My Old Kentucky Home, Where O Where is the Capitol Building?, Landing in Columbus!

Monday, July 8, 2013

We can hardly believe this is our second Monday already!  We are having SUCH a good time!

This morning we got a bit of a late start because I was up tracking Santa Claus (I mean my older daughter, Joanna) as she flew home from Dallas to San Francisco in the aftermath of the plane crash at SFO on Saturday.  Flights are still backed up and she counts herself lucky that she was only about 7 hours late.  But, once a mom always a mom and I woke up and followed her progress until she got home!  Shirley was kind enough to let me sleep in for an extra bit and we started out at about 9:45 instead of 8.  All turned out well!

Our first stop was My Old Kentucky Home....the home where Stephen Foster wrote the song by the same name.  The home actually belonged to one of his cousins (in the Rowan Family) and was a stunning example of 1840's architecture.  I think Shirley thought I was crazy to have put this on our list but Stephen Foster only lived to about 37 years of age but

composed over 200 songs including My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight!; Swanee; Camptown Races, O Susannah, etc.  Two are state songs -- can

you guess which two?  That's right!!!  My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight is the state song for Kentucky and you always hear it at the beginning of the Kentucky Derby and Swanee was chosen by Florida.







The grounds were beautiful and we had yet another round of questions about our shoes!  Honestly, Fitflop should be paying US to wear them.  We have answered a barrage of questions about them and told folks how to buy them.  So far we had a day where we walked over 8,000 steps and they worked great!

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the bookstore and found the book of one of my close friends.  I was able to tell the clerk about it and she

thought I should buy a copy...I told her I already have an autographed copy!  Thanks, Glen!

Our next stop was supposed to be the state capital of Kentucky -- Frankfort.  That proved to be difficult.  Our maps were not cooperating, our Garmin was not cooperating, our iPad was not cooperating, and most importantly, our brains were not cooperating!!!  We've been taking pictures of Shirley with her school flag at various points along the way.  Then, she sends a postcard to her classroom and asks a question of the students.  We FINALLY found the capitol and we got the picture but it was a toughie!  This was the first day we had encountered road repairs and that might have had something to do with our lack of patience!

This was part of the problem....Whoever thought of a  Fifth Third Bank!....I don't even know what that means!

Shirley is getting better at taking pictures of the state signs......

Once again we were ambushed by changing to Eastern Daylight Time so we decided we better skedaddle to Columbus, Indiana.  I can't fully express how I felt when we crossed into Bartholomew County, IN. I started researching the Harrisons in 1995 and have "lived" in Bartholomew County for many years  --- in my mind.  Our Harrisons lived here from 1819 to 1878 and tomorrow we will drive out and look at their farm land.  Unfortunately, their graves were plowed under in the late 1890s (we have a newspaper article about it) but I know where it is.

Tomorrow morning we will be participating in a tour of the great architecture of Columbus, Indiana.  I'm not kidding -- stay tuned for the report -- and then start researching at the public library and at the historical society.

Thanks for traveling with us!

Kay