We spent Monday primarily in Louisville. We could see evidence of the riots and protests, but thankfully we didn't witness any of it first hand. We started our day at the Kentucky Derby Museum which included a tour of Churchill Downs. I had contemplated a tour that started at 7:30 that morning which would have enabled us to watch the horses practicing for about an hour. I hadn't bought tickets for it because #1 it would have cost $95 for all of us to attend and #2 I didn't think they would want to get up that early. If I could go back in time, I would have splurged. Paul didn't think he'd enjoy the Kentucky Derby Museum, but he did. Our second stop was to walk across the Big Four Bridge to Indiana. We watched a free presentation on making coconut fish candy (a hard candy that is very popular in that region) at Schimpff's Confectionery. The family owned candy business was opened in 1891, and the first owner's great grandson and his wife are the current owners. We bought the kids some candy before we walked back over the bridge. The kids played at a playground on the Kentucky side of the bridge before we toured the Louisville Slugger Factory. In the museum they let you hold the bat of famous baseball players. They had one bat from each team. Since we're not really baseball fans, we were indecisive as to which bats to hold. All three kids had their picture taken holding Babe Ruth's bat, and Ian also had his picture taken holding Dick Allen's bat. We picked him since he played for the Phillies. Since I was wearing a Steelers t-shirt I think the man expected us to pick the Pirates player's bat.
The Kentucky Science Center was across the street from the Slugger Factory. It amazes me that some science museums are still closed due to COVID-19, some that we have visited have only about 1/2 of their exhibits open due to COVID-19, and then the Kentucky Science Center had almost every exhibit open. Some of the museums we have visited have given us each a stylus to use so that we wouldn't be touching any screens. The Underground Freedom Railroad Museum had installed foot pedals throughout the museum to use instead of touching a screen. However at the Kentucky Science Center, the kids were allowed to touch with their hands just as they did prior to COVID-19. It was a nice science museum, and thanks to our ASTC membership, we got in for free. We spent almost 3 hours there before driving to Red Robin for dinner. We used a reward we had earned - one free adult meal. Because we hadn't been able to try some ice cream at Graeter's as planned the previous day, we stopped at one after Red Robin. It was an expensive dessert that is to be certain. Paul didn't try anything new. He had his usual vanilla milkshake, but the kids and I each tried a flavor we hadn't had before. Graeter's has been in business since 1870. It was expensive ice cream, but it was only the second restaurant we've bought anything at this vacation that we didn't pay for with a gift card. We also bought some cookies and drinks at McD's earlier in the trip without a gift card.
Tuesday was the day that I had to completely reconfigure because the original plans had been to tour the Toyota factory and spend most of the day at the Kentucky Horse Park. Toyota isn't giving tours right now due to COVID, and the horse park isn't open on Mondays or Tuesdays right now due to COVID. We thought that we'd get breakfast at Dunkin on the way to the Shaker Village since the hotel we stayed at near Louisville didn't offer any breakfast due to COVID, but we didn't actually pass any Dunkin Donuts restaurants. I ate two blueberry muffins from a previous hotel, and Paul and the kids each ate a breakfast sandwich from Wendy's. None of them were fond of what they ate. I knew the Shaker Village experience wouldn't be the same as usual due to COVID, but still I was rather disappointed. Yesterday was definitely not the highlight of our vacation. We weren't able to tour the bison ranch as planned and the Shaker Village was disappointing. We did enjoy our 30 minute tour of the Boone Creek Creamery. Because of COVID we weren't allowed in the Hobbit Cave (where the cheese is aged) or taste any free samples, but because the tour was free, we did buy three different artisan cheeses as a way of saying thank you for the tour. Paul is looking forward to trying the one that has beef jerky in it.
We drove more yesterday than we had for a few days. I had picked two movies for them to watch during the vacation through Disney+. They watched Secretariat on Sunday in preparation for our trip to Churchill Downs, and yesterday they watched Ruby Bridges. We listened to the newest Vanderbeekers book, will finish a biography of Thomas Edison tomorrow morning, and we're also part way through another Andrew Clements book.
Last night we had dinner at a Texas Roadhouse in West Virginia. We ate at an outside table to avoid waiting for a table inside. Nadia wasn't happy about that because she got some bug bites on her ankles. One of her ankles is pretty swollen today from the bites. When we checked into our hotel Nadia was thrilled because the room I had paid for had THREE queen size beds in it. It was a very large room. Nadia had slept on an air mattress every other night of the trip so she got one of the queen beds to herself. Unfortunately the air mattress has a leak so it hasn't been the most comfortable thing to sleep on. She chose to be the one on the floor though. I had volunteered to share a bed with her, and Paul could have shared a bed with one of the boys. It feels odd to be walking into a hotel room with an air mattress, sheet, and sleeping bag, but when you have five people in your family, it seems the way to go as finding a room with three queen size beds is like finding a needle in a haystack. Nadia had picked which bed she wanted, but Paul thought we should have that one. I wish we had let Nadia have it because the mattress on it was the same quality as a sofa bed mattress even though it wasn't a sofa bed. The other two beds had much nicer mattresses. Sleeping at night is hard for me in hotels because my back is particular. The first two hotels we stayed in this vacation had the best mattresses so far. The last three nights were painful for me. Every time I am in a hotel and struggle to sleep there are moments when I think I never want to go on vacation again, but enough time passes that I forget how uncomfortable it can be for me to sleep elsewhere. The hotel in West Virginia did give us a free "to go" breakfast. Paul didn't like much of what they offered. I think his breakfast was primarily peanuts we brought from Texas Roadhouse last night. Several of us ate a leftover roll from last night with our breakfast this morning.
I had chosen to stay at that hotel because I thought we'd spend time at the Clay Center in Charleston before heading back to Pennsylvania. Like the Cincinnati Museum Center, it houses a few museums, and we could get into all of them for free with our ASTC membership. However a few days ago they decreased how many days they are open each week. I only discovered this yesterday. Thankfully after booking the hotel I had added one more thing to do in the area before going to the Clay Center - touring a family owned salt works company. I also discovered last night that the national park we planned to visit today also had reduced what days they are open each week. So last night I had to reconfigure what we were going to do today and tomorrow because all that was left on the schedule for today was a 30 minute tour at JQ Dickinson. Let me tell you one must be VERY, VERY flexible if you dare to go on vacation during COVID-19. The salt works tour was very interesting. Since the tour was free, we felt obligated to buy something. They had let us try some samples of different salts and also different caramels that they make. The caramel was out of this world so we bought a jar. It cost far more than I'd ever normally pay for a jar of caramel, but it is very delicious and in my mind was a way of saying thank you for the free tour.
Every other day on this trip our lunch has consisted of food I brought from home - crackers, PB&J sandwiches, fruit, and granola bars. I had received an email from Panera saying if we spent $50 paying with a certain type of payment that we'd get the $50 back. So I decided we'd have lunch at Panera today. It was delicious! We also stopped at Dorsey's Knob Park in Morgantown, WV so the kids could play on the playground, and we could also take in the pretty views. I was hoping the leaves would be turning, but our trip was a little too early for that. Since we were unable to visit Friendship Hill NHS as planned, we visited Fort Necessity instead. Unfortunately we got off schedule through the course of the day for a variety of reasons, and we had a little less than one hour at the park rather than the two I had planned. Two would have been much better. It was VERY challenging to complete the junior ranger badges in 55 minutes, but they did it. Paul would like to go back there sometime since our visit was so rushed. This battlefield was at the very start of the French and Indian War.
We had dinner at Subway and then checked in at our hotel. The kids were thrilled when I told them that this hotel has an OPEN pool!!! The jacuzzi was closed, they aren't offering any food in place of the breakfast buffet they usually offer, but the indoor pool was open. I'm confident we won't have trouble going to a Dunkin Donut tomorrow on our way to the Flight 93 memorial. This is our last night at a hotel as we are driving home tomorrow evening. We thought we'd be able to swim four of the seven nights, but we were actually able to swim one night. The water temperature was about 65 degrees according to Paul. I had put on my bathing suit, but when he told me that I turned around and went back to our room. I expected the kids would swim for an hour, but they only lasted 40 minutes given the water temperature. We thought we'd be eating a free breakfast at the hotel all seven mornings, but three of the mornings the hotel didn't provide any food. Of all the places we visited, only two took issue with the kids wearing face shields. Presuming all goes as planned tomorrow (which is certainly not a guarantee), the kids will have earned 7 Junior Ranger badges on this trip. So far the kids and Paul say that their most favorite parts of the trip have included: Air Force Museum (Paul's #1 and the boys have it in their top three), Ark, Creation Museum, IMAX movie, Kentucky Science Center, and Schrimpff's Confectionery. The first day of our trip was the day that involved the most driving. I'm glad we're already in western Pennsylvania, which means we won't be driving nearly as much tomorrow as we did on October 1. I'm thankful we've had safety on the road thus far. A fawn did collide with our vehicle a few days ago, but thankfully I don't think our van was damaged. If anything was damaged, it was the mirror on the driver's side of the vehicle. Paul and I both try our best to dodge all animals when driving, but we weren't able to this time. We appreciated the cheaper gas prices in Ohio and Kentucky. We had to pay a lot more for a tank of gas this evening since we reentered Pennsylvania. Our van has almost 150,000 miles on it, and I'm thankful that it hasn't given us any mechanical problems thus far. Here's to hoping that I get more sleep tonight and that we'll have a good day together tomorrow - the last day of our family vacation for 2020. I took a LOT of pictures over the past 10 days. I'm planning to work on a photo book once we're back home as Shutterfly is having another unlimited pages special this weekend.
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