It is your DESTINy...by the sea

It's November and that means it's time to go back to Destin, Florida!  Ashlee decided to snow-bird again this year over the holidays, so we will be spending a majority of our time together over the next two months back at the beach!!

Sunday, November 1 - I figured I would post this screen shot from today since it's probably the only time I will be in the lead and predicted to win as Ashlee and I go head-to-head as league-leaders in record in our fantasy football league this weekend.  The final score will be determined after Monday Night Football tomorrow...

...late on Monday, November 2 - well,  I somehow did it and eeked out a slim win over Ashlee by just over a point (100.50 to 99.33)...I was sure I was going to get GRONKed, but my NY Giants running back that I got off the waiver-wire scrap heap rolled in for a touchdown to give me the slight edge.  Good game, honey! 
I stayed in first place in record (second in points) and Ashlee dropped to second in record (3rd in points), so we are both still contenders with half the season to go.  Go Rays and go Sardines!! 

(Editor's note:  We did both make the playoffs, but didn't get to play each other.  I got upset in the first round, but Ashlee made all the way to the final before stumbling into 2nd place, but still a great finish and a fun year!"

Thanksgiving?  What's that?  The day after Halloween and Ashlee already has Christmas decorations up.  This sun-loving snowman does fit nicely next to our closed pool.  

Wednesday, November 4 - Man, we almost missed Christmas advent calendar release day at Aldi's today.  I had to go to the Mt. Juliet store to secure some of these new cat-treat ones.  I also picked up Ashlee a wine calendar and some chocolate ones for both of us.  No luck on the cheese or beer ones this year.  Sad face.  

Friday, November 6 - We headed east this afternoon taking some time off from work to have a long weekend at Fall Creek Falls State Park over near Spencer.  We rented a pet-friendly cabin and with four cats-in-tow our only stop on the way was quick, but important, at Hix Farm Brewing (for me) and across the street to the legendary Ralph's Donuts in Cookeville for both of us.  I got some beer to go and we got a dozen assorted donuts to enjoy in our cabin on the lake.

We chose Landside Cabin # 4 at Fall Creek Falls State Park which had a great view of the lake through the trees whose leaves are still turning autumn colors thanks to the Indian summer we've had going this month and last.  The weather was warm and sunny for most of our stay here.  The layout of the cabin is great with lots of room to relax and unwind a bit.

Four cats in a cabin may sound like a lot, but as I mentioned we had a ton of room to spread out in.  The cats even had their own bedroom and it was the first time traveling for Dudley (photo above) and Marge, our little foster.  Everyone did well and seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

Saturday, November 7 - We woke up today to beautiful fall colors and the sun dappling off of Fall Creek Falls Lake.  Our deck was very private and we couldn't even see another cabin from it.

Being set next to the woods and the lake, there was lots of squirrel and bird action outside the cabin.

We set out fairly early this morning to take a look at the six (yes, six) waterfalls that are easily accessible in the park.  With beautiful weather and warm temps, it was definitely gonna get crowded here today.  We started with the crown jewel of the park itself, the namesake, Fall Creek Falls which was running great.  Incredibly, this was Ashlee's first time seeing this beauty.  So hard to believe!
Technically, the second waterfall we saw is just to the right in the photo above.  Coon Branch Falls wasn't  running much today, but it is a separate stream, thus a separate waterfall.

Next up after a short drive and a short, but steep, walk was my personal favorite of the six waterfalls we saw today, the uniquely shaped Piney Falls.  We had to settle for just the overlook view because a swinging bridge needed for a closer look is still under repair.

We made a quick stop at pretty George Hole, a man-made fishing and swimming pool on Cane Creek whose downstream natural waterfalls we were visiting next.

Cane Creek Falls (l) and Rock House Creek Falls (r) drop into the same spectacular gorge.

Just upstream from Cane Creek Falls is Cane Creek Cascades where you can easily get up close and personal with the falling water.  This closed out our day of seeing 6 waterfalls.  Not a bad half-dozen! 

It was while we were hanging out at Cane Creek Cascades that we got the wonderful news that Joe Biden had finally gotten enough electoral votes to be our next president!!  What a wonderful place to find out this news.  Joe's probably not going to be anything special, but you can damn sure bet he would care and appreciate this park more than that other guy (we sure aren't printing that name in our blog) who probably wouldn't lower himself to even play on the golf course here.

We also checked out the brand new swinging bridge over Cane Creek and popped into the park's Nature Center before heading back to the cabin to check on the kitties.

After hanging with the cats a bit back at the cabin and taking a pretty darn nice nap, we saw that there was a great little paved trail around our end of Fall Creek Falls Lake that we took right from the cabin.  What a great way to end a beautiful day in so many ways!! 

Sunday, November 8 - We loaded up and headed out this morning wishing we had another day in our great cabin.  Even, Byron, our most-scared cat was starting to like it here a lot.  Sorry, Byron.  We headed straight home since we had the cats in tow, but we did take a quick side-trip on the way back to check out the fascinating and historic tent graves in Mt. Gilead Cemetery in Sparta.  We even got a quick history lesson from the caretaker of the cemetery who happened to be there when we stopped.  These graves date back to the mid-1800's and were installed as such to keep grazing cattle off of them.  They are in amazingly good shape considering their age and close proximity to a road.
 

Saturday, November 14 - We met our friend, Emily, and her husband, Andrew, over at the Opryland Hotel Event Center to check out the "I Love Christmas Movies" Pop-Up and  Walk-thru.  It was kinda cute and cool like when Santa's face shows up in the bell from The Polar Express, but it was over quick and didn't seem worth the hour and half wait in line to go through.  Plus while everyone was wearing masks, the 6-ft. rule wasn't being enforced and it was way too crowded during this pandemic.  

Sunday, November 11 - It's been a late fall around here, but the leaves came tumbling down last night hard and heavy with the help of some rain and gusty winds.  Those winds were out of the west and blew a large drift of leaves against our back fence deep enough to almost bury Santa Claus.  Luckily he was saved just in time! 

Thursday, November 19 - Before heading south for the holidays, we took in the always fun drive-thru Dancing Lights of Christmas extravaganza over at the Wilson County Fairgrounds tonight with our friends, Wendy and Charly.  The clip above is a little taste of the fun.  We also had a little "taste" of fun beforehand at our local Outback Steakhouse for drinks and dessert.

Saturday, November 21 - It was back to Destin today for some more snow-birding.  We grabbed a U-Haul trailer again and loaded up three of our four cats and headed south.  The cats did great with little or no fuss on the 8-hour drive.  We had good weather and decent traffic.  We did get a bit of a later start than intended and wound up having to unload everything in the dark.  Stupid time-change! We listened to most of the best-selling book "Where the Crawdads Sing" which helped pass the time and the many miles.  

Sunday, November 22 - Ashlee found a great deal in the swanky Destiny by the Sea subdivision across the street on the beach side of where we usually stay.  While not right on the beach, it's only a 3-minute walk to it! Our rental house, the Summer Blast, is a little dated, but overall a great, roomy place.  We started our first full day in Destin with some yummy breakfast burritos delivered from the Local Market Destin.  We did some unpacking and waited for Paige, Andy and Ella to arrive from Chattanooga before hitting the beach later today.  We had a late lunch of tasty take-out from The Crab Trap just up the street.

It's such a quick and easy walk to Crystal Beach from our house.  Heck, you don't even need to wear shoes!!  We had awesome weather today and most of this first week here.

Our sunset view from our house porch tonight was spectacular.

Monday, November 23 - Ashlee bought a sharp new bike recently thanks to a fitness benefit at her work, and we brought it down in the U-Haul along with her old Cannondale trail bike and Paige's nice roadster bike.  We had fun this morning just tooling around the quiet, gated neighborhood with little or no traffic.  After another fantastic afternoon at the beach with some booming surf, we had an excellent dinner just down the road at Camille's which has become one of our favorite dining spots here in Destin.

Tuesday, November 24 - We arrived at the beach today to find a real feeding-frenzy going on just offshore.  A large school of fish (note the dark patches in the water in the photo above) were being feasted on by gulls, kingfishers, pelicans, etc.  This is a screen-grab of a video.  Note the kingfisher on the far right just about to break the surface of the water.  Good catch, huh?  

Today was the best beach sunset of the week.  Man, talk about a "golden hour."

Wednesday, November 25 - We happened upon this well-made sandcastle during a morning walk just up the beach from us.  Somebody put a lot of work and planning into this one! We had yet another fine day of beach-bumming with huge waves rolling in and some nice canned craft beers rolling down from the always-great Beach Liquors.

Thursday, November 26 - Happy Thanksgiving from Destin!  The weather turned out to be much nicer than forecasted today, so we delayed our Thanksgiving feast from Cracker Barrel to an evening meal and hit the beach this afternoon instead.  We enjoyed a rousing game of Throw, Throw Burrito - a hilarious card/dodgeball (burrito) game that Paige ultimately won.  Congrats to the Burrito-Slinging Champion! 

The cats adapted nicely to the new house and loved running up and down the stairs which is good exercise for them since they can't really go outside here.  Good exercise for us as well since our bedroom is on the top floor.  Whew! 

Friday, November 27 - Today started off with an intensely thick fog over The Gulf for a good part of the day, and so we went our separate ways as the girls went shopping on Black Friday, and I went brewery-hopping.  We did meet up back on the beach late this afternoon and witnessed the most amazing thing:  two stingrays jumping OUT of the water.  We've never seen anything like it.  The shot above is a screen-grab from a good video that Paige took which clearly shows the shape of one of the rays.  And while this shot doesn't show it, both rays cleared the surface of the water by a good bit on their jumps.  Nature is so amazing!! 

Saturday, November 28 - Well, all good things, right?....we headed to Panama City this morning so I could fly back home for the upcoming work week (boo!), but I can't complain since we had marvelous weather all week.  We did stop at the Hang Five Beachside Bar and Grill for lunch.  Our food was fantastic even though Ella found a fly in here chili-cheese fries...yuck...how does this keep happening to this poor girl??    See ya next month/weekend, honey.  I can't wait!! 

Summer leaves and autumn...leaves

Life (and September and October) must go on after Disney...

Wednesday, September 16 - We really miss live music and we've already eeked out one live show during Covid-19, but haven't been much interested in the numerous live streaming shows going on until now.  Our favorite band, Augustana, led by the ultra-talented, Day Layus, had a live stream show tonight from the famous Ocean Way recording studio in Nashville tonight and we just couldn't pass it up.

We even streamed the show on our TV thanks to our Amazon Firestick and it was a great set of Augustana favorites and brand new songs that are also excellent.  I bet this isn't the last time we do this! 

Friday, September 17 - We bought a ticket tonight to an interesting event brought on by the corona-virus pandemic.  Tempo is a stay-in-your-car drive-thru experience at the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway filled with lights and music that was pretty amazing.  Part of the driving course was on both of the racetracks there also.  I guess you could say this was our first "rave" we've ever been to as well.

Before the show, we also stopped by The Baked Bear in Nashville for some awesome custom-made ice cream.  I got their signature ice cream sandwich with two cookies as the "bread" and Ashlee got a sundae.  They were both super-tasty and the place was jumping with nearby Vandy students making up most of the line going out the door.

Friday, September 25 - We watched another concert from our den tonight.  We bought the Fitz and the Tantrums live stream from Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.  It was a great show and the camera angles couldn't be beat in regards to being there in person.  This just might be our new norm in seeing live music.

Saturday, September 26 - We drove up into Kentucky today to spend the night at Kenny's Cheese Farm.  We've been enjoying their products a lot lately, so we thought we would check out the source since they are relatively close by and you can now stay with them via AirBnB.  But our first stop was Yancey's Gastropub in nearby Glasgow for a great lunch and some solid craft beers. 

It was on to the Mattingly Farm, the home of Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese, next which is located in the small town of Austin, Kentucky.  They have a relatively new two-story cow-barn where you can watch the milking herd from large second story windows.  The second floor is also where they have two AirBnB rooms for rent, so you are actually staying in the barn.

Downstairs you can watch the state-of-the-art robotic milking machine do its thing cow after cow, 24/7.  The most amazing thing about this set-up is that the cows go in on their own to get milked and the machine recognizes each cow by an electronic tag, and thus knows if they need milking, how much to milk, etc.  Amazing! 

Our room in the barn was spacious, clean and had a great deck overlooking the farm.  It was quiet (not a lot of mooing going on when cows are happy and content) and no smells.  We got complimentary cheese which we enjoyed out on the deck after sunset, and a pint of fresh pasteurized milk which we enjoyed with some Double-stuff Oreos.  Oh so good!! 

The baby-barn was our next visit and they had several little beauties to pet and fall in love with. Back at the milking barn we ran into a momma cat and three of her kittens.  We also ran into Kenny, Jr. himself and had a nice conversation about their set-up here, the hit they've taken financially during the pandemic, and some of the history of this enchanting place.  
Despite constant visitation, the milk cows are a little skittish of human contact, but amazingly they adjust quickly and easily to robotic machinery like this little cleaning bot shown below that looks like something straight out of Star Wars...

Sunday, September 27 - We woke up to find that a newborn calf had been born overnight here in the barn at Kenny's!  Welcome to the world, little guy!!  We bid a fond farewell to our new cow-friends and headed out fairly early back south toward home.  What a great little getaway! 

We stopped for tasty and filling breakfast while still in Kentucky near the Barren River Lake State Park at Paradise Point Marketplace, an eclectic (to say the least) little roadside stand that was chock full of weirdness and joy.  It had a very Key West vibe to it for sure.  
We got home well before noon and enjoyed a nice afternoon of Titans football (win!), some backyard and pool clean-up and maintenance, and enjoyed our last beer with our feet in the pool this year since it's being closed next week (sad face).

Friday, October 2 - It was a sad day today as we officially closed the pool for the season.  Doris and Zippy were even consoling each other in close proximity which doesn't happen very often.  It was a nice sunny weekend too and we got a lot of yard-work done, but it sure would have been nice to take a float in the pool...

Thursday, October 8 - We picked up lunch today at The Fat Man's Shack - a food truck of sorts over on W. Main here in town in front of what used to be the Mo' Cara Restaurant which closed recently (run by the same folks).  We didn't go to the restaurant near enough, so with some guilt (and hunger pains) we tried their smaller alternative today, and it was great!  We had chicken tenders with mac and cheese and a cream corn casserole that was really, really tasty.  We enjoyed our meal out at our new picnic table in the back yard in the mild fall weather.  This won't be the last time we do this!! 

We've had the distinct pleasure of hosting, Margie, as a foster kitten recently.  She's quite the corker, and is going to make someone a great cat.  She had to have mouth surgery due to an injury, and she was quite the little trooper while having to keep this cone on for 10 long days.  But she just rolled with it...literally.  We even named her by taking a cue from the great dark comedy film, Fargo, and the great, spunky character, Marge Gunderson.

Friday, October 16 - We both took the day off today and headed east toward Gatlinburg and The Smokies for the long weekend.  We couldn't check in to our room until 4 pm, so we took our time and advantage of the beautiful weather to make a few stops along the way.  The first one was the Bee Rock overlook near Monterey.  This was Ashlee's first time seeing it, but a long-time favorite of mine.  The fall colors were just starting to peep out.  This shot is looking south along Verble Hollow.

Our second stop was the Ozone Falls State Natural Area outside Crab Orchard.  While Ashlee was too skittish to look off the brink, I risked my life (not really) to grab this cool shoot of the 110' drop.  We can't remember if we've been here together in the past or not, but if so, it had to be a very long time ago and definitely pre-blog.

We stopped in Knoxville at Printshop Beer Company and had a flight each of some of their outstanding craft beers.  We sat outside in the lovely weather at one of their newly-installed picnic tables and gazed across the street as the Tennessee River drifted by.   Cheers to fun fall weather! 

We arrived at our cabin for the next two nights called "The Willow" at Treehouse Grove at Norton Creek.  Yep, it's a treehouse!  Pretty cool (and pretty pricey), so we were happy to split the room cost with our friends, Toney and Lisa, to help celebrate Toney's birthday tomorrow.  There are eight of these lovelies set in the woods near Gatlinburg and were erected as part of the TV show "Treehouse Masters" and designed by it's star, Pete Nelson.  Note the cool giant swing below the deck as well! 

The exquisite craftmanship and ingenuity of these tiny homes set in the trees is mind-boggling.  There was no expense spared either as the quality of the treehouses is undeniable.

The Tree House Grove sits alongside lovely Norton Creek which provides a beautiful soundtrack to your stay at the end of the private, dead-end road...very rare in this popular area.  We've taken note of some larger houses and cabins for rent also on this quiet road for possible future visits as well.

Toney and Lisa had to work before leaving for the mountains, so we met them for dinner at Calhoun's in Pigeon Forge tonight.  The wait to get in wasn't as long as predicted (an hour and a half), but with Covid 19 protocols and it being very busy in this area this time of year, we felt lucky to get what we got.  Our food was excellent, and we headed back to our treehouse with tummies full and sleepy eyes.  We gave Toney and Lisa the main bedroom downstairs since it was his birthday (and they are taller than us) and we took the (cozy?) attic.  It was a small space, but the bed was big and comfy and we slept just fine.

Saturday, October 17 - The treehouse doesn't have a full kitchen, so we had to head back out for a hot breakfast this morning of any quality, and we chose one of the many Flapjack's Pancake Cabins locations around the area.  The wait was longer than we were told this time, but worth it as the food was plentiful and tasty.

After returning to the cabin to shower and such, it was back to the extremely busy Gatlinburg for some fun.  We were LUCKY to find any paid parking as all the lots were full in town except one toward the end of the main drag.  Also LUCKY was the fact that I bought tickets online beforehand for the Skylift Park to check out the brand-new Skybridge.  The line to buy tickets was ridiculous!  We rode the newly-updated Skylift to the top of the mountain overlooking Gatlinburg.  This attraction was devastated by the huge forest fires back in 2016, but has come back stronger than ever with updated facilities and great new additions.   

The new Skybridge - the longest pedestrian bridge in North America at 680 feet with glass panels in the center to look straight down 150' to the trees below - was our main goal today, and it was awesome, especially with the beautiful weather we were having.  It moves a lot more than you think it would too!! 

We made it across and back!  Totally amazing!  The Skybridge is definitely a new iconic symbol for this area now.  This shot is from the fabulous and large Skydeck.

We also enjoyed some amazing skywalking going on right next to the Skybridge while we were there  by the folks with Rucksack Circus.  This was probably the only uncrowded walkway in Gatlinburg today!  After our time in the Skypark, we headed back down for an early dinner (we had a reservation this time) at the Cherokee Grill.  The food was once again outstanding.  We got back in time to the treehouse to enjoy some birthday cake, s'mores and libations by the community firepit where we met some other nice guests, and gazed at the billion stars above on a cold but clear night in the beautiful Smokies.

Sunday, October 18 -  Lisa and Toney had to head back early, and so we were on our own this morning before we too headed back west.  We did a few more stops on our way home including two rides on the awesome Alpine Mountain Coaster in Pigeon Forge, a walk-through The Amazing Christmas Place store in Pigeon Forge for Ashlee, and a beer for me at the Pretentious Beer Company in Knoxville.  We had a great time listening to the Tennessee Titans exciting overtime win over the Houston Texans on the drive back.  We got back well before dark to enjoy some outdoor backyard time with our kitties.  It was just another great little weekend of memories and fun for us.  

Wednesday, October 20 - In a rare occurrence, Ashlee and I find ourselves tied for first (in record) in our fantasy football league after 6 weeks.  And Ashlee is technically leading the league in total points.  It sure would be fun to play each other for the championship since we've never done that.  Go Rays and go Sardines!! 

We took advantage of an Amazon Prime sale and got our first-ever 50" TV for the den.  She's a beauty and was very easy to set up.  We watched an episode of the fun travel show called "Long Way Up" to test it out, and seeing Machu Picchu on the dazzling screen was certainly a good way to start.

Friday, October 23 - We went over to the Mt. Juliet Beer Company after work today to meet Ashlee's work friend, Andrea, for some beer tasting hosted by Calfkiller Brewing from over in Sparta.  Andrea is visiting Nashville this weekend and is into craft beer, so this was the perfect place to go we thought.  We had a great tasting with one of the CKBC Sergio brewer/owner brothers serving us some of their great beers.  We moved on to Homegrown Taproom for a great dinner and a few more brewskis and were joined by another of Ashlee's co-workers, Danny, and his wife, Kim.  

We lost Danny and Kim for our next few stops, but added, Andrea's sister, Christie.  We stopped by Living Waters Brewery in East Nashville, close to where our guests were staying.  This is a favorite new Nashville brewery of mine, but it was Ashlee's first visit.  She had some of their coffee since she was the DD and said it was very good as well.  With both sisters into beer and Living Waters' excellent IPAs, the place was a hit, and we closed it down (damn Covid 10 PM closing time). 
After a quick jaunt downtown, it was back over to East Nashville, but we got off the beer train and ended our night at Camp (Bar 308) for some of their signature cocktails.  They had a special Halloween menu going and I had the "Lost Boys" rum punch (photo above) that was very light and very good.  Thanks again to Ashlee for abstaining again as the DD.  We also closed this place down thanks to the depressing corona virus early closing time, but it was a fun evening...and there's nothing wrong with getting into bed before midnight on a Friday night...says old people...

Saturday, October 24 - So, what the hell is pork roll?  Evidently it's a big thing up in New York and New Jersey, served on a hot bagel for breakfast.  To see what all the hub-bub was about, we joined our friend, Bethany, at the fairly new Jersey Oven bagel shop in Mt. Juliet this morning for breakfast.  The verdict:  messy with the easy-over egg and ketchup, but pretty tasty overall...but I hate to break it to them up in Jersey, but down here, we just called that...processed ham or baloney!! 

We met Bethany for breakfast because we were all on our way to tour the Mound Bottom Archeological Area and its prehistoric Indian mounds which is part of the Harpeth River State Park over west of Nashville.   We took a 2.5 mile loop with our knowledgeable guide, Randy, down into the bottom and around the giant main mound and large plaza of a Mississippian period town of pretty good size.  

Looking at Mound Bottom from Google maps, it's pretty obvious why these truest of Native Americans chose this place for bountiful water and protection on three sides.  To the west is evidence of an even larger town known as Pack Site linked by the neck of land by a trail connecting the two areas into a huge complex. Also, as you can see, it was a quite chilly day, but the rain held off during almost all of our tour. 

Since we were in the area, and deserved a reward after our " learnin' and hikin' " foray, we stopped by the famous Loveless Cafe for lunch.  We grabbed a table outside even though it was chilly, so we didn't have to wait on seating inside.  The food came fast and was plentiful and delicious.  Ashlee says we've been here together before, but I don't recall it and it definitely was pre-blog.

To work off some of our big lunch, our last stop of the day in West Nashville was the recently-updated Percy Warner Park stairs known as Allée.  This is quite the elevated jaunt, but we conquered them, once again dodging rain and enjoying the fall colors.

Tuesday, October 27 - In a rarer occurrence, Ashlee and I find ourselves still tied for first (in record) in our fantasy football league after 7 weeks.  And Ashlee is technically still leading the league in total points.   Something's gotta give this coming week, however, as we must play each other.  It sure would be fun to play each other again for the championship since we've never done that.  Go Rays and go Sardines!! 

Friday, October 30 - Thanks to some poker winnings I recently had, we bought access to the Michael Franti livestream concert from Bali tonight.  It was a fun show, but could never replace being with Franti live and in person.

Saturday, October 31 - Happy Halloween!!  It was a beautiful day to head north and check out the unique and historic Octagon Hall House in Franklin, Kentucky.  It wasn't too scary in the daytime, but the tree shadows on the house are a bit spooky.  

I had seen this unique house from the outside before, but never went inside, and Ashlee had never seen it.  But inside Octagon Hall was weird, not scary, just weird.  It was disappointingly junky, cluttered and not very well maintained.  They used mannequins to simulate life in the old home, but they were more comical and creepy than informative. And the staff were smoking in the historic house.. WTF?  We left rather quickly and were now not looking forward to tonight's ghost hunt here.   

A nicer surprise just down the road was Chaney's Dairy Barn where we had some delicious homemade ice cream (cow tracks for Ashlee, bourbon crunch for me) which we enjoyed outside in the warm afternoon.  This working dairy farm is a neat little place we will have to remember to visit again when we are up this way.  

I booked us a boat tour inside historic and beautiful Lost River Cave in nearby Bowling Green just as a time-killer until the ghost hunting back at Octagon Hall.  It turned out to be a highlight of the day.  We had a great tour guide, Paige, and the boat ride inside a huge cave under a busy city is pretty damn unique.  

We had an outstanding dinner at Novo Dolce 2.0 Gastropub in Bowling Green.  I went for their voodoo pasta and Ashlee had the steak tips and fries in a succulent bourbon gorgonzola sauce.  Their beer and cocktails menus were impressive as well.  Gotta come back here! 

We got back to Octagon Hall at 7 PM for the start of the ghost-hunting tour and it was actually worse than we thought it would be.  The tour guide was smoking as well now, and NO ONE was wearing masks but us.  We took a half-assed history tour of the home led by what looked to be a biker.  Man, this sucked bad.  We went outside to cool off and get a break from the smoking before the actual ghost-hunting started...and never went back in.  Just not worth it.  We got some awesome shots outside and the night was cool and pleasant with a rare blue moon (in Kentucky as well - remember the song?), so why subject ourselves to anymore of that bullshit going on inside.  

What a shame and a waste of time and money.  At $50 a head, you'd think you would get better, but it is what it is.  Not sure where all that money is going, but it's not back into restoring this unique structure.  At least it was a beautiful night to be outside with the blue moon and Mars shining to the right of it.  And, hey, we were home in an hour.