Kentucky Kindness

Day three began with a futile attempt at finding the Purple People Bridge crossing the Ohio River from Cincinnati, OH into Kentucky. After driving in circles for 45 minutes throughout Cincinnati, we drove across a different bridge. It was neat, though sadly, the bridge was not purple.

Once on the open highway, I immediately decided that I liked Kentucky more than Ohio. It had many more trees, was less flat, and it had a 70 MPH speed limit that people did not abuse to an extreme! In fact, it felt like traffic went slower than on highways with a 65 MPH limit. Speaking of highways and driving... I found another trucker friend! We traveled for an hour, maybe more, passing each other out when the need arose. He honked. I waved. It was a special relationship. In fact, he was driving a Kenworth and it might just have been the "Kenworth of my dreams..."

Without needing to drive for too many hours on end today, Kate and I were willing to do a bit of exploring. You can imagine how pleased we were when we saw the sign for the "Kentucky Bourbon Trail" The "spirits" led us to the Jim Beam distillery, right off the highway! Pulling in, Kate commented that the establishment looked like the mining operation in Zorro. The visitor's center and outbuildings were lovely, however. We didn't have time for a tour (Nashville traffic at rush hour? I don't think so...), but an employee personally introduced us to two bourbons: Booker's and Red Stag.

Booker Noe, sixth generation distiller, eternally enjoying his bourbon

We hit Nashville well before rush hour and searched in vain for a nearby battlefield. Thus, the saga continues...

Really Riveting Roadtrip: Day 2

I eagerly await the next time I'm in the car. I know... a little strange after driving at least 8 hours today. But, we have a book on CD! It is an amazing young adult title called The Virals about teenagers, scientific experiments on secluded islands, murder, monkeys, and the hope that high school students will morph into wolves! Tina, thanks for the suggestion of renting an audiobook at Cracker Barrel! You rock! We will be saving a Western/Romance audiobook (with a cowboy on the cover!) for Kansas!

The audiobook was the most exciting aspect of our slightly more flat journey down the length of Ohio. However, I was also fairly pleased to be saluted for my driving skills by a trucker today! I've heard that truckers represent the best (and worst) drivers out there. Apparently, I let him merge into my lane, hung back so I wasn't in his blind spots, and then passed him appropriately enough that he honked and gave me a thumbs up, sticking his whole hand out the window!

The day was really completed with a driveby of Grandpa's Cheesebarn (where they also sold fudge...) and a visit to a luxurious gas station/Starbucks/mini grocery store with amazing bathrooms!

Layover in the Little Leagues

Irene was ever present as a backseat driver throughout day one of our road trip to Denver! Kate had to take a detour on the way to Albany from Boston and the beginning of our trip from Albany through Binghamton also involved detours! A thruway attendant at the start of the thruway claimed that our route was now completely open, while the attendant at the end of the thruway, said that, no, in fact we cannot travel that road! Lack of communication resulted in some handy map reading on our parts! Paper maps will always be my friends (plastic coated, paper maps included!).

We passed through some beautiful country littered with small towns. But, alas, the sun did set and we needed to find a spot to rest our traveling heads! Kate had written down some info from hotels located in Williamsport, what I assumed was a small town in PA. The only rooms we could find were suites with jacuzzis! We wondered, why would those be the only rooms available... Then Williamsport turned out to be a bit bigger than we assumed and we saw signs for baseball this and Little League that... We discovered the  Williamsport where the Little League World Series was held, just held! I bought postcards, though I must confess that I only saw the hotel/fast food region of Williamsport!

And that is how we ended up in the honeymoon suite at the Comfort Inn in the Little League Capital of the World!

Irene visits the ADKs

My cousin and recent hiking partner just emailed me this story about the impact of Irene in the Adirondack Mountains (where we just went hiking) and I had to share.

Check out this article and take a look at this following picture. There totally used to be a bridge over the dam!

Irene Update

Still have power (knock on wood!). Still raining.

I'm supposed to start my road trip tomorrow but this is dependent on 1) my friend Kate venturing across the great state of Massachusetts and arriving safely in Albany and 2) driving conditions in NY and PA. The Thruway has been closed at several points and the Mohawk and Hudson rivers won't crest until tomorrow afternoon. More flooding could result, limiting mobility. In addition, apparently I will be traveling along one of the most flood prone areas in the United States: the Susquehanna. But, trying to discover which roads are open and which are washed out is ridiculously complicated. (Any librarians out there know of a magical database I can use for this purpose?) Hoping to overcome all obstacles and expecting the ground to be a bit soggy tomorrow, we plan on splurging on a hotel room in PA! (Of course, I would probably get frustrated trying to figure out which campgrounds were open and which were closed anyway...) This trip is turning out to be an exciting adventure, possibly worthy of the blogosphere, after all!

I'll leave you with a scene from Troy:

Mudslide in Troy - News 10 WTEN: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

My Hurricane Post

Ever since flying into Denver, I've complained about how brown everything is. The grass is brown, the mountains are brown, and the riverbeds even seem devoid of water and brown most of the year. I have been pretty hard on Denver in regards to its parched earth, so Mother Nature is ensuring that I see my fair share of water while I'm home.

It started raining a little while ago and it will continue raining all day tomorrow. Hurricane Irene will be visiting upstate NY. For the first time in my memory, the residents of the Hudson Valley, are under a Tropical Storm Warning. The Weather Channel says we are in the extreme threat zone and some models of the hurricane path place the storm directly overhead. We're about two hours North of NYC and Troy is the northernmost point of the tidal estuary. The Hudson was already high and who knows how much rain will fall (estimates range from 5-8"). I usually get pretty proud when Albany is displayed on a map broadcasted on national television, but perhaps a hurricane isn't the best reason to be on the map.

So, the main threat at my house, just like with any storm we've faced, is our trees and whether or not they will remain vertical. I'll leave you with a picture of the "Great Tree Accident of 2003." At midnight on a summer evening, one of the trees across from our house keeled over, unprovoked, landing on our front yard, knocking out power, and completely blocking our road.

Great Tree Accident of 2003

We're so lucky we don't live near the ocean or directly along the Hudson. And my thoughts are with those who do, especially my friends in the City. Here's hoping that the rest of the storm is a complete bust. In the meantime I can't stop singing, "Come on Irene," (not intending to be provocative, mind you!).

Navigating Nazareth

My sister, Kylie, is now successfully settled into Nazareth College in suburban Rochester, NY! After so many years of leaving my family to settle into a dorm room, it was strange leaving Kylie behind. Now I understand what she meant about the car rides back home being eerily quiet. Below are some pictures highlighting the journey!

Van packed and (finally) ready to go!

Rochester is about four hours away from Troy and we expected to leave around noon. After about 8 hours of packing suitcases and loading the van, we hit the road to ROC at 5:30 pm!

Egg and cheese on a biscuit, eh!?

Tim Horton's (aka Timmy Ho's) is my favorite fast food breakfast chain. I rejoice in traveling to Western NY (and Ontario) for egg sandwiches and hot chocolate. Yes, we were the annoying tourists who ate at the same restaurant 3 days in a row and got their picture taken in front of the sign... Sadly we could not get our picture taken in front of the standard plaque dedicated to Tim Horton usually found in the dining area of each restaurant. There was none! Whatever is becoming of Tim Horton's legacy!?

Saying "So long"

When I was a freshman, I had about 3 days to say my goodbyes to my family. Nazareth gave us twenty minutes AND, they told us not to come back (until family weekend that is). I almost had a Nicholas Sparks moment (see below definition), but refrained from any emotional outbursts that might embarrass any one in particular. So now, my little sis is a member of the Nazareth College Class of 2015! "She's all growed up!!"

Nicholas Sparks Moment: When one is overcome by sadness and begins crying at the climax of a film written by Nicholas Sparks, BUT then realizes the ridiculousness of crying at such a bad movie and then begins hysterically laughing at the same moment. Also, the behavior exhibited by all Welsh women watching said films.