Summer, Summer, Summertime, Time to Sit Back and Unwind

Well, Kids. It's been one hell of a weekend. Saturday started out just fine. I went to the Farmers Market and got what I was told was the last of the asparagus for the year. Wah! I also got a bunch of strawberries and they are supposedly really good for women to eat...If they're organic. I guess ones that are sprayed with poison, are worse than a lot of non-organic foods for people. The insecticides or whatever other crap they spray on non-organic produce seeps into the fruit, and we consume too much of it when we eat strawberries. That is why I only eat strawberries when I can get organic ones from the Farmers Market. They taste so much better than the store bought ones too.

Anyway, I went for a three mile run, and my body actually let me run without making me stop to walk. Which rarely happens anymore.

We headed over to Des Moines to help Stinky and her husband move. Stinky is staying with us over the Summer. Her husband wanted to finish out his job in Des Moines over the Summer to be able to use his vacation time for a couple of weddings. So, he's staying at his mom and step dad's house there, and Stinky is staying with us here, working at the hospital and taking on-line classes at the local junior college. Lazy ass. 

So, we got to their place at around noon. We were told that we would be moving all of the things they were to have completely packed into the garage to make it easier for her dad and his brothers to load into the U-Haul. Surprise, surprise, they were maybe half-packed. John and I ended up taking apart bed frames, and tables, and throwing crap into boxes, and THEN moving it all into the garage.

By the time her dad showed up with his brothers and the U-Haul. we had pretty much everything ready to go. We thought we would help load the U-Haul, but Stinky's dad kept telling everyone they were loading things wrong, even his two brothers who used to load U-Hauls for a living, and they all started arguing about the best way to load the truck, and there was much rolling of eyes, and I figured that since we had been divorced since the late 90's that I didn't have to listen to him fight with his brothers anymore, and John and I bowed out.

We decided to ride some mountain bike trails in Des Moines. Of course, I didn't realize how tired I was going to be after running in the morning and lifting and moving heavy boxes, and couches and TV's and any number of objects, (oh, and did I mention it was really hot out?) so I was slow as sin (or is sin fast?), and I only lasted about four miles, before I had to stop.

We headed to El Bait Shop for dinner and a well-earned beer. It was a long day.

It finally rained this morning. Thank all the gods and goddesses and mother nature and the powers of the universe. My gardens were just so happy and our newest poppies decided to bloom. And it was good, and there was much rejoicing throughout the land...

I walked over to my plot in the community garden to check on things and found out my potatoes were still getting eaten by stupid bugs. I had tried to get rid of them organically, but that only worked for a couple of days. I wanted to try and save at least a little of the potatoes I planted, so I just dug them all up. Surprisingly, there were a ton ready already. I kept digging up more and more, and now we have more potatoes than I've ever grown before. Maybe I have an Irish style green thumb?

The rain calmed down for a while, and I was able to run in the morning. Same like yesterday, I didn't even have to stop and walk. I even ran an extra half a mile. It would be so great if that lasted.

After lunch, John took a cat nap, both literally and figuratively, and I went to the store. It was raining a little but not too bad.

Then it stopped altogether for a few hours. We decided to do a little, flat, 25 mile ride. I ended up feeling pretty strong during that too. It's a weird feeling being strong. It's been so rough the last couple of years with the stupid perimenopause. It has made my muscles so tight, and my joints sore. It has given me migraines almost every day of varying strengths, and today that all just calmed down. I was still pretty slow at doing things, but I wasn't so exhausted I had to stop, or that I couldn't even start in the first place. Even if this new found strength and energy doesn't last until tomorrow, I definitely appreciate it today.

 I ended our weekend by making out first batch of pesto this year. It is so good when it's THAT fresh. 

I hope you all discovered new found strength, and you were able to appreciate the longest day of the year in your favorite way. Happy Summer!

So Come Out of Your Cave Walking on Your Hands and See the World Hanging Upside Down

Okay, I'm finally on our last full day in Louisville. Coadster has a goal to see every National Park in her lifetime, so I got tickets for a self-guided tour of Mammoth Cave, which is about an hour and a hlaf drive from Louisville.

We were there the last weekend before they loosened Covid restrictions.

First we did a little hike on the trails outside the cave. I had read there were cool trails and the one we hiked certainly did not disappoint.

We entered the cave at the appointed time. Apparently, It is the longest cave...in the United States? In North America? On this planet? In the universe? I'm not sure, but it's the longest.

I bought my iPhone11 last Fall when the next new model came out and the price went down by half. I was glad I had it in the cave. It has that special feature that as long as you don't move, it will take a decent photo of you when it's dark. We were not allowed to use a flash in the cave, and even though it was hard not to move for the allotted time and some of our pics were a little blurry, it still took way better photos than any other camera we had.

Plus, I could pretend that the blurry photos were me just being artsy.

I had been to Wind Cave in South Dakota, which is also a National Park cave, and Mammoth Cave is way different than that. Mammoth is above the water line, so you don't see things like cave bacon or stalactites, but the ceiling is just gorgeous with all the funky colors of substances used to make gun powder.

After our tour, we headed over to the ice cream place. That is my new favorite thing, getting ice cream after hiking in a National Park. I hope to do that at everyone I go to.

On our way back to Louisville, we headed to Bernheim Forest to see the giant trolls.

We had no idea how beautiful that park would be. There we sculptures and beautiful flowers and ponds with turtles and fish.

There were three giants we could see on a 3/4 of a mile hike. Before we even made it to the first troll, the kids were grumbling about walking much more. John and I are used to working out all the time, but Coadster and her boyfriend were pretty much done. So, we got some fun photos of the first troll and headed back.

We decided to go back to Whiskey Row to find a place to eat dinner. Unfortunately, the problem of finding a table at any of the restaurants that were open was even worse than it had been on Saturday. After about an hour and a half, we found a place that gave us only a half hour wait. We were all pretty tired and hungry and cranky by then which is never a good combination, but we all perked up after we got some food and a beer in us.

We went back to our neighborhood for one last drink before we headed to our place and then left the next morning. 

I would have to say our first trip out since Covid began was an all out success. We had a chance to get to know Coadster's boyfriend better and hang out with Coadster for more than a half hour for the first time in a year and a half. We also got out of Iowa and had lovely adventures. I think we all really needed it.
 

Take Me Back to Louisville, Take Me 'Neath That Southern Sky

Well, shit. It's been a week now, and I still haven't finished my Louisville posts. So, this one is about our crazy, busy second day in Louisville. We got up around 7, so we could be out of the house by 8. We got breakfast, and headed over to the Heigold house facade. We came upon it by accident the last time we were in town. So, this time we went to see it on purpose. It is great for pictures, after all.

We headed over to Churchill Downs, and went straight to the Kentucky Derby museum. It was pretty cool. They had an exhibit about people of color involved in the derby, and another on women jockeys. The movie they show is definitely the best part. So, if you go, make sure you check it out.

 I figured if I was going to Churchill Downs, I should probably drink a Mint Julep. I know myself well enough to get one to split with someone else. I knew it was going to have whiskey in it, I just didn't know it was going to taste exactly like whiskey and nothing else. At least we got a photo of me making such a "pretty face". Ahem.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that it was f*cking FREEZING that day. It was also misting. We definitely did NOT feel like we were in the South (even though we were technically about 10 minutes into the South). It would be nice not to be shivering on Memorial Day weekend.

Anyway,  we had great seats to watch the races. The kids gambled and lost. Surprise, surprise, but they had a lot of fun losing, so I guess it was worth it? Coadster's boyfriend, A. loves animals, so he was super into watching the horses at Churchill Downs.

We also stopped by the family business when we were there. Of course, we had about 5 minutes to say hi to my cousin's kid, and he had to go out and take photos of the winner of the race that just finished, so it was hurried. Most importantly? We got a photo out of it.

The reason we were so pressed for time was because Coadster and A. wanted to get to the Muhammad Ali museum and it closed at 5. We made it in plenty of time. John and I had been to it once before in 2013. It's really cool, though, and we were happy to see it again.

After the museum we headed back to our place to change. I had made dinner reservations for 6:30. We were heading out the door with about 20 minutes before our reservation, when the restaurant called and told us they couldn't take any more tables that night. Really? I've never had that happen to me before. Of course, Louisville just opened up from Covid four days before, so half the restaurants were closed for good, and the ones that were open were severely short staffed and training about half their new employees. 

We were lucky to find a place on Fourth Street Live with only a half  hour wait. It wasn't a super exciting place, but it wasn't horrible, and I understand it was all a HUGE first world problem. It was  just all so weird, and we were talking about how we would always remember this trip as our return from Covid (hopefully it's a return without any back sliding).

 Anyway, we stopped at this place called the Side Car for a nightcap. It was so cute, and the staff were all so friendly and they were playing The Cure's greatest hits and they had cool cocktails, and it was a great way to end the night. Well, that, and taking pictures with the Troll Under the Bridge, that is.