News and Stuff from Bald Knob

This long Memorial Day weekend we took two tours, northerly and southeasterly.

On Saturday, for the northern trip, we decided to take the advice of Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and try a restaurant in Bellevue, Kentucky called Virgil's Cafe. From Frankfort, we headed east to Georgetown on 460. The intent was to take 62 to Cynthiana, but somehow we made a wrong turn. No matter, we ended up on 25 north and took 32 east to Cynthiana and went through Sadieville. The town was founded where the Southern Railway crosses Eagle Creek and was a major shipping point for mules. From Cynthiana, we headed north on 27 and I-471 to Fairfield Avenue in Bellevue where we found Virgil's.

I guess you could describe the decor as nuvo-stately. Chairs, tables, glasses, and all have been rounded up, restored, and reused. You'll note the table in the photo incorporates two different chair styles. Originally, I wanted to get the chicken etouffee with homemade andouille sausage (featured on Triple-D). However, it was a late lunch and that looked like a prodigious amount of food so I ordered the cubano sandwich (roast pork, mustard, pickles, ham, and swiss on homemade bread). Beverly had the Croque Madame (ham and cheese sandwich with mustard mornay sauce topped with an over easy egg). Both were excellent and Virgil's is definitely worth going back.


We stopped for a short stroll in the riverfront part at Bellevue and watched the stern paddle wheel Belle of Cincinnati head up river on an afternoon excursion. The Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati is across the river. We followed Fairview Avenue west to Highway 8 and then to 42 west to 127 south. At Owenton, we took 22 west to Gratz, 389 south to Lockport. At Lockport, we pick up the Fallis-Gest road that takes us by the Kentucky River Wildlife Management area. From there it was on to 561, 421, and home.


Nicholasville: If you own your own railroad, you can have trains in your front yard.


On Sunday, we started out maybe a bit more randomly than usual. We went to the Buckley Wildlife Sanctuary. This sanctuary is a working farm and outdoor laboratory managed especially for birding by the National Audubon Society. From there, Beverly said she wanted to go to Hall's on the River. We took McCracken Pike to Versailles then 33 south to 169. On 169 we stopped at Boyd Orchard to check on peaches (too early) and found strawberries that smelled and tasted like real strawberries (you know, not like the berries from major grocery store chains). Our raspberries aren't even close yet, but yesterday was the first day they had them. We continued southeast down 169 to Keene (the hotel is serving breakfast) and Nicholasville. We detoured down 1981 to Chrisman Mill Vinyards. It is closed on Sundays, but we know where it is for another Saturday destination.

We retraced our route to 169 and then crossed the Kentucky River at the Valley View Ferry. We continued to Richmond and then north on 25/421. When we got to the intersection with 627 at Whitehall, we initially thought we'd visit the Jean Farris Winery (sure to be open on Sunday). Before we got there, however, we began thinking of the fried banana peppers at Hall's and turned around.

Now we know the whereabouts of two more wineries and are accumulating more possible destinations.

Next weekend, it's off to Madisonville for my niece's wedding. And then, we are London, England bound. I know the email updates work. I don't know if I'll get WiFi and multimedia services there on my Blackberry, but we'll see.

There are places you can only find with a GPS if you are actually there. OK, not really, they exist on paper maps and you can find them by working out the latitude and longitude and then programming the GPS to go there. With a GPS, you can't "GO TO" a place name (if it's not in the database) or an intersection (if there are too many digits in the highway numbers or it's just a name--Happy Ridge Rd--near a place it can't find). And, that's kind of nice. First, it satisfies my academic requirement that if you have a GPS, don't venture forth without a map. Every GPS and map are compromises between what is known and what can be displayed conveniently, this is scale dependence. The more you zoom out, the GPS display shows fewer and fewer details until you are often located on a blank screen with an interstate somewhere off to the east and no visible means to route there.

Second, it is gratifying to know there are places you just have to go to find hidden scenic and historic gems. Oh, you can google them after the fact, but unless you already know it's there, you can't find it. Try googling "19th century inns of central Kentucky." You get a bunch of B&B stuff, but nothing about the Keene Springs Hotel. I'll give you that it doesn't look like the site is operated as an inn or B&B. The sign out front advertises "Home Cooking, Thursday-Saturday 6pm-9pm, Private Parties, Catering, 859-881-1234." Googling Keene Springs Inn hits paydirt. I like it that the menu posted for June 25-27 doesn't say what year. Beverly and I will have to try it on a Saturday. Apparently, there is a ghost legend, but beyond some woo-woo about "investigations" conducted by local ghost hunters, there is nothing available about the ghost whose story would certainly be more interesting than night vision goggles.

Last weekend, when I drove by the Keene Springs Inn, started with the intent to drive from Cove Springs Park in Frankfort to Natural Bridge State Resort Park. I never made it. Having been to Natural Bridge, I got side tracked to the Pilot Knob nature preserve (Google map). I wasn't prepared to hike to the top of the Knob and so took a short walk in the woods to the millstone quarry. From there I started back along Hwy 15 and drove past Eskippakithiki, the Indian Old Fields. (Go to the Kentucky Historical Society and search for marker 1274). In addition to history, the physiography of Kentucky is very apparent here. In this view, the contrast between the flatter, rolling terrain of the Bluegrass regions and the hilly Knobs and escarpment is evident.

Anyway, I took 15 to Winchester, then 627 to Boonesborough and over to 421/25 at White Hall. To get around Lexington, I took Jacks Creek Rd and stopped by Raven Run Nature Preserve. I worked my way over to 169 and took that through Nicholasville to 33 and on into Versailles. From there, I took McCracken Pike past Woodford Reserve and back to Frankfort.

This weekend, I started from the Kentucky River Wildlife Management Area in Henry County. I headed west on the Gest-Fallis Road to Lockport then took 398 north to Drennon Springs. Drennon Springs is the site of one of the earliest stations in Kentucky and it appears on Filson's 1784 map, "This map of Kentucke". None of the historic markers that mention Drennon Springs seem to be anywhere near the community itself. At Drennon Springs, I headed south on 1360 through Franklinton to 22. At Bethlehem, I took 573 to 561 and then to 421 and home.

Folks, there's plenty to explore. And now, like the Keene Springs Inn, I'm finding places that need revisiting.