Kentucky/Indiana Trip

We had the neat opportunity to visit Kentucky and southern Indiana over the July 4th weekend.  The Smith family reunion was held this year at Patoka Lake, IN which is near where my grandma grew up and where her sister Billie (who just recently passed away) lived.  Since the reunion location was so close to where Derek served his mission, we decided to spend an extra couple days touring Kentucky, and visiting some of his converts.  This was the first time Derek has been able to go back to Kentucky since his mission five years ago, and it was really special for us to go with him.  I can see now why he loves it there so much!

We flew into Cincinnati late on Wednesday, July 2nd and stayed the night there. Thursday morning, we drove about an hour to Louisville, Kentucky.  We spent the morning at the Louisville Waterfront Park along the Ohio River.  There's a cool pedestrian/bike bridge that goes over the river and a really fun playground where Anna had a blast.  We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant that was also right there on the river.

After lunch, we drove to another park across town to meet up with Jay, one of Derek's converts.  When we were planning our trip, I asked Derek what he wanted to do while we were in Kentucky, and the first thing he said was, "I want to visit Jay." Jay is one of Derek's closest friends from his mission, and it was clear that the two have a close bond.  We wished we could have met his wife, who was just recently baptized, but she had to work late that day. But it was really special to get to meet and talk with him.

After saying goodbye to Jay, we drove to Patoka Lake for the reunion. All six of my grandma's kids and their spouses plus most of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were able to attend.  It was quite the crew!  It was a little crazy and chaotic, but loads of fun. The weather really couldn't have been more perfect.  It was about 75 degrees and sunny the whole time we were there. We spent a lot of time swimming at the lake, catching fireflies at night, keeping track of all the little kids running around, and just visiting.  On the 4th, most of us drove to the next town over to watch the fireworks. And of course, the boys (and Megan) had to get a game of basketball in.  (They had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest court and then another 30 miles to the nearest Wal-Mart to find a ball, but they were determined to play!)

What a crew!

Anna at the beach

Bailey and Jackson

Charlotte

Maren and Anna

On Sunday morning, we left pretty early to drive to Bardstown, KY for church.  Bardstown was one of Derek's favorite areas, mostly due to the wonderful members of the little branch.  Everyone was so welcoming. Several people remembered Derek, and it was really neat to see the daughter of one of his converts there. Derek enjoyed visiting with the TWO sets of missionaries (elders and sisters) that were currently serving there.  We had a couple people ask us, "Are you moving to Bardstown?!" Honestly, by the end of the day, I was almost ready to!  It is such a neat little town with lots of old brick buildings, cobblestone paths, and tons of history.  And the people have such fun southern accents and big hearts.

At a Civil War memorial in  Bardstown

When church was over, we stopped by to visit with Angie, another of Derek's converts.  She welcomed us into her home and we were able to visit for a couple hours.  She is such a nice lady, and she just loved Anna!  I am sad we forgot to take a picture with her before leaving.

Next, we drove about 30 miles to Elizabethtown, another of Derek's areas.  We drove by his old apartment and the church building, and then drove to Fort Knox.  While Derek was in E-town, he had the opportunity to make weekly visits to Fort Knox to teach the soldiers training there.  The missionaries would also conduct Sunday worship services and hold baptisms almost every week.

We stayed the night in Bardstown and then drove the next morning to Frankfort, KY.  We took the scenic route through Versailles to see all the horse farms.  That drive was so pretty and better matched my vision of what Kentucky would look like.  The Louisville area has way more trees than I'd expected, but as we drove east, the trees cleared to make way for the rolling green hills I had pictured.  We made a couple stops to take some pictures with the horses.  These horses are some of the most spoiled horses in the world.  Their pastures and barns are huge!  (Derek told me he heard some of the barns even have chandeliers inside. What?!)

Definitely in the Bible Belt.  Love it!

In Frankfort, which is the capitol of Kentucky, we decided to do some of the "touristy" stuff.  We visited Daniel Boone's grave, did a quick tour of the capitol building, and ate lunch at this neat little southern-style seafood place by the river where I got to sample my very first hushpuppies.  We made a quick drive by Derek's mission apartment, and then it was time to head to the airport.  (I have to make a note here that Anna was a superb traveler.  She slept most of the time in the car as we drove around Kentucky, and she was really good on the airplane...until the last hour of the flight home. It was a 3 1/2 hour flight and it was late and she was really tired but would not fall asleep until five minutes AFTER we landed.  But other than that, she did really, really well.)  We wished we would have had time to visit Mt. Vernon, IN and Corbin, KY, Derek's first and last areas, but they were more out of the way and we weren't able to fit it in. But it was such a fun trip, and I'm so glad we were able to go!

Daniel Boone's Grave

It's not southern if it's not deep fried!

Anna liked the hushpuppies!