Search results for 'louisville'

My wife and travel partner, Carolynn, saw The Beatles on September 3, 2023 at the Indianapolis State Fair. She was 13 years old. She sat on the 20^th row on the floor with her friends, Janice and Penny, and her sister, Sharon. “It sounded like being inside a jet engine. I knew then that something bigger than The Beatles was happening”, she told me recently. It changed her life. 

In the heart of Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville is one of the largest Gingko trees in the state of Kentucky. On a recent visit, we wandered into its presence. All the leaves were a bright yellow. It was 2:00 in the afternoon on November 8^th so the light was hitting the tree at a sharp angle. The reflections off the surface of these usual shaped leaves filtered throughout the giant tree. This tree is the volume of a two-story house with about 3000 square feet. I was told that all Gingko trees shed their leaves on the same day. The gingko is a living fossil dating back 270 million years. The word Gingko is derived from the Japanese word ginkyo meaning “silver apricot”. The realization that this tree was 150 years old reminds us to think about all the history it had witnessed and that we are standing in a sacred place. 

The week seemed to fly by and the time had come to leave camp and head north through Vermont to Canada. Susie had a fun and productive week and had made many new friends, both canine and human. She was going to miss her camp buddies especially Brie, Lucy, Rascal, Digby and another Aussie, Phil a blue merle from the Bronx. 

When I’m looking for a summer retreat for rest and relaxation, I head for the Wax Marina in Wax, Kentucky on Nolin Lake. The Wax Marina provides a beautiful view of a 100-foot limestone cliff and safe haven for boaters and fishermen. It is home sweet home for our pontoon boat “Buttercup”. 

On the historical marker by the replica of his cabin, it says that George Rogers Clark (1753-1818) was “A pioneer, soldier, patriot, conqueror of the Northeast territory…” His brilliant Revolutionary War campaign captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes and brought the states northwest of the Ohio River into the Union.  He brought 150 men and 15 families down the Ohio River in 1778 and built a fort on Corn Island to plan and implement this conquest. This fort was the beginning of Louisville, Kentucky. 

A visit to the Falls of the Ohio River evokes feelings of an ancient time. Three hundred and seventy-five million years ago it was a tropical sea! These falls are the only natural obstruction on the river between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s one of those places that make you think in terms of geologic time. You realize how short our time on Earth really is and yet how we all are connected to a past long ago. For Louisvillians, it is the reason we are here. People had to stop and portage around the falls. Many stayed to start businesses and families.