The light fog was back when we awoke, but by the time we were on our way to the state park, the skies were blue with the promise of another beautiful day. After our short visit to the ubiquitous gift shop, we watched the sky lift operator check over the equipment which would take us to the top of the bluff where we would stand on Kentucky's Natural Bridge. We were the first to get on the sky lift and it slowly took us up over the rocks, grass, streams, and trees until we got to a sheer face of rock and we lifted up to the exit platform. The view was wonderful as we looked at the scenes below. We took the short walk to the bridge that we walked across before deciding that we didn't really want to walk down the path to be underneath the bridge although we would have liked to get a picture of it.
About this time, three neatly dressed freshly scrubbed (although a little sweaty around the edges!) young people came up from the bridge. They had walked up from the very bottom. We all fell into conversation and found that they were visiting from Illinois. Mary Huffman volunteered to take Klep's camera back down and get photos of the bridge for us. John and Stephen, her two brothers, stayed and talked to us while they waited for their parents to ride up on the skylift. After Mary got back up, we all walked back to the skylift and we waved good-by to them and got back on the lift as their parents were getting off.
Our next destination was a little country store in St. Helen's in search of fried pies. Last night we had shared our search for them with the cashier (lovely Kentucky Appalachian accent!) at the lodge restaurant and she had told us about this little place that makes really good pies. She had told us go go to Beattyville (home of the Woolly Worm Festival) and turn left toward Jackson. We found Sue's Pantry, a little wooden store with a gas pump out front and all sorts of groceries on the shelves, much like one run by my Uncle Drew and Aunt Ola. Over in one corner was the stove and a counter to order food. There was one table where a man was eating. We were saddened to find that the cook had not made pies today because cooked apples were on the lunch menu. We shared our story, and Jane, the cook, agreed to make us some pies! I enjoyed watching her mix us the dough and cook the pies while I talked to the locals coming in for late breakfast, early lunch, and pop. That's what this part of the country calls soft drinks. The pop of choice in St. Helens is Ale 8 1 which was invented in the 1920's by a Kentucky man and is produced only in Kentucky. The name is said like "A late one," which indicated that it was a new drink. A large pot of chicken and dumplings were bubbling on the stove to go with the cooked apples.
Jane finished the pies after she gave me a bite of the one she used as a test and it was good. In fact is was more than good. She introduced me to all the other women working in the little store/cafe, boxed up my pies, and I paid and we were back on the road getting cinnamon sugar all over ourselves while we rode. This was an experience I will never forget.We drove on through the Kentucky country side, passing more old barns with quilt squares, pie plate hibiscus of all colors, up and down hills and sweeping curves passing places with names like "Stone Coal Cemetery," "Big Hill," and "Rock Castle," beautiful vegetable gardens, finally climbing to an altitude of over 1300 feet before arriving in Berea, the home of Berea College which was founded in 1855 by abolitionist John G. Fee and Cassius M. Clay as an interracial and coeducational school, both unheard of concepts in the 1800's. The college runs Boone Tavern, a historic Inn and restaurant where we had planned to have a late lunch. We arrived too late to eat there, however and chose a little cafe down the street where we had some ciabatta sandwiches. We also visited the Kentucky Artisan Center where Klep was fascinated with some of the art objects and I did a little shopping.
Our last tourist stop for the day was in Corbin, Kentucky to visit the original Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and museum. It was a trip just to read the old prices for a bucket of fried chicken. I had not realized that the original cafe was next to Sander's motor lodge and gas station!
As we left Corbin, we spotted a drive-in - the Brown Cow. Klep pulled in, and before we could get out of the car, the carhop was there to get our orders! We did not know that there were any such places left on this earth! Klep got his milkshake; I got my "blizzie" and we headed off to the lodge for the evening happy people!
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