Spring Break - Kentucky & Tennessee

What an amazing vacation.  Back in 2019, we'd given Benjamin a trip to mammoth cave as a Christmas present.  Then covid happened and all tours were cancelled.  We finally managed to make it happen.  It's not easy to find something that appeals to teens and preschoolers, but this was it.  Everyone loved the cave and all its fascinating sights.  It really didn't lend itself well to photography, but trust me, it's fantastic.

We stayed in an AirBnb that was right on the Cumberland river.  The river curves along for miles cutting through the high, straight ridges on either side.  The whole valley is gorgeous, and I imagine even more so when everything is in full summer bloom.  The valley was just starting to green up, but still had a lot of bare trees.  The warmer weather felt great.  The water was too cold for swimming, but our paddleboard made it perfect.  Peter loved just throwing rocks into the water everywhere we went.

Kelly brought his drone and took aerial footage as we paddled.  Then everyone joined him and decided to have fun with pictures too.

One day the younger three and I visited an organic farm and got a tour from the farmer.  Chickens, pigs, peacocks, cats, and two large white dogs.  Everyone had a great time.  I loved learning from her as we toured her green houses and she answered all my questions.  It was a wonderful tour, ending with a lunch of fresh veggies from her garden.  It was a perfect day.

While I was touring the farm, Kelly and Benjamin went motorcycling.  

Other days he went with other kids.  Everyone had a wonderful time exploring the natural beauty of Kentucky.  Such a gorgeous state with so many fun hidden gems.....and lots of mud.

Two days I took kids city exploring - Bella and Peter to Nashville; Christian and Peter to Knoxville.  Both cities were a ton of fun and so very different.  Nashville was all crazy honky-tonk bars and restaurants, each featuring live music nearly 24/7.  Lots of action and packed streets.  I loved hearing all the talented singers and feeling all the energy of the place. We took a hop-on-hop-off tour bus around the city and had a great time exploring and seeing the famous sites - recording studios, the grand ole opry, state capital building, Nashville's parthenon, etc.   I appreciated them a lot more than Bella did, but she was a great sport.  As long as I made sure she got sushi and ice cream, she was happy to indulge me in my desire to see Elvis historical sites and other notable places.  If only Memphis (and Graceland) weren't so much farther SW.

Where Elvis did nearly all his recording from 1955 onward:

Knoxville was a much more peaceful, laid back place.  Lots of natural beauty and much more of an artsy vibe.  Here we downloaded a walking tour which worked off gps.  Christian and I shared a set of air pods and whenever the gps noticed we were near a notable thing, it told us about it.  It made for a great day of strolling and exploring civil wars sites, historic homes, and other fun gems, like the bar that was half bar and half glassblower shop, so you could drink from a glass made right there on site.  So many gorgeous ones to choose from!

At one point, we all needed a bathroom and the closest thing was the Women's basketball Hall of Fame.  We decided to try our luck there, even though it wasn't on our walking tour's itinerary.  So glad we did. Although we had to pay admission to use the bathroom, it was worth it.  The place was so cool and we spent a long time exploring the exhibits and playing basketball in the basement on their really cool historical style court.

Peter was so intrigued by the wax replicas.  He kept wanting to feel their hands.  Luckily it was allowed.

The house we stayed in was a wonderful 3 bedroom airBnB on a huge private property right on the river.  We went out the backyard and explored, but it was a very steep drop into the water.  It was easier to get to the river using the road to the dock. 

So quiet and peaceful, though.  We brought a few video games to play as a family and everyone had a great time playing together in the evenings.

Peter was our alarm clock every morning.  He'd wake me and Kelly and then proceed into Christian's bed.  Christian was always a good sport about it even if he was too tired to get up right away.

Kentucky has a ton of waterfalls, so I took Bella and Peter to explore a few near our house.  This one was especially fun.  It was the site of a civil war battle - Battle of Mill Springs.  10,000+ soldiers fought here in 1862.  Now it's a beautiful picnic and hiking site, among the historical markers and cannons. We had a wonderful, slightly rainy afternoon there.

Sadly, the site could really have been better maintained.  The waterfall was littered with trash and the spot from which you could photograph the largest part of the waterfall had partially sunk so access was impossible.  It didn't spoil our fun, though, just our photography. 

There is still so much unexplored beauty in that area.  I'd love to go back.  We were always having so much fun that the kids basically never fought which is unheard of in our family.  It was a perfect week.