Mom and I headed south on a stamp collecting trip to Kentucky. Our first stop was George Rogers Park National Historic Park in Vincennes, IN, which commemorates a Revolutionary War battle. Not much to see here, just a monument.
We thought Abraham Lincoln's childhood home would be a little more interesting, but it was seriously boring! There was nothing there except a small museum! The Lincoln Museum in Springfield at least had a life-size model of his cabin... This place had nothing!
We stayed in Paducah that night and went to the National Quilt Museum the next morning. Mom was a little disappointed. The quilts were impressive, but I think we just weren't too excited about the exhibits. For example, one of them was about the future of quilting and featured a quilt made of Bud Light cans. But the exhibits are constantly rotating, so maybe it just wasn't the best time to visit. The highlight of Mom's day was a visit to Hancock Fabrics, an enormous fabric store.
The next day was Mom's first time ever in a cave- Mammoth Cave National Park! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this, but it was super cool. (Both in temperature and scenery!) We did a tour that took us down so many stairs, and I was worried about having to go back up all those stairs on the way out. But they took us out a different exit, and a bus drove us back up all that elevation. It was pretty sweet!
That afternoon, we visited Lincoln's birthplace, which was also not very exciting. (Seriously, these Lincoln places were a huge letdown! Springfield is the best!) But there was a sinkhole with a cold spring running out of it, and we both thought that was pretty neat. Oh, and the home was near Knob Creek, as in the whiskey. I really wanted to stop at some places on the bourbon trail, but the timing just wasn't right... We couldn't get to any of the distilleries till late on Sunday afternoon, after they were all closed.
At this point, we totally deviated from the plan, which is what I love about traveling with Mom. We decided to go to Ohio. So we spent the night just outside of Cincinnati and were on our way to the Howard Taft home when we got a text from my dad saying he was about to have surgery to have his appendix removed. What??? I asked if we should head home, but he insisted we follow through with our plans. So an hour later, Mom and I sat at the Taft home, watching a movie about him (did you know he was the only president to also serve as a Supreme Court justice?) and trying to process what was going on.
After the Taft site, I suggested that we head home, but Mom was insistent that I get my stamps. She is a big supporter of my dreams. At that point, it didn't really matter... We were far enough away from home that even if we left right away, we wouldn't be back until a few hours after he got out of surgery. The other sites were on our way, so we just decided to make them quick stops.
The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument wasn't even officially open yet, so we just stopped at the site and took a few pictures.
The Aviation Museum in Dayton was actually pretty impressive. When we finally got to the hospital to see Dad that night, he was disappointed that we hadn't spent more time there. I would have like to visit the field where the Wright Brothers did all their test runs. But who knows, maybe someday I'll make it back to Dayton, Ohio. That day, we were in a rush and did not appreciate the aggressive park ranger who practically forced us to watch the 45 minute movie. She radiated disapproval as we tried to make a discreet exit; apparently we did not spend enough time in the museum.
What a weird day! We were both so relieved to get to the hospital and see Dad.
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