Kentucky

Fri. Oct. 22: We ate breakfast, packed up the camper and were on the road by 10:00. We were a little surprised to see three campers lined up, ready to check-in, as we were leaving. Having looked more carefully at maps and talked to Lou and Jan, we knew that our original plan of going to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and driving the entirety of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive while camping in Shenandoah National Park and getting to Washington, DC by Oct. 30 for the Jon Stewart “Rally to Restore Sanity” was a bit too ambitious. Instead we drove to Louisville to visit our first and favorite babysitter, Ellen, and her husband Elmer and the new baby, Dario. His two big brothers were at school so we didn’t get to see them. L We said we’d bring lunch but then didn’t come across anything good in half an hour of driving around looking for a Subway. But Ellen told us there was a nice café just down the block from them in German Town so we walked with the baby to it for lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day, about 70° and we sat in a little alcove by ourselves where they could set up his portable rocking cradle to enjoy lunch and good desserts. It was leisurely and pleasant to have a good chance to catch up on their lives since they moved here from Nicaragua about two years ago. Ellen is working for the National Presbyterian office in Mission Trips and Elmer has recently started an interim position as pastor for a Hispanic Presbyterian church in Nashville, 2 ½ hours away. He goes down overnight each weekend and is enjoying being involved leading a church once again. As we left Louisville around 3:00 we decided we should check with the State Parks towards which we were driving to see if we would be able to get it. The first one was full! Yikes!! I then called Fort Boonesborough State Park. They had one site left that would accommodate our camper so I reserved it on the spot. Once again the GPs took us right to it and we checked in. A giant banner proclaiming “Welcome to Halloween Fest” hung from the trees and as we drove through to our campsite it was clear that there was a very serious celebration going on! It turns out that the Halloween Fest lasts for 13 days. The park personnel begin decorating at the end of July and finish up in time for the Fest. But nearly every campsite was also decorated with elaborate graveyards, blow-up characters, and pumpkins galore. One site had a complete maze; another had hundreds of lighted jack-o-lanterns. We were told that there is a minimum one week stay, one can make reservations a year and two weeks ahead of time, and that 80% of the reservations are filled in about 7 ½ hours on the first day. (I’m not sure how we were able to get our two nights but we were glad we did.) Each day of the 13 day Fest has a theme and is filled with activities, mostly aimed at children, of course. But we went for “Pirate Putt-putt Golf” for $4.00 each this evening. It included food and a round of putt-putt on their old cement course which was ornately decorated with lights and skeletons and graveyards around a pirate theme, with piped in “Halloween-y” music. Then we enjoyed a chili dog, Fritos, hot chocolate and a s’more. We were about the only adults there but we had a great time! Not only were the decorations terrific, but we played under a full moon that was just rising, which made it stunning! We rode our bikes back to the campsite taking in all the wonderful decorations, made even more exciting with literally hundreds of lights shining in the darkness. It was magical!!