Final Summer Adventures from 2023

 Greetings to you! 

Here are the final pictures from last year's summer. 

August 2nd, Debbie and I drove to Devou Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is a gorgeous overlook of the city. 

Then we explored the town. The Catholic churches are so ornate, like this one.

These stones are outside the Catholic church building. I am so thankful we do not pray to or worship Mary, who was a sinful human. She couldn't take away sins, but our holy, perfect God who became a man and died on the cross can take away sins. It's interesting that they have a plaque of good works. Those are actually good things to do, but they don't earn us a spot in heaven. 

Titus 3:5-6 ~ "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Next we walked through a part of the small town of Leetonia. This Korean War memorial is on the corner of a main street. 

I thought this road looked neat. :)  

We stopped in a small restaurant where a guy was participating in a hamburger eating challenge. He worked for a tv station so his cameraman was recording the whole thing. Turned out they had filmed at the Ark Encounter earlier that day, and Debby was able to talk with them about the gospel. 

The final road trip was with my friend Janelle. On August 7th, we drove to southern Kentucky. The first stop was at the Valley View Ferry on the Kentucky river. 

It stands as the oldest continuous business in Kentucky and connects Richmond, Nicholasville, and Lexington. On land acquired by John Craig in 1780 through a military warrant, the Virginia Assembly granted a perpetual and irrevocable franchise to establish the ferry in 1785. It's named for the location in Valley View community. It transports cars up to 150 times a day and can carry up to 3 cars at once. Daniel Boone, Henry Clay, James Mason, and Ulysses S. Grant all once rode the ferry. 

This is quite a sight - trees growing out of these poles. 😅

Here's a short video. If you're viewing this on your email just click here to view it on the blog.

I love these back country roads. The farmland is my favorite.

This is a dam we found on a dirt road kind-of in the middle of nowhere. I don't remember its name.

Our next stop was Camp Nelson National Cemetery. I find cemeteries so interesting. I like reading the tombstones, and I enjoy visiting war cemeteries. They remind me of the sacrifice thousands of soldiers and their families made. We should never forget it nor just give liberty away so freely. 

This epitaph reminds me of something my grandma told me about her mom - that she was a woman ahead of her time. :) 

Camp Nelson was an important training and recruiting camp for U.S. colored troops (USCT). Many enslaved men who enlisted brought their families with them, and the army built this refugee camp for them. More than 10,000 USCT passed through.  

Picture of the address given by president Lincoln at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. 

About a mile down from the cemetery there's Camp Nelson.

Oliver H. Perry and his wife Frances built this house in the mid-18502. Frances was the daughter of Robert and Mary Sappington Scott, the largest landowners of what became Camp Nelson. The Perrys built this two-story, 14-room house in the Greek revival style, which dominated architecture in the United States from 1830 to 1850. When the U.S. army established the supply depot here in 1863, they seized the Perry's home. In correspondence, the army referred to the house as the 'White House.' After the Civil War, Oliver, Frances, and their sons Robert and John returned to the house. 

We walked around - they have quite a few trails - and the grounds are just gorgeous. 

This is a war memorial to African-American refugees: Thousands of African-American women and children, most of whom were families of U.S. colored troops, entered Camp Nelson in 1864-1865 seeking freedom from slavery. 

This is a memorial to the bodies of numerous unknown Tennessee white refugees and Kentucky African-American refugees who perished from disease while at Camp Nelson. These civilians sought freedom and protection within the U.S. Army post. 

After we left the memorial, we headed to Kentucky Castle. This is not the best picture, but there's the view of the castle from the road. Kentucky Castle is actually a hotel. 

The entrance.

We were able to walk through the first floor of the castle. It mostly consists of dining and sitting rooms. The second story holds guest rooms. The very top is open for all. The views are stunning! If you look far into the distance in this picture, you can see the gardens. They also have some animals - their motto is farm to table. 

This view looks toward the road from the top.

Looking at the castle from the gardens. 

More views from the top.

And there you have it! The last post about summer 2023. I hope you enjoyed it and if you get a chance to explore Kentucky, or whatever sate you're in, I'd highly suggest it. :)