I won’t mince words. I love my daughters. My older daughter Courtney is a student at the University of Virginia which could be along the way of this road trip if I wanted it to be so I stopped both ways and each time Courtney graced me with some attention. She can make a father’s heart soar!
On my way west, as I entered West Virginia I drove by a National Park Service sign. These always catch my attention because they’re without exception wonderful places to visit. “Cool” I thought “I need a little break from driving so I’ll check it out.” I’d never heard of the mis-named New River but it’s one of the oldest rivers on the continent with the deepest gorges in the east. The bridge pictured above spans the New River gorge and is the longest arch bridge in the world. How great! Seeing it wasn’t even on my list!
Continuing on, I spent time in Charleston and Lexington. It was late afternoon in Charleston so I meandered around the State Capitol and along the waterfront then moved downtown to walk about the historic district. Jumping back in the car I decided to get off the Interstate and take Route 60, the Midland Trail. From my chats with people in the State Capitol it sounded like this road was West Virginia’s Route 66. It was quite scenic and took me back in time. I decided then to drive the rest of Route 60 on my return.
I arrived in Lexington after dusk and settled down for the night. The next morning I planned to spend a few hours getting to know the town a bit. This is a truly lovely city with lots of old Kentucky in good shape to be admired by all. Visiting Ashland I learned that Henry Clay was Lincoln’s political mentor. The University of Kentucky occupies a big chunk of the core of town; it’s a beautiful campus. Another Lincoln site I visited was theMary Todd Lincoln House. Kentucky seems quite proud of their Lincoln heritage. Hitting the road I made one more stop of consequence before getting to Hodgenville and that was at the Kentucky Railway Museum.
The primary objectives of this trip were to go caving and to visit Lincoln’s birthplace. Of these I’ve written separately in this blog. However, between the two I took a trip up the Dixie Highway toward Louisville. I had no major goal in mind other than to see the sites and I did: Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia, Fort Knox, Swopes Cars of Yesteryear, Riverside Landing most notably. As I said elsewhere, when you look closely there’s LOTS to do!
Driving home, I detoured to Frankfort because I enjoy State capitols and I’d never even heard of this one. They have an Old Capitol and a New Capitol building, both first seen from the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial. They have a fabulous Kentucky History Museum (featuring Lincoln currently, of course) and a Capital City Museum. Best of all, however, was their beautifully preserved old downtown. Walking around was like being thrown back in time and it was all in such good shape. As I left town, I went to the cemetery on the hill which afforded great views down to the city and its river.
The rest of my trip was largely just driving home with intermittent stops. I went out of my way to visit the Museum of Radio and Technology knowing it would be closed but still wanting to see the place. Upon leaving Charleston in the morning I got on the Midland Trail until I reached Virginia. Along the route I saw ancient roadside attractions and stunning vistas from the mountains above the New River Valley. Once in Virginia I visited the campuses of Virginia Military Institute and Washington & Lee University then dashed to Natural Bridge before the sunlight started to fade.
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