Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky

We arrived at Big Bone Lick State Park in Union, Kentucky around five o’ clock on Monday. It was a change from Ohio, with warm and humid conditions. I began to worry that maybe we should have stayed north just a little bit longer. But alas, there was no need to worry. Shortly after we arrived, it rained and rained and rained.

Tuesday, September 29th

Tuesday morning there was a significant change in the temperature. It cooled off nicely. We could still hear the pitter patter of rain on the fiberglass roof. Since the weather wasn’t cooperating with outdoor exploration, we headed out to run some errands. First it was a stop for lunch. The kids wanted McDonald’s and Chipotle sounded awfully good to me.

We got Chipotle to go and then we went in search of McDonald’s. The GPS took me to the mall. The only thing I could figure was there was one in the food court. My intuition was right. We parked and ran inside as the rain came down in droves.

We ate in the food court and then the girls went in search of an outfit or two. It was really cool, the mall had a train for kids to ride around in. They also had a two-tier merry-go-round in the food court. Both of the kids rode for $5, pretty good deal.

Then it was off to the bank to get quarters for laundry. Our final stop was Wal-Mart for some much-needed provisions. On top of the list was a longer water hose. We had water and electric at our campsite but one water spigot was shared between two sites. And my hose wasn’t long enough to reach.

Wednesday, September 30th

Love these tall pines, oh, and the kid there too

It was still cloudy and overcast when we woke up. But no wet stuff was falling from the sky. I wanted to hang around the campground because our infamous laundry was waiting to be done. And I had a lot of it because I wanted to wash the bed sheets.

We headed to the bath houses and got all cleaned up. Then back to the campsite to gather all the laundry. I also wanted to check out the museum on site, see the wooly mammoth replicas and hike over to see the live bison.

So instead of waiting on the laundry to wash, I stuck three loads in and we headed over to the museum. It was pretty cool to see all the bones and fossils found on site. The history of Big Bone Lick was equally fascinating. From the Ice Age, to include giant mammoths and mastodons to the 1950’s when the land was purchased by the park.

We interrupt this blog post to go switch the laundry! We headed back up the hill to the laundry room to move things along. One washer broke, bummer. I had to move sopping wet clothes to another washer. This prolonged my washing/drying until 5 p.m.

What remains of the salty springs

Then back down the hill to walk the first of two trails. We walked a mile on the Discovery Trail to see what transpired at Big Bone Lick many, many years ago. We got to see the remaining salt springs still seeping from the earth. There isn’t much left of them but enough to help fuel your imagination. 

After another laundry run, we headed over to hike the Bison Trail. The park has a live bison herd they care for. They were pretty far off in the distance but the herd is fairly large. I’d like go back with my point and shoot camera so I can zoom in and take some better pictures. After all our hiking and fun in the great outdoors, it was time to head home for supper.

There’s a trail called ‘corral berry’ right next to our campsite. As the (first) and last rays of the sun were hitting the trees, I slipped onto it to take some pictures. I’m a sucker for patches of light casting their magical glow on whatever the subject happens to be.

There she is before I saw her!

I’m on the beginning of the trail, ooooohing and awwwwing at the pretty streams of sunlight while snapping away with my camera. I actually take pictures of this one spot several times not realizing I’m not alone. Finally my eye trains on something beyond the sunlight. A deer is peering at me through the tree branches.

I snap several pictures as she starts to run away. There are several others with her. I wonder if this is the same deer we saw earlier over by the visitors center. I snap some more  pictures of the elusive sun as it sets beyond the horizon. 

Now I see you!

The weather really has been drab since we’ve been here and there’s no sign of sunshine in the future. That is until the day we leave and the remaining week thereafter! Oh well, what can I say. Life on the road is, well, just that, life. There is rainy, sunny, windy, warm and cold days, just like anywhere else. We do, however, have a little more control of the cold and warm variety.

Today I shuffled the kids out of the RV between rain for a two-mile hike on Coral Berry Trail. Oh, they whined and they cried their feet hurt. One made it out in sandals, even though I specified socks and sneakers. But we came out alive……..barely! Join us on our next blog post as I share the sites we saw along the way.

{HUGS} from the Crew!

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