Beside the Ohio River

Good morning,

We strolled along the Ohio River in Fernbank Park and enjoyed a gorgeous day.  That tree just needs a mouth and two eyes and it would make a perfect troll.

Many years ago there was a dam here as part of the Ohio River dam system to insure river levels high enough to maintain river traffic.

The dam system was known as The Great Stairway that brought the river up the "stairs" created by the many dams.

At about the same time as the dams were completed, they were no longer necessary because of advances in technology to make each dam more efficient.

Several of the buildings are still here and are a part of the park system.

It is a great history lesson to understand the system, see where the dam stood, and see the park that remains.

 The dams were staffed by workers who lived on the property with their families.

 I remember many years ago when people were told not to eat the fish caught in the Ohio River because of pollution.  That is not the case today.

 We feel our parks are national treasures.

Enjoy,
Lois

Broccoli and Cheese Bread

Good morning,

We're home.  Guess what I like to do at home.  Yep, you got it.

I've published my recipe for Broccoli and Cheese Bread previously.  If you're interested, click here.

Ah, the aromas of fresh bread in the house....

;),
Lois

Sweet Little Robin

Good morning,

This sweet little robin was outside the window of a restaurant where we were eating. 

It kept banging up against the window, we understand because it saw its reflection.

Eventually, after about 15 minutes it moved away.  It was quite distressing for all of us inside the restaurant and someone even tried to shoo it away, but it refused to give up its quest to get to that robin in the window.

Sad, but with a happy ending.

Lois

Home Sweet Home

Good morning,

When we awoke in our Tennessee Hampton Inn I looked out the window and saw our chariot awaiting us.  This was to be the last leg of our trip from Florida to Ohio.  We were excited to get on the road and get home.

We left early so were in some of the Knoxville rush hour traffic, but it wasn't a problem at all.

Picture post card scenery!

It was hard to get a decent picture here while moving at 70 mph.  This river flowed off into the morning fog.  Just beautiful.

 We traveled through the last Tennessee mountains...

 ...and cruised into the Bluegrass State of Kentucky.

 What a day!  What a view!  It was gorgeous.

 That's a truck load of goats up there.

 If we didn't want to get home right away we would have enjoyed some sight seeing.

 Just a little more than an hour to go!

 We passed the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington...

 ...as I snapped another set of pictures of these familiar sights.

 I love this old home.  I have to snap a picture quickly as we pass, then do some cropping to be able to use it, but isn't it worth it!

 Soon we crossed the Mighty Ohio River and were back in Cincinnati.  Yes, that's a picture of my arm in the mirror again.  I do that quite often.  ;)

 I snapped this picture as we were pulling up the drive.  I see the cement work we are having done on the front steps is not quite finished.

 The first picture in this post is of the front of our car this morning in Tennessee.  Here is the back in Ohio just before Noon.  ;)

 Erik bringing me one of his favorite toys.  Wow, was it fun to see Erik and Penny again.  Penny was dancing around the back yard with a toy in her mouth when I took this one of Erik.  I didn't snap fast enough of Penny, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of pictures of her while we are home. 

My, that sounds good:  HOME!  We are home and it is wonderful!

I hope you enjoyed traveling with us.

All the best,
Lois

Labor Day in the USA and More of Our Road Trip

Good Morning and Happy Labor Day and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to My Honey! 

I hope you're enjoying your traditional last-day-of-summer holiday today.

That's not a really great image up there, but there is a reason I'm using it anyway.  I had just come out of that door at our hotel and my camera lens was foggy because of the change from air conditioning to very humid outer band hurricane air.  Can you see what's at the lower part of the picture?  It's a wheelchair ramp from the parking lot up over the curb to the sidewalk.  And, uh, what's between the sidewalk and the door?  Yep, three steps.  The sidewalk goes nowhere else either right or left - just into greenery.  I am confident that ramp is to comply with some well-intentioned law that there be a wheelchair ramp from the parking lot to the sidewalk.  Go figure.  :\ 

Back to the road trip....  We were so fortunate to have such great weather.  All we heard on the news was the damage being caused by Hurricane Isaac to the South of us.

Yum!  Lots of watermelon going North...

 ...and wood chips.

 It wasn't long before we saw mountains.  Beautiful!

 That's a propeller plane.  We haven't seen one of those in the air for a long time. 

 This poor guy appeared to be waiting for help for his broken down truck.

 We drove under the Blue Ridge Parkway...

 ...and further into the mountains.

 This is the spot where there was a huge land slide that closed Interstate 40 for more than a year.  We are very happy it has been cleared and the road reopened.

 Then into Tennessee...

...and past lines of trucks...

...making the climb.

The weather remained beautiful as we passed mountain rivers and lakes.  We arrived at our next hotel in Tennessee mid afternoon, had an early dinner, then settled in for the night.

Tomorrow we will be HOME!

All the best,
Lois

PS - Back in 2004 while we were aboard Majesty of the Seas we had quite a detour because of Hurricane Frances.  I documented that one here if you care to take a look.

Going Home - Florida to Georgia

Good morning,

I've finally had a chance to go through some more of the images from our trip home from Freedom of the Seas in Port Canaveral this past week.  Sunday was an extremely long day since we got up early to come into port ahead of Hurricane Isaac.  We had come through the Florida Straits from West to East less than 24 hours before Isaac came through in the opposite direction.  We experienced the outer bands and had some rocking and rolling, but that goes with being in the area in hurricane season. 

I had all the luggage packed, labeled, identified (with those red disks for easy ID on the dockside), and took a picture of each piece should any be hard to find and I needed to show the picture to someone helping me look.

Although overcast and extremely windy in the outer bands of Isaac, we were quite lucky to get off of the ship and the car loaded without drenching rain.  We headed North where the skies looked blue and welcoming.

We passed caravans of electric trucks headed into the hurricane zone to help with repairs.  At this time power was already out in Southern Florida.

We started counting groups of these trucks and estimate the total was well over 200.

It wasn't long before we saw Jacksonville on the horizon...

...and passed through...

...still under beautiful skies.

Georgia!  We hadn't been here for more than ten weeks.

In keeping with tradition, our first meal ashore was at Ihop at Exit 3 in Georgia.  :)  We are there often enough that we are greeted as old friends. 

Then it was back on the road where the parade of utility vehicles headed South continued.

We spent the night at a Hampton Inn near Savannah, Georgia.  Tomorrow we'll continue North.

I hope you are enjoying our road trip with us. 

Best,
Lois

Passing Daytona Beach, Florida

Good Morning,

It's so good to be on the road again!

Ohio, here we come!

We're looking forward to seeing the family (that includes the dogs!) and just being home.

All the best,
Lois