Going To Denver
We’re headed to Denver, if all goes well. We weren’t planning on going to Denver. If I was going to Denver, I’d like to spend more than an hour or so there at their airport.
We were supposed to be headed to Memphis, TN, then on to Minneapolis, then on to Winnipeg.
However, it seems Memphis had some really bad storms this morning, and we couldn’t make a connecting flight. The flight here was delayed and left after our flight was supposed to leave in Memphis.
So we’ve changed airlines, changed flights, changed airports/cities, and we’ve changed timing.
Sure hope the rest of this day goes better. We’ve been sitting in this airport since 9:20am, and if all goes as NOW planned, we won’t leave until 3:10pm.
And we won’t get to Winnipeg until 10:10pm or so, then have to ride an hour to get to the kids house in Steinbach. Good thing son Richard is a night owl, since he’s chauffeuring us!
Keep your fingers crossed the rest of this day goes better!
Visiting The Stone House Museum
A few weeks ago we traveled to West Virginia to visit with my Dad, sister and her family. We like to go on little mini-vacations with Dad, so The Farmer, Dad and I headed over to the Winterset and Cambridge, Ohio, area.
Dad wanted to drive through Winterset to see if he could find the farm where one set of his grandparents lived, but although we went through the town two or three times and traveled several side roads, we couldn’t locate it. I’m afraid too much time had passed and there were too many changes.
We did see this flock of sheep on our way into town, however.
Since I like sheep, they really caught my eye.
Another thing that caught my eye as we drove through town was this unique building at a local greenhouse.
I guess you could say they went to pot in a really BIG way! I thought it was a rather clever idea to make a building look like a huge clay flowerpot though.
Since we couldn’t find the farm Dad was looking for, we headed to Salt Fork State Park, where we planned to stay the night. On the drive into the park, we were greeted by a groundhog. He seemed unconcerned to see us go by.
We decided to check out the Stone House Museum located in Salt Fork State Park. Built in 1837, the Kennedy Stone House was home to several generations of Kennedy descendants ending with the great-grandson of the builder, Don Kennedy, who occupied it until 1966.
Being Celtic immigrants, the Kennedy clan brought with them memories of the stone cottages and castles common to Scotland. Since there is sandstone in abundance in the foothills of the Appalachians, their home reflected this Scotch-Irish influence on early American architecture and was created entirely from stone.
The state of Ohio purchased the Kennedy property and surrounding lands to create Salt Fork State Park, which is obviously how the house got to be part of the park.
The house was built from locally-quarried stone cut into 3′ x 1′ x 1′ blocks. Because of its unique and enduring construction, the house is listed in the National Register of Historic places. It sits back in a lovely wooded area, nestled among the surrounding hills.
Then in 1967, the valley below the house was impounded to create Salt Fork Reservoir, so today the house overlooks the lake created then.
When you drive up to the house, one of the first things you come to is an outhouse.
Well, after all, it’s a necessary part of living!
We were also greeted by the sight of another flock of sheep on top of a hillside behind the house.
These didn’t move around much. I think they were a little bored (board?). Did you notice one little sheep in front splintered off from the rest?
On the hillside below the sheep, there was a little building with some honeysuckle growing up the side.
The Farmer tried to peek in-between the cracks to see what was in there, but couldn’t really see much.
There was also a bell down the hill from the flock of wooden sheep. (And who wooden like such cute sheep?)
Dad took a picture of “The Amos Bell” which once hung in a one room schoolhouse in Guernsey County. It was saved from destruction by the Amos family who placed it in their garden. Later the bell was moved to the Stone House property in honor of Robert Woodrow and Hannah McCleary Amos of Cambridge, Ohio, to honor their efforts in the preservation of the Stone House.
One of the first things we noticed at the house was a bulletin board with a lot of pictures showing the house at various times in its’ history.
We peeked in through one of the windows to check out the interior.
I noticed a couple more sheep were in the house. But then, I notice sheep wherever I go!
It was hard to get a good picture since the room was dim and they were against a brightly lit window, but I couldn’t resist trying.
We also checked out the big root cellar.
It’s huge! You could put a whole lot of food in there! Of course, a root cellar was an important part of preserving foods for the winter before people had electricity readily available.
Dad and The Farmer walked along the bank in front of the house to check out the view. The Salt Fork Reservoir is lovely.
All along the front of the house, there is a stone retaining wall. The Farmer decided to take a rest and lean on it for a while.
It was an interesting place to visit. As we were leaving, I took one last picture, this time of the weathervane.
If you’re ever in the area, it’s worth checking out the Stone House Museum. We enjoyed our visit!
Cruising the St. John’s River
While we were in Florida we got to cruise along the St. John’s River on a pontoon boat. It was AWESOME!
Before we even got away from the dock, there were things to see, like other boats heading out.
There was also a little blue heron feeding in the grasses by the dock.
We traveled towards Blue Spring State Park, a designated manatee refuge. It’s a favorite winter hang-out (mid-November through March) of these West Indian Manatees, since the waters stay nice and warm at 73 degrees.
It’s also the largest spring on the St. Johns River. Although we got a glimpse or two of manatees in the river, we never got a clear enough look to make a worthwhile picture. Maybe next time!
There were lots of birds in the trees though.
And every once in a while we saw a bright splash of color from flowers growing among the trees and grasses.
We got really excited when we saw our first alligator.
Cruising along we saw great reflections in the water from the trees and sky.
Then we got even more excited when we saw another alligator, bigger than the first one we saw!
There were herons and other birds almost everywhere we looked.
But the BIGGEST thrill of the day was seeing this HUMONGOUS GATOR!
No way we could top that! All in all, it was a great day of cruising! And a great part of our relatives world to visit!
Squirrely in Sanford
We went down to central Florida to visit family for Thanksgiving. We were staying in housing close to Lake Monroe in Sanford. In the morning we enjoyed walking along the lake. Not surprisingly, there were lots of boats in the lake though there is only one in this particular picture.
There were lots of other people walking along the lake, many with their canine companion (s).
We don’t see many palm trees in our part of the world, so it was neat to see the ones lining the side of the walk closest to the lake. Many of them were full of berries.
The birds were munching up on the berries, and there was another familiar critter in the trees…
Squirrel in Palm Tree.
Yes, these furry little beasties seem to be everywhere! We have lots running around in our walnut, hickory, and oak trees back home, but they look to be equally at home in the palm trees in Florida.
However, this little squirrel didn’t limit itself to berries from the palm trees. It also looked for bread crumbs on the sidewalk, and when it saw one, it went flying across the walk to pounce on it.
Yep, things are squirrely in Sanford!
Cumberland Falls
On our way back from West Virginia a couple of weeks ago we drove through the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. Our destination was Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.
They have a beautiful lodge. We ate a late lunch there, and got to sit by one of the big windows and check out the view.
This is the Cumberland River. It flows nearly 700 miles from Harlan, Kentucky, to the Ohio River at Smithland, in the western part of Kentucky.
A sixteen-mile segment from Summer Shoals to Lake Cumberland, which includes the Cumberland Falls area, has been designated a “Kentucky Wild River” and is being preserved in its natural state.
The falls are beautiful, and known as the “Niagara of the South,” with a 125-foot wide curtain of water. At night during a full moon that you can see the moonbow, a phenomenon not found anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere.
Although I don’t live in Kentucky, I think Cumberland Falls is still a beautiful part of My World!