RENFRO VALLEY/BEREA, KENTUCKY

On our way north to Michigan, we thought Renfro Valley, KY, would be a convenient base for a couple of days.  The RV Campground is very convenient to the interstate and from all we read it was quite the "happening" place.  Although the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center is known as "Kentucky's Country Music Capital", it doesn't happen from Sunday to Tuesday.   Guess what days we're staying there?!  We noticed the area was not very crowded and the story we got was that the original owners passed away within a year of each other, and it took a while for their only daughter to decide whether to continue the business her parents started.  As a result of a slow economy, the music entertainment business has suffered as well.  Although there are about 114 total RV sites, we saw less than 20 RV's since we arrived.  It appealed to us because they advertised live Country Music shows, unique shopping villages, 2 restaurants, festivals and special events.  They still advertise that Loretta Lynn, George Jones, The Oak Ridge Boys, Jamey Johnson, Charley Pride, Ronnie McDowell and more are coming, just not when we're there.   We planned on going to the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, located next to our campground, but guess what.....they are also closed Sunday through Tuesday.  

Sunday was the final day of the 29th Berea Craft Festival, about 20 miles north of Renfro Valley, a huge annual festival  held at their historic Indian Fort Theater.  The Festival featured over 115 top artists from 20 states, strolling musicians and folk dancers.  We were vaguely familiar with Berea College, founded in 1855, as the first interracial and coeducational college in the South.  Berea is known as the Folk Arts and Crafts Capital of Kentucky largely because of the presence of Berea College studio artists.  In just a short time it became obvious to us that the town of Berea is a thriving community of artists, students, and progressively-minded individuals committed to community, creativity, social justice and environmental responsibility.  We enjoyed the Craft Festival very much and the weather was perfect.

After we left the Craft Festival we went to the Kentucky Artisan Center, a 25,000 square foot Kentucky limestone facility just off I-75, north of Berea.  We were star-struck at this facility that featured hand-blown glass vases, pewter ornaments, hand-thrown pottery bowls and mugs, colorful quilts, hand-woven baskets, whimsical garden creatures and all kinds of jewelry, as well as books, music, and specialty foods .... all made in Kentucky.

We'll return to Berea in a few days to visit the historic Boone Tavern Hotel, the first Green-Certified hotel in Kentucky!  

ELIZABETHTOWN, KENTUCKY

It's been a couple of weeks since our last post. We were enjoying the company of the DeCarlo's in Shepherdstown, KY, when we experienced a mechanical issue that had to be addressed, and would mean we needed to think about heading for the Tiffin factory in Red Bay, Alabama, earlier than we had anticipated. The problem meant we had no front air conditioner, water heater or microwave oven. The transfer switch had shorted - don't even ask me what that is.

However, we did have the back air conditioner and a coffee maker. So we decided to enjoy a day in Elizabethtown, not too far away, where we had planned a day excursion. The Schmidt's Coca Cola Museum, one of the biggest collection of Coca Cola memorabilia EVER - they say bigger than the Museum in Atlanta. At the end of the tour you can purchase a nickel coke.


Another famous attraction in Elizabethtown was Swope's Cars of Yesteryear, a private collection of automobiles and rare vintage automobiles. There's even a letter from Clyde Barrow (of the Bonnie and Clyde fame)to Henry Ford complimenting the performance of the Ford V8.


Before we say goodbye to Ray, Louise and Abby, we head south and spend the night in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the location of the Corvette Plant and the National Corvette Museum. We all picked out Corvettes - there were several waiting to be picked up by their new owners. So much history! The Corvette plant is still open - however, they were closed for a couple of weeks when we came through. We found a campground called River Bend which would be the dream of everyone who loves amusement parks - this place comes alive on the weekends...we had caught it JUST right!

We say our goodbye's to Ray and Louise the next morning. They head back to Florida and we go our separate ways while navigating through Nashville. We wanted to stop so bad to see some close friends; however, it was now a necessity to get to Red Bay...on the northwestern side of Alabama - about a mile from Mississippi.

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER FACTORY, CHURCHILL DOWNS AND THE PARADISE CAFE

We can go home now, RV says. He's seen the Louisville Slugger Factory, and it was more than he ever imagined. He held Mickey Mantle's and Rod Carew's bat, etc. and I don't EVEN know all the other significant things. Bob really enjoyed seeing the "Ft Knox of Louisville Slugger's on display that were used by so many stars as well as super-stars. They were making Josh Hamilton's bats in the factory. The 24,000 sf museum has interactive displays, exhibits and a film highlighting the history of the company and baseball's greatest hitters. I had been there when I was about 11 years old; however, they still gave me a mini bat. You know if any of these pictures are too small, just click on the one you'd like to see. It is pretty impressive that what used to take 30 minutes to produce one bat, now takes 30 seconds with the use of modern techology.

We continued on to Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. A terrible rainstorm last week that brought about 7 inches of rain in about 45 minutes was devastating to the museum and it has been closed until they can repair all the damage to very valuable items that were on exhibit. However, we did get a fantastic tour from a very knowledgeable guide.

The horse in the pictures is Phantom, on permanent exhibit at the track. He is the grandson of Secretariat, also a Derby champion. The horse is at the end of his career and the Foundation will sell them to you if you're serious. No kidding, the prices for the older horses who cannot be bred or raced again, is about $500. Phantom is on exhibit with a miniature horse, just to keep him company. Phantom had just eaten lunch and couldn't hold his eyes open.

If we're going to be in town a couple of days I usually do a little research on places we might enjoy eating. Well, we found a place called Lynn's Paradise Cafe, and I'll have to say it was most enjoyable, most eclectic. The food was very good and you could tell a lot of the students from the University probably enjoyed it as well. There is a long list of celebrities that love to eat here when they are around. If you have time, look them up on the internet. I hope my pictures do it justice. I think we counted about 3 parking lots just for the customers who come to the Paradise Cafe.