A Bluegrass State Top Ten List

Hello readers, and greetings from Kentucky's Bluegrass region, where the kids and I have spent the last couple of days roaming about. It's back to Ohio tomorrow but I wanted to take the time to share a little bit about what we've learned:

10. Everyone in Kentucky drives at least 80 miles an hour. Doing 50 on a country road is considered obscenely slow.
9. They sure do have a lot of horses down here.
8. Kentucky comes from the Native American word Kentucke. We can't remember what it means.
7. Mary Todd Lincoln had 15 brothers and sisters. She lost three brothers and brothers in law during the Civil War, three of her own four children to illness, and a husband by assassination. She was only declared legally insane to protect her assets, but the action, which was reversed before her death, ruined the relationship she had with her only surviving child.
6. Cassius Clay was not only the name of a famous boxer but also that of a lionhearted emancipationist who served as a US diplomat to Russia. Yesterday we visited his home on the 103rd anniversary of his death. He did not make an appearance.
5. The Hummel Planetarium at Eastern Kentucky U is the second largest of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, my daughter had already seen the presentation at the Shaker Heights Planetarium. There's ten bucks I'll never get back.
4. My daughter loves to watch glassblowing. We watched an artisan in Berea make several glass pumpkins.
3. There is no place good to eat in Richmond, Kentucky.
2. We missed the most prominent attraction in our region, Fort Boonesboro, and all that Daniel Boone stuff, because the facility was closed due to a power outage. Something about that just doesn't seem right.

And the number one thing we learned about Kentucky:

NO BEER SALES ON SUNDAY.

But, we did find a wonderful bluegrass radio station, and listened to it while the kids taught me a few new games. I am not ready to return home to normal life, in fact life at breakneck speed. But I suppose that's why they call it a vacation.

Beautiful Moon Of Kentucky

There's a beautiful moon shining down on Kentucky
Where the fields of bluegrass are growin'
'Neath the beautiful moon shining down on Kentucky
Tomorrow that's where I'll be going
For the girl that I love she waits for me know
To return from ol' sunny Tennessee

'Neath the beautiful moon shining down on Kentucky
Tomorrow that's where I will be
Well I left my old home way down in Kentucky
And headed for old sunny Tennessee
But I'm on my way back to the hills of Kentucky
With my darling once more there I'll be