catching up

the past month has been full of unexpected trips, sights and kentucky adventures. i've been working, too, which has slowed down my traipsing around the state. in any case, i wanted to take this opportunity to point out a few of kentucky's beauties and introduce you to what i've been seeing recently.

N. and i have been doing quite a bit of hiking in the natural bridge state resort park, about 45 minutes away from our home. it's a gorgeous area - right near red river gorge, which is (so says a friend) one of the top rock climbing destinations in the US and that climbers come from all over the country to spend time there. it must be true: N. and i were there memorial day weekend and discovered when we parked our car that ours had the only KY plates in the entire lot! i'm truly enjoying the chance to spend time hiking in the area...and i'm slowly but surely learning my trees! of course, there's a good chance my tree ID'ing skills will only last through the early fall - i'm really not too good at identifying them by anything other than their leaves. i suppose i'll get there over the next few years as i continue hiking with a self-proclaimed "tree geek"...

in the meantime, last weekend we were able to snag tickets for the first annual chamber music festival of the bluegrass, which took place in a converted barn in kentucky's preserved shaker village [also about 45 minutes from our home]. the concert was spectacular - what could be better than schubert's "trout" quintet played by the lincoln center chamber music society in a pastoral setting with birds chirping overhead? - and the shaker village, which we spent about an hour touring before the concert began, is definitely worth a trip. the ride home was gorgeous, too - right through farm country, and we got to cross the kentucky river on a ferry at one point!

i am definitely enjoying getting to know the bluegrass region (and kentucky as a whole), and it's great to discover the little gems of natural beauty/culture/history hidden in the state. to be sure, it's not new york city - - but then again, i haven't heard of any world-class rock climbing within 30 miles of manhattan, either.

and it's a lot easier to find parking here, too...

by the way, the frugal traveler is coming through TN and KY this coming week and many of the comments on his blog refer to the places i mentioned here, as well as many, many other sites worth visiting in this part of the USA. not-so-subtle-hint here...!