Gentle Winter

I just think icicles are cool, and when they are hanging off of rugged walls in forests they are even cooler.



I wonder sometimes how great my shots would be if I ever learned how to use a camera. Always wary of potential attack, I scared these turkeys into running before I tried to take their picture. And I might have been getting to run the other way as well, all accounting for an unclear shot.




This is a shot of the pass in the rocks to the top of the bridge, at the top of the stairs in a previous photo. I think, in my defense, it now becomes more clear why I decided to not try to fit through the pass.



There was a sign along the trail that said wall climbing prohibited. I did not know what it meant until I got further along the trail.

Natural Bridge State Park

Driving towards a potential destination of Boone NC I saw the sign that said Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky and I had to stop. These stairs actually went up to the top of the bridge but I decided, well how can I say this delicately, that I could not fit up at the top part of the stairs!



This sign was not fooling me at all. At the bottom of the sign in notes that there are 35 additional mammals in the park. If I remember correctly from 8th grade, a bear is a mammal.




What a cool bridge. I tried to set up a tripod photo, but it was raining a kind of ice like moisture so I did not want to leave the camera exposed too long. As such, I set it for 10 seconds only, which apparently was not enough time for me to climb up and over this fence to get posed into the picture. I found this out later when I looked at the shot.



This is a shot on the approach up to the bridge. Seems this is an old logging and railroad area that was donated to the state of Kentucky some years ago. The trail to the bridge is about 1 mile, and it is fairly uphill, and it was cold and snowy, rainy, icy, but worth every step.



This is just what it looks like, a cig butt. It caught my eye because it was on the trail up to the bridge and I could not help but wonder how hard the walk might have been for the dude that decided to lite up half way up the trail. Again, it was only about a 3 mile round trip, but it was reasonably steep at points. Look how nicely the butt is silhouetted against pristine pine needles and snow.

Into beautiful Kentucky

Out of Ohio, across the Ohio River and into Kentucky. This is a spectacular and beautiful state. As 2009 is getting very tired I notice that traffic is pretty light early in the morning. I think I have decided that I am a nomad. I like it out here. I like the people I meet and I love the sites. This was just a normal bridge crossing on I 75 south, but wow.



Very, very early in the morning, 6am-ish, I noticed this church off in the distance and wonderfully misted in a fog. I was on the Kentucky Mountain Parkway. I thought of trying to find the road to the church, to maybe catch a service, but back on the road I found just as much peace moving again as I would have in the church.

Zanesville and beyond

I got of the the highway as soon as possible, this time off of I 70 and onto US 22 towards Cincinnati. One of the first stops was the "Y" Bridge in Zanesville which the plaque says is the only of its kind in the world. Go Zanesville. Oh, the rivers are the Licking and The Muskingham.


Just near the bridge was this odd looking field of pots, or statues, or whatever they are. I do love being on the road again. After this stop I headed to Cincinnati to see a great friend Chris G. We spent the night solving, of course, the worlds problems. Next onto Kentucky, still no sure route, but all good.

Crossing into 2010

Time for another road trip, and yet another blog. This trip finds me meandering towards the south and the ocean. I will head to Cincinnati today to see friend Chris, then continue south and east, I think, towards the mountains near Boone, NC. Actually this trip started before Christmas as I traveled with my Dad to Lourdes France to visit the Basillica of the Apparition there, oh and to have a glass of wine in a small cafe with a great man.



Then time to load up Supervan, including my lucky rock, and head west and south, I think to the Blue Mountain Area, for a Comet Trip.