Mariana wanted to visit Andrew but when she looked into the planes, trains, and automobiles options she found that not a lot of folks visit Kentucky so the options were limited, out-of-the-way, and long. Looked like she'd have to drive herself. So I said, "Let's make it a girls' trip!" And we did.
Turns out we drove all that way just to go to IKEA.
Not really. But it did help that we had a mini van and they had a wish list of items for the apartment. So for all of you IKEA cult followers, I have finally been to your favorite place. For the first and last times. I just don't get it. We did have some good bonding time putting everything together with one screwdriver between us. If you don't know what to get Andrew for Christmas, he could use a nice electric drill. Or three.
Anyway, it meant that by the third night, we had a table and chairs to sit upon for eating. Not that we minded standing around up til that point. Not at all.
While Andrew worked, he sent us off to the Red River Gorge with its beautiful natural stone arches.
We couldn't help but notice the beautiful burnt-orange (reddish) rock.
Hence the name, Red River Gorge.
It only took us halfway through our trek to figure that one out.
Their claim-to-fame is Sky Bridge.
They didn't tell us that we'd be walking through the sky on a stone bridge. Without guardrails or fences. How can that even be legal? I decided to let Mariana try it first. If she made it across, I'd give it a try.
She made it across.
I did, too.
The key is to not think about the drop off on either side.
The next day was a little safer. The Lincoln Museum and Lincoln's log cabin.
They built this whole monument thingie, carefully disassembled the actual cabin, reassembled the actual cabin, made it smaller to fit, dedicated the whole thing, and opened it to visitors.
Then many years later, when technology and science were ready, they tested the wood in the cabin only to find it couldn't possibly have been Lincoln's cabin.
But it was a nice monument around what could-have-been-but-not-quite-Lincoln's-cabin cabin.
And they even had a scaled down model with Braille for Victor. Except we hadn't invited him on this trip.
On my last trip to Kentucky, Andrew and I started the tradition of finding out-of-the-way-southern-BarBQ places to sample. While we deemed last trip's choice to be better food, this place wins in the signage category. You just can't go wrong with potty humor.
And us northerners don't know what we're missing when we refuse to pair archery and BarBQ. They might just have something. Except I was not going to eat my meal facing all those heads.
We also helped Andrew church shop since he has just moved for the third time and he and Sarah need a new church home. I'm all for southern hospitality but this church had too many all-in, full-on, over-the-top huggers for my vote. I'm guessing they don't have a whole lot introverts joining. But I applaud their enthusiasm and obviously it's working for whole lotta folks.
One last meal together before it was time to go. You can't go wrong with Panera. No Bar B Q but also no surprised or dead deer on the walls. Even in Kentucky.
We enjoyed a nice meal together, minding our own business, when I noticed the woman at the table next to us eyeing us up.
As she and her husband finished their meal, she approached us with what we initially thought was that southern charm until she said, "Are ya'll from another country?" The thoughts that went through our heads at that point...
Mariana politely pointed out that no, we were just from Pennsylvania.
Oh.
Maybe she should have been more specific.
We thought she understood that we hadn't needed our passports to arrive in her part of the world and we continued to have a nice but unusual conversation about Mariana's hair and our skin tone, and were Andrew and Ana twins?
As she walked away she cheerily announced, "Welcome to America!" We were very confused.
Thank you, ma'am, we very much enjoyed our stay in your delightful country.
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