Ranch to see the Budweiser Clydesdales.  Poor us...

Bales walks the tracks at the
Boonville Visitor's Center/
former Union Station

We started out this morning in downtown Boonville trying to figure out where the old Harned home is in Bunceton.  Nobody seemed to know, so they told us to go over to the old Jail and Hanging Barn and ask the Friends of Cooper County.  We were out of time, so off to Warm Springs Ranch we went, with the intent to come back afterwards. 








The "W" from the original Budweiser sign in St. Louis

Warm Springs Ranch is the breeding grounds for the Budweiser Clydesdales.  We learned ALL about how the Clydesdales are taken care of, bred, raised, hitched, etc.  It was fascinating, informative, and a great deal of fun. 

Sizes of horseshoes



Bailey holds a Clydesdale horseshoe

We were amazed at how large the horses really are...








We even got to meet a couple of the babies - Cobra and Red were their names.  I have no idea which one this is.

And then, the grand finale - as if seeing the babies wasn't exciting enough, we got to pet and be up next to one of their commercial horses (who also used to be a hitch horse), Duke.  Duke stars in many of the Budweiser commercials, including this past year's SuperBowl commercial!

Bailey and Duke - she scratched and petted him - he was a doll!

After Warm Springs Ranch, we headed back into Boonville to meet with the Friends of Cooper County about the Harned house.  They didn't know either, but we found some very vague information on a plat map there, so we headed down to Bunceton anyway. 

Bunceton water tower in front of the High School

After driving around for a short while, we stopped and asked some "old timers", who gave us all kinds of conflicting information, but we went on the wild goose chases anyway.  We spent a great deal of time in the local cemetery taking photos of all of the Harned headstones.  Then we drove around looking for Walnut Rows Farms.  We never found it, and on one last run through town (blink and you'll miss it!), we stopped at the Post Office (which is only open for a couple hours once a week), then went to the Bank of Bunceton - where we met a cousin.  Who told us the Harned home burnt down a few years ago, and nothing is left.

Bunceton is kind of sad - it is run down, no major businesses to mention, and deteriorating quickly.  It is still a farming town.

Downtown Bunceton, MO - the post office is in front
of the mailbox.  It was closed. 

Oh well.  We were tired.  And hot.  And the Russell Stovers ice cream parlor was calling us...so off we went.  We ended our day doing some site seeing along the Missouri River, and then back to the hotel to pack for our flight home tomorrow night!

St. Louis to Boonville

Today started out with a quick stop to the Gateway Arch, otherwise known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which also includes the Old Courthouse where the Dredd Scott decision was made.  The Gateway Arch grounds are under construction, so the pictures are not great. Bailey got her National Park Service stamps, and off we went to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site where she got more stamps in her passport.  

We then drove to Boonville, MO, near where my Grandpa Adkin was born and raised (Bunceton, MO is where he is from).  Tomorrow, we are off to Warm Springs Farm where the Bud Weiser Clydesdales are bred.  Then off to see the Harned family farm. 

Sorry the post isn't longer, or well formatted, but I'm blogging from my cell phone. 

Paradise, Kentucky

TVA Plant - Paradise, KY

Paradise - by John Prine

When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.





And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

This is a photo I found on the internet
of Airdrie Hill (no owner info given). 
It was not a prison, but a foundry. 
It was, however, built by prison labor,
which is probably where the song
reference comes from

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.











TVA Coal Piles
Paradise, KY

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.








The Green River at Rochester Dam
Muhlenberg County, KY

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.



Efforts are being made by Peabody to
reclaim strip mine sites.  In all fairness, tho,
Peabody is NOT the company that
razed Paradise - TVA did.  But Peabody is
on the other side of the road.

 
 
 
 



And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away









John Prine Boulevard - Drakesboro, KY

Obviously - today we went to Paradise, KY.  Very sad to see that the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) has expanded and is now taking over the old boat ramp, as well as additional lands, possibly encroaching on where Airdrie Hill is known to be - although I don't know for sure - as I've never been willing to bushwack to find it - there's cottonmouths and water moccasins down there.  For some interesting reading, and if you have time - because there are several pages - go HERE. 

A great deal has changed since I was here some 13 or 14 years ago. 

We also went to Mammoth Cave National Park, but the pictures I tried to take in the cave did not turn out at all, so, no pictures. 

However, we did drive to St. Louis for the night...so here's a sneak peak for tomorrow.  Night all

 

Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace and some Harned history!

Today was about sight seeing.  We started our day off in downtown Bardstown, which is in the heart of Kentucky Bourbon country.  We visited the Bourbon marketplace (although we did not sample), and visited a church or two, and quickly decided to move on to what we were really in Bardstown for - to visit the Harned cemetery in Boston, KY.  It took us a bit of time to find the cemetery - it is behind someone's house, and I had been told that it was on a gravel farm road.  So - we put the address in the GPS, and came to this...

Jim Beam's Boston Distillery

So more Bourbon.  Finally, we just stopped and asked someone.  They explained that part of our confusion was that all the mailboxes are on the same side of the road.  It still didn't explain why the GPS thought we should be at the Jim Beam distillery.  Also, the gravel farm road was not gravel at all, but a beautiful, lush grassy sort-of road...

Anyway - we found the Harned cemetery.  My great, great, great and more great grandparents are buried here.

Harned Cemetery, Boston, KY

Bailey and I at the grave of Miriam Comstock Harned,
my fourth great grandmother
Harned Cemetery, Boston, KY

We visited another cemetery at the Boston Christian Church which was full of Harneds.  Mom was told that "Harned, in these parts, is like Smith everywhere else."  We soon tired of looking at graves of Harneds, and we had seen the one cemetery we had wanted to see. 

Off we went to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace for a little history, as well as more stamps for Bailey's National Park Service Passport book. 

Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace - Memorial Building
Hodgenville, KY

The National Park Service refers to the above building as "the original Lincoln Memorial."  Inside of it is this:



Replica of the one room cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born
Hodgenville, KY

Bailey determined that she and I would "not make it in that little cabin.  We need space, man." 

Also at this site is the Sinking Spring, which was the water source which made the Lincoln's decide to build at this site in the first place.  The air was significantly cooler down here, although the humidity did not change. 



Sinking Spring at Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace
Hodgenville, KY



After leaving the Park, we decided to trek up to Shepardsville to go to the Zappos.com outlet.  It was terrible, but someone had to go...

Lastly, tonight, we went to the Stephen Foster Story musical at the Old Kentucky Home State Park.  Stephen Foster wrote the song My Old Kentucky Home, Oh Susanna, Way Down Upon the Swanee River, and many other songs.  Bailey saw her first lighting bugs (fireflies)!

 Busy day, but we have to get to sleep.  Tomorrow is Mammoth Cave National Park - more stamps and a tour of the caverns, then we drive to St. Louis!

Night ya'll!

North Carolina to Kentucky

View from Big Witch Overlook - Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Terribly long day - we decided to go ahead and take the slightly longer way to Gatlinburg and get some extra stamps for Bailey's National Park Passport book.  More driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was stunning, of course, a great visit to Oconaluftee Visitor's Center where they had a Mountain Farm museum (original farm buildings which had all been moved to the Visitor's Center to create the museum), then on to Clingman's Dome  - the highest elevation in the Great Smoky Mountains, then to Sugarlands outside of Gatlinburg, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Pigeon Forge (we did our Tennessee Geocache there), then North to Bardstown, KY.

I'm exhausted, so just pictures tonight...more tomorrow. 

Turk's Cap Lilies with Butterflies - Blue Ridge Parkway 

 

One of the many tunnels along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Bailey in the barn at the Mountain Farm Museum
Oconaluftee Visitor's Center, North Carolina

Bailey next to the Apple Shed at the Mountain Farm Museum
Oconaluftee Visitor's Center



Stunning views of clouds sitting on the mountains at Clingman's Dome
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Bailey in front of the Dollywood Express where we did the "Dolly's Express" geocache
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee





Biltmore Estate and the Blue Ridge Parkway

Biltmore Estates, Asheville, NC

We slept SOOO well last night!  After all that walking, and then swimming, we slept like logs.  Well, Bailey slept like a sprawling log - kind of like a weeping willow, really, but I digress...

We spent our morning and early afternoon at the Biltmore Estate - the stunning mansion built by the Vanderbilts and still owned by the Vanderbilt/Cecil's.  The mansion/estate is magnificent.  We did the Upstairs/Downstairs tour where we learned about the inner workings of a magnificent home (think Downton Abbey life).  We saw the housekeepers rooms, the ladies' maid quarters, the stable and groomsmen quarters, the butler's pantry, the kitchen, and many of the connecting features to the glorious home. 

Gargoyle detail at Biltmore Estate

After the Upstairs/Downstairs tour, we wandered the rest of the Estate on our own, viewing the banquet hall (the table is 40 feet long when fully extended!), the Winter Garden, and the Library (over 10,000 books in 8 different languages).  We saw the swimming pool, which holds 70,000 gallons of water.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs inside.



Bailey by one of the bridges

As we drove away from the big house, we drove through the gardens, farm, and Biltmore Village.  Lovely lakes, streams, and rolling hills. 

Miles of corn and sunflowers

After we left the Biltmore, we decided to take a cruise on the Blue Ridge Parkway - to save time tomorrow (because we are driving to Kentucky tomorrow).  We drove up the Parkway about 20 miles to Craggy Gardens - I don't know how high our elevation was, but it was only 70 degrees outside, and beautiful!  Bailey got another stamp in her National Parks Passport book! 

View of the valley from the Blue Ridge Parkway at Craggy Garden

Another beautiful day, and we're a bit tired.  Bailey and I are going to go swimming, then we'll go get some dinner.  Tomorrow - Bardstown, KY via Gatlinburg, TN and the Great Smoky Mountains. 

Asheville - Arts District and Shopping

Some very, very tall trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway

So after a terrible night of trying to sleep with a 3 hour difference, we finally got up at what would have been 3 a.m. in Phoenix.  We laid around for an hour or two, and decided to go find some bagels for breakfast.  The first Breugger's Bagel had a line a mile long.  So we decided to go "to the other side of the little town" to the other one.  25 minutes later, we are in a not-so-nice area of Asheville, eating bagels.  After eating, we jumped back in the car to head down to go shopping.  We drove out of the parking lot, and out of the hood of the car came this guy. 

 

He was huge.  He's a katydid.  Or she.  Maybe she is a katydid.  It scared me to death.  Over 2 inches long, we pulled over and got out of the car, and it walked all over the car, but didn't want to leave.  It even tried to get behind the automatic mirror.  Finally Mom got him off the car, where it stared at us with irritation until we drove off. 

 

 

We did a ton of shopping today, and a little sight seeing downtown.  We even found a geocache! Here is a picture of a Baptist church I particularly liked:

 

 

After leaving downtown, we headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Folk Arts Center (Southern Highland Craft Guild).  One of the many Ranger Stations is also here. 

 



 

Of course it is absolutely beautiful here.  Lush trees, green grass, beautiful!  We're going to drive more on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Monday, so more to come on that. 

 

Bobbi and Bailey at the Folk Arts Center

 

We decided to end our day at Olive Garden, and on the way there, I saw this plant and I had to take a picture.  I can't even tell you the last time I saw a Snowball Tree.  But it was in my front yard, growing up.  I don't think my Dad liked the tree very much...

 

 



 

 

Great day, long day.  Bailey and I soaked in the pool and Jacuzzi this evening, and it's now time to relax.  Should have a good night's sleep all around.