Explore Kentucky
Spring is the best time to discover our state’s diverse landscape and secret treasures
Living in distinctive parts of Kentucky and being able to travel the state from one end to the other is a privilege. Growing up in northeastern Kentucky, along the Ohio River, I went to college at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. While at my first electric co-op job at Nolin RECC in Elizabethtown, our children were born. Soon thereafter we moved back home, where our two girls roamed the rolling hills with pastoral dairy farms and covered bridges of Fleming County.
Today we live in the state’s largest city, Louisville, having moved here in 2014. Working with KAEC’s 26 electric cooperatives I now travel the state routinely.
So, I believe I can truly comment on what our great state has to offer. This issue is dedicated to the “Best in Kentucky” and as the weather warms there is no better time to explore our state. As a close friend once said to me while we were fishing, “You know, Chris, there is not a better place in the world than a spring day in Kentucky.”
I agree. Let me offer up some of my favorites across the state.
Mammoth Cave, celebrating 200 years of cave tours, is a national treasure, but don’t underestimate Carter Caves’ nature preserves located in northeastern Kentucky. It holds a special place in my heart. My mother would pack up my brothers and me for a picnic in the park and to wile away the afternoon exploring.
If planning a visit to Hardin County, be sure to see another historical treasure, the General George Patton Museum located on the Fort Knox base. Located in Larue County near Hodgenville, the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park shows how rugged it must have been growing up in the early 1800s in Kentucky. It makes one appreciate Stephen Foster’s ballad and state song, My Old Kentucky Home, said to have been penned in 1852 after he visited the Federal Hill farm in Bardstown.
If visiting Louisville, I recommend walking the 2,525-foot Big Four Bridge to indulge in ice cream on the Indiana side. This railroad bridge turned pedestrian and bicycle path offers the best scenic views of downtown Louisville and a different perspective of the mighty Ohio River.
I often tell my friends and colleagues from around the nation that Kentucky is the best-kept secret in the United States. So go explore Kentucky!
