In the early Summer of 1974, my Mom and Dad took me on what was probably a weekend getaway to the National Recreation Area known as the Land Between the Lakes – the lakes in question being Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. This area extends across two states, from Kentucky into Tennessee. We would have undoubtedly stayed on the Kentucky side. Unfortunately, neither Mom or Dad have a great deal of recollection of this early vacation, so all information must be inferred from the nice batch of photos below. There were certainly quite a few of them for such a short trip.
There seemed to be a day of blended activities that included time at the lake, visiting a historical, working farm known as The Homeplace, and some sort of park that had a giant slide – which obviously delighted me. As a two-and-a-half year old, I seemed very pleased with exploring and discovering the big world around me.
Our quaint motel and AMC Hornet
Deer on the banks of the lake
Ready for fun with Mom and my favorite and long-time Teddy Bear
Farm land of some sort
Looking around, probably trespassing
“Never tip these, son”
Approaching horses
Fondling horses
Feeding horse some weeds
Trying my best to get my head stuck
Acting sheepish
Trying to get someone’s goat
Dad assumes the crash landing postition
Mom’s turn to traumatize me
Hanging out with a stray cat by the garbage cans
Mom encourages me to taunt stray animals
“Okay, I swear I didn’t knock this thing over”
About 150 miles east of Land Between the Lakes was Mammoth Cave – which was exactly that…a mammoth cave. I’m fairly certain our family made more than one visit there over the years, but this was the only one of which I am certain. We made our visit hear as we headed back home as it was right on the way.
Mammoth opening in Mammoth Cave
I’m not even sure if this photo is right side up
There are actually some additional slides of various historic looking homes, riverboats on the lake, and the lake itself – none of which I can identify. And none which show any of us in them, save the two below. So I’m not sure where exactly they were taken but they were at some point during the weekend trip. Note we are wearing different outfits in both of them, so this was likely a three day weekend, and therefore was probably Memorial Day weekend, May 25-27. The slides were developed in July however.
Take my hand and off we stride…
Sleepwalking with the Brad
1974 will continue…
The petting zoo/farm is still there. I believe it is called “The Homestead”.
Dave Chasteen
January 14th, 2010
Cool! Thanks for the info. Looking into it further, the place is actually called “The Homeplace”. From their website:
The Homeplace 1850 is a living, working historical farm located in Pryor Hollow near the old community of Model, TN, now a part of LBL. One of the most popular attractions in the Land Between the Lakes, the Homeplace 1850 features real people working on the farm doing various activities.
Brad
January 14th, 2010
If memory serves me correct, I think we also found some go karts to ride as well which you really enjoyed. Guess we didn’t get any pictures of those.
Mom
January 15th, 2010