Brew at the Zoo and Visiting Cara too...

A few weeks ago we met Cori's family in Columbia, Mo since it was time for Cara to start volleyball and her Junior year of college. It was a short trip, but it is always fun to see everyone and spend time together.

Hanging out at Stephen's Park in Columbia, MO.

After we returned from Columbia, David drove across Ohio and Pennsylvania on his way to State College, Penn. the home of Penn State University. He was there for a week, and attended a conference and presented a poster of his research there. He enjoyed the experience in "Happy Valley" especially getting to see the campus and the HUGE Penn State football stadium.

We enjoyed some time with friends at "Brew at the Zoo" in Louisville. Over 25 breweries were there plus food and wine as well. There were breweries from as far away as Canada and Oregon. You paid up front and were given a mug to sample all the goodies you wanted that night. We also got to meet & pet some of the furry zoo friends too.

Caroline & Vince (some of Cori's co-workers)

Meeting a wallaby.

David's friend, Amos the Camel.

We are headed to London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland this week. We are very excited! We are going to try to keep a blog-diary of our trip. Keep an eye out for photos and stories!!

Hanging Out in the World's Longest Cave!

We spent last weekend at Mammoth Cave National Park (www.nps.gov/maca) which is located about an hour south of Louisville and is actually the longest cave in the world - more than 365 miles of the cave has been discovered! This is Cori, David, and Murphy's 2nd trip to Mammoth Cave. Cori and I took a 2 hour tour of the cave while the pups had to stay in a kennel provided by the hotel. There were many unique features on the tour including a spot called "Frozen Niagara" which is 130 feet below the surface and the cave formation looks like a frozen waterfall.

Cave formations at Mammoth Cave.

The park is located right along the Green River and you actually have to cross a ferry in order to access certain parts of the park. We spent Friday and Saturday night camping while also getting in a few hikes during our two days at the park. It was really nice to get away for the weekend and relax and enjoy God's gifts of nature.

Green River Ferry

Our home for the weekend! Murphy was so tired from hiking that he spent most of his time sleeping in the chair while Oakley kept watch for wildlife, including a group of deer that liked to eat grass about 30 yards from our campsite. The deer didn't seem too bothered by her barking though!

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Louisville was hard hit by heavy rain, wind, and lightining yesterday. The city reported about 6" of rain during 75 minutes. I have never seen it rain so hard. It was about 9-10 am and it was dark like 10 -11 pm.

David & I are both fine and dry. We had no damage to the house and luckily David waited to go into school at the University of Louisville. The University suffered some of the worst damage in the city. Also hard hit was the Downtown Louisville Library and an animal shelter which housed 550+ animals, which were evacuated to the fairgrounds. Not to mention the damage to so many people's homes.

See some of the pictures below of the University of Louisville. David received these photos through some contacts at school. There are also a few photos (courtesy of their website) of the animal evaculation at Metro Animal Services. There is also a fund started to help rehabilitate the shelter (see below).

Athletic Facilities at U of L

This is a railroad crossing which David normally drives through on the way to the engineering campus. The water here is probably at least 12 feet high!

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory!

The building with the green roof (in the background) is where David's office is located.

More campus flooding.

Water running of the roof of the main JB Speed School of Engineering building.

Churchill Downs. This is the 1st turn - where we normally celebrate on Derby day. It is a lake!

HELP METRO ANIMAL SERVICES:

Monetary donations can made online or sent to:

Metro Animal Services

c/o The Animal Care Fund

3705 Manslick Road

Louisville, Ky 40215

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/AnimalServices/flooding_donations.htm

Dogs being evacuated from Metro Animal Services.

Sweet (South) Caroline

At the beginning of July we made a trip down to South Carolina where Cori had two job interviews. One job was at the Michelin Truck Tire plant in Spartanburg, SC and the other was at the Earthmover Tire Plant in Columbia, SC. Both interviews were for an Ergonomist position. We have been to Greenville/Spartanburg, SC quite a few times in the last few years, but we have never spent any time in Columbia (the capital of SC). We decided that since we were so close to the coast (only 1.5 hours from Charleston, SC and the Atlantic Ocean) that we had to eat some seafood. We had a great meal at the Blue Marlin where David tried Collard Greens for the first time. I think we could get used to good Southern coooking. We then spent some time in the downtown area checking out some shops and the Capital Building. The area was very beautiful. We saw a lot of unique flowers and trees - including the South Carolina State Tree, the Palmetto.

(It's a boy! David enjoyed the meal at the Blue Marlin but we needed to walk it off!)

(South Carolina Capital Building)

After good news from the interviews - we have decided to accept the promotion and Cori will become the Truck Tire Regional Ergonomist for Michelin. Her home office will be in Spartanburg, but she will also be responsible for the Ergonomic Program at other plants including a few in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. She will also get to travel internationally to a plant in Canada and Ireland. She is really looking forward to the opportunity and plans to start her new job in November. So...that means that we need to sell our house in Louisville, find a new home in the Greenville area, and move before the end of October. David will still be able to work towards his degree, but may have to do some traveling back and forth every once and awhile.


Other than that little piece of news we are excited to go to London, England and to Edinburgh, Scotland in September. David is presenting some of his research at a conference in London, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. David also will be traveling to two other conferences to present his research - Penn State University in August and San Antonio in October.

Since we will be leaving the Bluegrass State we figured we better cross-off a few things still left on our "Kentucky To Do List". We spent the day at Kentucky Horse Park (http://www.kyhorsepark.com/) in Lexington, Ky (the Horse Capital of the World). We went on a trail ride of the complex which includes over 1200 acres of land centered around anything and everything that has to do with horses. We got to see the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner - Funny Cide as well as the famous thoroughbred horse, Cigar. At the time of Cigar's retirement in 1996, he was the winningest horse of all time with almost $10 million dollars worth of winnings. We saw a lot of horse shows, exhibits, and all different types of horses. It was a very enjoyable day.

(The rolling hills at Kentucky Horse Park)

(David on Star. The girl in the photo was riding in front of David and behind me on Cowboy. Cowboy apparently got irratated with her horse and mid-trail ride decided to kick her horse - catching her a little bit in the ankle. He must have had a bad day.)

(2003 Kentucky Derby Winner - Funny Cide. He is still "running for the roses")

Was the 4th of July, Watch Out Summer's Flying By

Burnett Street (Louisville)

Crystal & Dave at Napa River Grill

At the Jazz Bar. We made it un-official "white shirt night"

We spent the 4th of July weekend with David's mom Crystal, who surprised us by visiting Louisville for a few days. We had a lot of fun just relaxing and spending time together. Crystal had been to Louisville during the first summer we lived here, but we still lived in our small apartment. So we had fun showing off our house and yard to a new guest.
We took Crystal to the Trolley Hop - where a trolley will take you to the galleries, restaurants, and music hot spots in downtown Louisville. We spent some time at River Bend Winery in downtown Louisville. Our friend from college (Carson) is the CEO of the winery and is trying to revamp the place. We said we would be taste testers anytime they needed. We also went to a Jazz bar – Jazzyblu – it was a new experience but we would definitely do it again.
On the 4th we had a BBQ at our house. We had some friends over to celebrate Independence Day and David's acceptance into PhD candidacy. We had fun spending time with everyone – sharing stories, food, and good drinks.
Since the 4th has already come and gone, we are sure the rest of the summer is going to fly by just as quickly. Enjoy the warm weather, Fall will be here before we know it.

On the Road Again...

We spent last week in Greenville, South Carolina. Cori was working at one of the Michelin plants for the week and David was busy trying to finish his presentation for his dissertation proposal. It was a busy week for us, but a nice getaway too.

On, June 2nd we celebrated David's 27th birthday at a place called Quaker Steak and Lube for All You Can Eat Wing Night - David's favorite. They specialize in buffalo wings of every flavor you can imagine. They are also famous for their Atomic Wings which boast a Scoville Heat Unit of 150,000. The Scoville unit was developed in 1912 by Wilbur Scoville to measurement for the heat level of chile peppers. A number was assigned to each chile pepper based on how much liquid was needed before you would no longer taste (feel) the heat!

According to the menu:
0-999 = Mild
1,000-2,999 = Medium
3,000-30,000 = Hot
30,001+ = Insane

So in essence David = Extremely Insane for eating 4 Atomic Wings + the addition of countless other wing flavors throughout the night. Needless to say we had to find an ice cream shop later that night for birthday dessert and to stop him from sweating.

On Friday we experienced a Scottish Festival going on in downtown Greenville. It was complete with a parade of kilt wearing, bag-pipe playing, proud Scots. It was fun to see them all dressed up. We took Saturday and drove a different way back to Louisville. We drove through Atlanta, Ga and saw the Coca-Cola Headquarters and the Olympic Park. We would love to go back another time when we can really experience the city. We also stopped at a few National Parks - Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Tenn and Stone River National Battlefield, Tenn - which were battlefields during the Civil War. We enjoyed learning about the history of this area. It is amazing to be somewhere that was so important to the history of our great nation. We enjoyed seeing the new territory. As usual Murphy and Oakley wasted no time getting their rest.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Tenn

Sooooo Sleepy...

On Sunday, we went to the mall to support Metro Animal Services who was holding a shelter supply drive in return for a photo of you and your pets. With some treat coaxing we were able to get a great shot of the Burnett family and also help out our four-legged friends at the animal shelter.

Memorial Day Weekend at Red River Gorge

It has been over a month since we updated our blog about Derby. It seems like the summers always fly by and this one seems to be no different. We spent Memorial Day weekend camping at Red River Gorge in Eastern Kentucky with some friends from Cori's work. This is the first time we have been to the Gorge during the Spring. We have been there a few times in the Fall. It is really well known for its beautiful Autumn colors (this is where we took our Christmas picture last year). We hiked a little ways off the trail and set up our campsite at a very nice, secluded spot. It was a perfect spot - very flat, had a spot for a campfire, nice tree coverage, and a nice view of the stars at night. We did a bunch of hiking including an 8.5 mile hike that really wore us all out. Murphy and Oakley were troopers - they even carried their own water and food in their doggie backpacks. They were rewarded for the long hike with a cool down swim in the river. Murphy was so tired that once he got to the car he just laid down on the gravel and refused to get up!! The dogs were tired out for a few days after. We enjoyed spending time with our friends. One of the couples provided all the meals for the trip. We were spoiled by the awesome campfire cooking - campfire pizzas, apple pie, chicken and cous-cous, turkey salsa burgers just to name a few of the menu items. We provided s'mores, but they seemed pretty weak given the quality of the rest of the meals. Before heading home on Monday (Memorial Day) we stopped at a little diner called Bruen's. It was highly recommended and for good reason. We ate so much home cookin' (biscuits and gravy, country ham - you get the picture) and it was so cheap. We will definitely remember this place on our next trip to Eastern Ky. We decided to take a detour on our way back to Louisville. We drove another hour into "Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia" so we could mark another state off our list. It was very beautiful and we hope to make another detour into a trip there soon.

Murphy relaxing with his backpack before we even started hiking.

The Burnett Fam - mid-way of 8.5 mile hike.

Note: Murphy was still walking at this point, but he started slowing down soon after.

He went from pulling to being pulled.

"If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads" - Anatole France

Red River Gorge at its greenest.