From Greenbo Lake to Natural Bridge....

We started yesterday at Greenbo Lake State Park and ended up at Natural Bridge State Park. These images are at one or the other or in between. Kentucky is a beautiful state and this area we drove through is very mountainous and green and lovely to drive. Chipmunk in the tree eating the berries.
Cute enough for two pictures :-)

Wild turkeys.....first that I've ever seen. They were along the roadside between the two parks.

Remains of the old Buffalo Furnace. An old blast furnace that was in use from 1851 to 1900.

To me, an attractive pile of rocks, but to Mike very fascinating :-)

While he roamed around the furnace, I roamed the stream taking pictures of these Water Striders. They are so funny to watch. They constantly try to stay in one place, while the water is trying to take them downstream.

Very interesting to watch and try to photograph

Tobacco! We passed many tobacco farms along the road.

The tobacco was flowering. It is one of Kentucky's popular crops. I guess that Kentucky is a state of many "vices".....tobacco, bourbon, and horse racing :-) We hope to visit a distillary today.

We both would like to know what these bushes are and I'm sure someone out there can tell me. They were very beautiful lining this road and stream.

I especially like this area with the chickory and these bushes together with the water.

Blackbirds having a picnic :-)

The very highest point of this picture is a hummingbird sitting on the top of that tree....looks like another leaf :-) He was guarding a feeder at the lodge. The other bird is a catbird that was helping the chipmunk rob the berries in the tree. He doesn't hide as well as the hummingbird :-)

Hummer male

This was the skylift ride on the way back down from Natural Bridge. By that time the breeze and the pleasant rest was very welcome! It was enjoyable to ride up and down even without the scenery at the top!

One last photo of the bridge since my skywatch post has them also. I would guess that it is about 50 feet wide and you can walk across and stand on it. Terrific view of the mountains around!

Time to eat breakfast, and take off for new territory in the Lexington and Bardstown area :-)

Skywatch Friday.....

This skywatch is looking up to see what keeps me from plummeting to the earth below on my way up the mountain to.........view the Natural Bridge in Kentucky!

Once you are up there, the view is gorgeous with lots of lovely sky and the bridge in the distance!

Trees against the sky....a favorite view of mine

The view from on top of the Natural Bridge

The view back down towards where we came from.

Greenbo Lake State Park area.....

We left Ashland and drove north along the river towards Greenup to see the locks and dam. The road leading back to the locks was lined with these beautiful patches of sunflowers! Both sides of the road for the entire length! They are mixed with both yellow and darker ones.
A really pretty mixture!

Mike took pictures of the locks.......

.....while I chased around in the meadow that they leave unmowed except for paths to walk on. Both of us chased some black butterflies around and never did get a picture of them! Frustrating! I don't think they were swallowtails, but don't know what they were because they would never land.

I thought these were interesting

Headed to Greenbo Lake State Park which was out headquarters for last night.

From there we decided to drive to Carter Caves State Park. On the way we saw this old covered bridge off to the side of the road.

It isn't used for cars any more, but seemed very sturdy. It was originally built circa 1880 and then reconstructed in 1999. Wasn't sure what they meant by that (rebuilt the whole thing or just fixed it up?) Anyway.....it made for nice pictures.

The far end was covered in ivy or a vine of some sort.....very nice.....

.....and this butterfly took pity on me and landed at my feet.

While Mike signed in at the lodge where we are staying, I took pictures of this Catbird in the tree after these berries.

I'm not going to post pictures of the cave trip right now....maybe never. Caves are hard to take pictures of inside. It was a long walk, with lots of steps and slippery passageways, but very interesting.

On the way back to our lodge for dinner, we saw 2 deer in a little meadow off to one side of the road. Look at her ribs.

She was wary of our stopping on the road, but didn't move away.

The other one was much further away and appears to have spots.

Visited the boat launch area of the lake and I found this flower on the edge. Don't know what it is.

A tiny toad......only about an inch long.

Mike found these wings from a Widow Skimmer. I thought it was interestng that they are hooked together in one piece. They look ready to "clamp on ". You could really see the details holding them like this.

Well....it is morning....we are going for a walk before breakfast and then we will move on to a new park later today to spend tonight.

Ashland Architecture and other stuff....

Looks like Mike is done working and we get to leave Ashland, so we will head to our next place to stay (a state park). This and the one below are my last posts from Ashland, Kentucky.

This was our walk through the downtown area.

I loved this bank building and its details on the pillars!

Aren't these great??

This was a very nice old Episcopalian church

Been around awhile.

This house was rather fascinating with the chimmney going right through that round tower top.....

....and this cute little dragon/griffin at the top!

Lovely flowers

This was a nice old house that they were busy working on. This whole street...Bath Street....had some of the oldest houses in town. I took lots of pictures, but just don't see how I can post everything.

These two horse fountains were in a side yard....no water running in them, but I really liked them.

Lots of old iron gates and fences.....

.....another one....

There were two of these huge planters with pot stackers in the middle of them.

Another ivy covered fence on the way back to the hotel.

A building downtown

Art deco dentist office

Old Paramount theater. Designed in conjunction with Chicago World's Fair of 1932. There was to be one built in every state, but only 3 were built and this is the lone survivor.

Central Park has 6 Indian burial mounds in it. They discovered in 1870 that they were filled with bones and artifacts and they believe there was a village here. They have been restored to their original size.