Lincoln’s Birthplace, Quilting, And The Bank, KY/TN

We decided to stop at Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace National Historic Park. It is near Hodgenville, Kentucky. This place never came up in my exploring search but we saw the signs along the freeway. I took no pictures outside because it was raining heavily. We didn’t walk around outside but we did go inside and see the visitor center and film. Captioned! We learned that people say Abraham grew up poor but that isn’t the truth, according to this place and records here. His parents lived in Elizabethtown and then bought 30 acres here for $200.00 ($5500.00 in today’s money) where Abraham was born two years or so later. His dad was a carpenter and was upper-middle class, even in the top 20% of tax payers. His family had to move a few years later because of a land title disagreement. They moved a few miles away. When he was 9 they moved again because of another land title disagreement with the owners of the land they were renting. His dad lost the court battle for title of property and he had had enough. They moved a little ways into Indiana. Farming was done very little. 

The land all around here that we have explored is very hilly. We noticed no farms of crops. Lots of cattle, a few sheep and fewer goats. I mentioned we didn’t see any horses and that was weird since we are close to Churchill Downs and then we saw 3. Ha

Arranging Quilt Blocks On The Queen Bed, Still Need To Sew Them Together & Add Borders, Park City, KY 05/25

Sewing, that is what I wanted to do…and did all week long. It is interesting how colors and patterns on fabric can make a quilt pattern looked completely different. This one, I pulled out fabric that I have a lot of, trying to use it up. It is the bright yellow, pale green, blue and then added 3 different purples. When I laid the blocks on the bed to put them in order, wow, it is stunning! I showed Kevin the picture and he said we are keeping it! I am not to give it away. LOL I need to still sew the block together and add the borders. But this picture gives an idea of what it will look like.

We went to Nashville, Tennessee, one day. Why drive 90+ miles there, especially since we were there last Fall? Well, when we changed our mailing address, our bank got concerned and had to make sure we aren’t laundering money! Well, according to the gov, they have to check and have to see us face-to-face plus our ID. There is no Wells Fargo in the whole state of Kentucky! When Kevin called Wells Fargo he was able to get an appointment in Nashville suburb of Madison for Saturday at 9:00 a.m. The young man was very helpful. It took about 1/2 hour, longer than Kevin thought it would take, to get all our info inputted into the computer. Kevin even had to sign that we don’t owe the IRS money. We thought that a strangely funny question. NO, we don’t owe the IRS money. 

Cemetery On Both Sides Of Track, Nashville National Cemetery, Madison, TN 05/25

Next we went to Nashville National Cemetery. It was very close to where we were. The headstones are laid out in curves to somewhat follow the hills. We had to cross under a railroad track which was unique. Find A Grave photo request was for John Petway; he was MIA in the Korean War, later KIA and some remains came here. That was the only photo request for here. It was an honor to fulfill that photo request.

Paula Deen’s Kitchen, Nashville, TN 05/25

We knew we were close to Paula Deen’s Kitchen. We have been to her restaurant in Savannah, GA and this one last year. Yes, we wanted to go. We got there a few minutes before it opened at 11:00 a.m. What do you know? Paula Deen was here today and doing book signing! We went in and got our name on the list to eat. That was good as there was a fair amount of people coming in after us. She is a cute, older lady. Her black thick rimmed glasses show off nicely with her white hair. She looked to be having fun. Her husband was there and walking around talking with people. The food, of course, was excellent. The family-style is so nice. We got: fried chicken, chicken fried steak and white gravy, creamed potatoes, BBQ beans, Mac and cheese, and corn on the cob. Dessert is included and we got the ooey gooey cake, but they have another flavor besides vanilla – strawberry. We got one of each. So delicious. I liked the vanilla a bit better and Kevin liked the strawberry a bit better. A fun dining experience. From there we headed back north. We got fuel and then decided to take the side roads to Bowling Green. Even though the miles were about the same, of course going slower took more time and we sure enjoyed it. Some of the older houses I see here in Kentucky and Tennessee, have the front of the house deep enough for one room and usually a second story. Then behind it, at a 90° angle off the middle of the front part is more house behind. It is fun to see the different types of houses around the country.

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!