The Kentucky Trip - A Drive Through The Country

We arrived safely on Jess's driveway at 7 am on Monday morning.  We all fell out of the van and right into bed where we stayed until noon. 

After a shower and some food, we were all feeling much better and ready to see the sights.

Our group was pretty big so we piled into two cars and headed off for a drive.  Western Kentucky and Tennessee really is pretty country and the drive was beautiful.

I enjoyed the company of my three favorite ladies in the van.

The beautiful Miss. Emily hitch a ride with us.  Man, I miss this child.

Sassy McSassy, AKA Heidi actually smiled for this picture.  Amazing.

And the always charming, Makayla, took in the view from the back seat.

Heidi and Emily had some Silly Bandz to hold their interest.  They spent the better part of the drive fashioning them into sandals.

Have you heard of Silly Bandz?  They are apparently the newest craze among the early teen set.  Tweens?  They have been banned in a number of schools because the kids trade them and it causes all sorts of ruckus.

But they kept these preschooler occupied so I figure they did their job.

We ended up at Reelfoot Lake which is a lake in Tennessee.  According to Wikipedia, it's a swampy lake that connects water basins.  The largest is Blue Basin.  This lake was created by the New Madrid earthquakes in 1811 and 1812.  They say the Mississippi River flowed backward to fill it.

Whatever happened, it's a cool lake and has lots of wildlife hanging around.

We stopped at a wild life center where the kids picked up goody bags stuffed with tons of stuff they didn't need.  Inside we found some really cool stuff (and air conditioning!!).

This exhibit had a sign that said "Please Touch!"  so we did!  There was a molted snake skin, a few turtle shells, and different types of antlers. 

The peas were so happy to be reunited for a few days.  I think the only time they were not this close was when they were sleeping.

Heidi commented on how great it was they found all these animals after they died.  Yep.  That's what happened.

An American Bald Eagle.

An Osprey.

The center was tiny but packed full of animals on display.  It was very interesting and I think we all enjoyed it.

After we were all freezing from being in the nature center, we ventured outside for a walk on the path.

It was so hot, our shoes were melting. 

We followed the path to a small pond and then a trail to this larger pond.  It was less than a quarter mile walk but we were all melting and decided to head back to the cars and lunch.

 But before we could go I needed a group shoot.  Since we were the only people crazy enough to be outside on this day there was no one around to take the photo, so I am not in it. 

Here's who is, from Left to Right:
Shawn, Makalya and Emily, Jess, Austin, Willy, Austin hiding behind Ryan and Heidi.  And my now warm and flat A&W root beer.  Oh, and Mr. Sticky, the very large poking stick in Heidi's hand.

We all dripped our ways back into the cars and headed for a nice lunch at Ryan's Buffet.  We spent the rest of the evening hitting balls at the baseball field and walking laps on the track.  I forgot my camera at the house, bummer! 

The heat never broke that evening, it was in the high 90's with insane dew points all day and continued after the sunset.  I am pretty sure we all sweated away 10% of our body weight but it was a fun day with wonderful people which always makes it worth wile!