Kentucky Cemeteries

Friday was a 'down day' for the GeoWoodstock events. There was an early morning gathering and an evening gathering and we did not attend either, mostly because of driving distance and rush hour traffic in the city. Instead, we decided to drive to Lexington KY by way of state highways and back roads going to and Interstate coming back.

some of our back roads

paved but narrow

We stopped at several cemeteries which I am going to highlight on this Memorial Day. I am going to post 3 of them.

The Graveyard

The cemetery was along the highway. Most of the headstones were neat. The disturbing part, to me, was the tire tracks that were visible in and around the old headstones. Lots of trees within the block-sized cemetery. It is said to be very haunted by a ghost Civil War soldier riding horseback in the cemetery. Maybe the vehicles were chasing the ghost?

Cedar Heights Cemetery 

aka Fisher Cemetery 

aka Colored Cemetery in Paris KY

greeted by several ladies hoping we were there to volunteer

help was needed to get the grounds in shape for Memorial Day

people were placing flags at the headstones of black soldiers

guys with weed whackers had a good start

but there was much to do

(we struck out on the geocache at this cemetery)

We just found it interesting the cemetery was first known as the Colored Cemetery. It was founded in the mid 1800s and does not have a lot of known history. When the geocache was placed earlier in May, the owner stated the cemetery was in need of some TLC. The group we saw was doing just that.

Paris Cemetery

We should know better than to try to find cemetery geocaches around Memorial Day weekend. People are out and about putting flowers and wreaths or flags on the grave sites. When we got to where we needed to be at this cemetery, the caretakers were fixing the weed whacker and had no intention of moving. I grabbed my camera (would have anyway) and got some personal attention and information from the caretakers. 

This cemetery had more tall, spired grave markers than in any cemetery I have ever seen, so I asked him if there was a reason. A family trying to show their wealth? His thought was they were closer to heaven. Hmmmm.

cemetery was founded in 1847

known for the Confederate Monument

list of 150 Confederate soldiers

I will post the historical stops in Lexington in another post. We went there because it was within 100 miles and had geocaches along the way and in the city. It also had traffic issues. More on that later.

Happy Memorial Day

A Day at Coney Island

Coney Island is a small amusement park southeast of Cincinnati on the shores of the Ohio River. The park started as an apple farm in 1867. By the early 1870s, Mr. Parker had added a bowling alley, dance hall and dining hall as amusements were more profitable than growing apples.

crossing the Ohio River for the 3rd time this morning

the Ohio River

ferris wheel at the amusement park

Hubby and I and 5000+ other geocaches also visited Coney Island today for a yearly event called GeoWoodstock. This was #16. We attended another, #14 in Denver in 2016. The thing that made this one different is the number of people attending. This event was billed as North America's largest geocaching gathering, a Giga Event because 5000 people planned to attend.

We were meeting friends Jon & Sherry as today was our last opportunity to spend time together for maybe the next 18 months. When we got to the meeting spot they were intently working.

There are unusual things at a large geocaching gathering. For example...

someone wanted people to write their names on their car

really?????

the original can of beans recovered from the 

very first geocache, May 2000

a woman wearing many extra pounds of metal

which is actually travel bugs and geocoins

I have seen her at events before

some people bring their OLD friends

Vendors selling geocaching supplies, clothing, and non-essentials are a big hit. Geocaching groups promoting their events, or others selling their hand created geo-related items filled 4 large tents.

this group (and a thousand others) went looking for geocaches

For me, and especially this time because of limited mobility, it was the people we see, like...

our friend Josef from Germany

whom we met at a big event in Seattle WA in 2015

Del & Mary from AZ whom we met at one of my geo events

Wally & Christine from AZ

Liz (in blue) from Canada & Kenny (in red) from AZ

Ed from AZ

geocachers from MN

we geocached with the front 2 at the oldest cache in CO

Mary from AZ

and there were others I did not get photos of, like Janice from TX or Charlie Baltimore from AZ, or Ruth & Chuck from Sioux Falls or Russ & Jeanne AZ/OR.

The temperature today was in the high 80s with 80% humidity. A brief rain appeared about 15 minutes after we left the event. Coney Island was certainly large enough (365 acres) to host the 5000+ people who stopped by today. Today was also opening season for the amusement and water park, but most of the geocachers did not venture to that area. It was a fun day, but we are both ready to head home.

An American Pastime

On Thursday afternoon, we joined some of the geocachers who have gathered in the area for the Cincinnati Reds baseball game. It was our first time at this ball park.

in front of the stadium

Hubby checking out Johnny Bench statue

GeoWoodstock banner at the game

and some of the geocachers

most of us found shade, immediately

Reds stadium along the Ohio River

'modern' steam boat passed by

stadium has a riverboat theme

seats look out to the river

LOTS of empty seats

fireworks from the 'smoke stacks'

the Reds won 5 to 4 over the Phillies

AND the real bonus...a grand slam by Suarez, a Reds player

what's a ballgame without peanuts???

more statues around the stadium

found a few geocaches before and after the game

and another gathering of geocachers after the game

I bought a T-shirt just for the ballgame

It was a fun experience. Again, we met up some geocaching friends and chatting helps the game move along. It was very warm and humid, so I grabbed some seats in the shade as soon as we arrived in the stands. I am so glad I did, as I would not have survived the afternoon. 

Butler County Donut Trail and GeoTour

Wednesday in Cincinnati started at 4:30 AM...on purpose. Hubby and I were meeting friends Jon & Sherry who were camping about 30 miles away. The four of us planned to complete the Butler County Donut Trail and the Butler County GeoTour.

The 80 mile round trip involved stopping at 12 specific donut shops in communities in Butler County, north of Cincinnati. The Butler County GeoTour involved finding 15 geocaches in the same communities. Most times, the geocaches were near the donut shops. The reward for completing the Donut Trail was a free T-shirt. The reward for completing the GeoTour was a free geocoin. And the best reward was spending time with great friends!

The donut shops have been part of the challenge for a couple of years, so it is not something new. The donut shops were also prepared for the possible surge of geocachers this week. However, the rule for donut shops is when the donuts are sold out, they close for the day. To earn the T-shirt, we had to physically go into each donut shop and have them stamp our passport. Rumor was, some shops were sold out and closed by 10 AM on Tuesday. So the pressure was on to try to find the 15 geocaches and visit all 12 donut shops as quickly as possible, and a close to 10 AM as possible, so we would not have to come back a second day.

the first stop

amount of donuts at 7:15

notice empty trays

shops opened at 6

some shops had cute bags

no requirement to purchase donuts

but we did, sometimes, and shared, most of the time

most shops were 'famous' for a specific donut

this one was called the Ugly, it was tasty

Butler County LOVES their donuts

To make the most of our time, each of us had a job to do. Jon was the driver, Hubby & Sherry looked for the caches, and I ran (not literally) into each donut shop and stood in line to have our four passports stamped.

driver & navigator, Jon

and sometimes photographer

and sometimes donut buyer

lots of laughs and giggles

Jupiter Coffee & Donuts had the geocachers donut, a frosted raised donut frosted with candy rocks! So appropriate, we had to buy 2!

At the final geocaching stop...

the last geocache

And inside the Butler County Visitor's Center...

all sorts of donut themed items

we thought about buying this for you, Bill R.!

dressed in out earned Donut Trail T-shirts

mission accomplished at 11:00 AM

and the coveted Donut Trail Geocoin!

A great long and tiring day!

But so worth the 4:30 AM wake-up!!!

(additional photos from Sherry & Jon)