Kentucky 2015

 The main reason we made a visit to Kentucky was for baseball and a concert. 
The game featured a minor league team from Lexington and the band was Royal Tailor. 

Jane chose this song to do her dance solo at Kids Fine Arts this past year. 

 It is rare when all four of us agree on music and in the case of Royal Tailor, even Elliot will sing along.

 Lexington is horse country. I had heard it was beautiful and that is an easy description. Rolling hills, impressive estates, the green, lush, manicured horse farms comprise a striking landscape. 

An early morning bike ride on Legacy Trail. 

Danville

The City of Firsts On December 4, 1787, the Virginia Legislature established Danville  as a Town in Virginia. Danville became a part of the Commonwealth when Kentucky became a  state in 1792. Danville, “The City of Firsts," was the location of the first Courthouse  in Kentucky First U.S. Post Office west of the Alleghenies (1792),  the first Capital of Kentucky (1785),  In 1809, Danville's own Dr. Ephraim McDowell  became the first physician in the world to successfully remove an ovarian tumor. His patient was Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford. We found this "city of firsts" to be home to Boyle County Library.  The children's area had a play on castle, a real bunny and comfy red chair.  It made me want to have a six year-old again and live down the street, just so I could come for story-time.    In the back of the library there was a beautiful reading room. It reminded me of the libraries they show in movies.  Oak bookshelves lining the walls. Long tables with little lamps. I could have spent time there reading a book.  Possibly the best library logo ever.  FORT HARROD  A reconstruction of the First Permanent American Settlement in Kentucky.  The reconstructed fort contains several log structures representing various aspects of military frontier life, including a militia blockhouse, a family blockhouse, several cabins demonstrating pioneer life, a blab school, the minister's cabin, and the leader's cabin. The Mansion Museum is a Greek Revival home that contains American Civil War artifacts, a McIntosh gun collection, paintings, documents, music collections, Abraham Lincoln memorabilia and Native American artifacts. The park also features the cabin where Abraham Lincoln's parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, were married. The Osage orange tree located in the fort would be the National Champion but a split at the base of the tree disqualifies it.  No one knows how it came to be in the Fort. A blacksmith was on hand and some men were preparing for a battle reenactment the next day.  This man made brooms from hand. They had various functions. One of the Restaurants we ate at was  Ramseys Diner Jane had a banana "dog" Banana, peanut butter.      We took some time on Saturday to stop at a few garage sales. I joked about buying the head and placing it in the kids bed at night.  Stocking up on ski.  Enter your own caption here. So many great finds in KY! We didn't bring this gem home with us.  The Game: Lexington Legends VS Hickory Crawdads  We loved the name of the teams in this league. Especially the Asheville Tourists.  The night was sponsored by Asbury University.  Not surprising they have impressive equestrian programs. The concert One day I was talking about Royal Tailor and instead I said Taylor Swift.  I think it started out half joking or just my brain not functioning. Anyway it launched  a running gag leading up to the concert, where we would sometimes refer to them as Royal Tailor Swift.  So it was very amusing to us when Royal Tailor released a single that partially covered Taylor Swift's- Shake it off. It made me wonder if they made a similar joke as a band.  Jane posted this picture to instagram. She was ecstatic when Tauren Wells (singer) liked it. It was very hot and the stage was small. Jane and I were to forgo the fireworks show and got right up front.  I realized after about 20 minutes in, that maybe I was too old for front row. I did jump when prompted (well I hopped) I also danced a little, but it was quite loud. Unfortunately the overall sound quality was not that great, ear plugs would have been welcomed.    The band did their best with choreography and singing. Tauren moon-walked that was fun to watch.   A  band picture from instagram . On the far left you can see Jane up front.