Our Trip: Adventures in Kentucky

     Waking up on Sunday morning in Kentucky I was so excited. I'd be attending (and taking my family) to my "Kentucky Church". It's amazing how the bonds of fellowship are so strong amongst followers of Christ. When I first walked into that church over four years ago, it felt like home. And now, I was coming back for a visit.  (I got my camera ready to go with me, and then left it sitting on the table as we walked out, so I have no pictures.) My friend Rachel came over & then we all drove to church together. We sang around the piano with the congregation & enjoyed their services. They'd told me the last time I was in that if I ever brought my family to be prepared to sing for them - and we did.  What a wonderful time of fellowship together.

     Afterwards, Rachel had us over to her place for lunch and then we took my siblings on a tour of G.C.H. We also stopped in to see Dawn & her family. Laura fell in love with one of her dogs.

 

Then some of us went down to the Angel House to help out & talk with Angie who was working that afternoon.  Unfortunately for us, all the babies were asleep! We did have fun playing with the toddlers though. All of them such cuties. :)  And one baby did wake so we were able to feed him before we had to leave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     We'd made plans to see the moonbow that night, so headed over to pick up Rachel about 7:00 PM for the hour & a half drive to Cumberland Falls. I'd tried to see it before when I was in Kentucky & it never worked, but this was much better to have them all there with me.  And it just so happened that we were there on one of the 5 days it's visible every month!  On the way to Rachel's house Laura stopped to take pictures of these haycocks on an Amish or Mennonite farm. Reminds me of Laura Ingalls!

  

 

 

 

We arrived in plenty of time before moonrise (estimated viewing time was 9:30 - 11:30 PM and we got there about 9:00) and spent a lot of time walking around, getting our cameras set for when it did appear, and saving a good spot near the falls.

     It was freezing cold out there and the falls were misting so high in the air that it felt like it was raining when you stood too close, but it was worth it!  Here is what it looked like with everyone waiting (these look very light & bright, but it was actually pretty dark out there - our long exposures cause the very bright look):

 

     After waiting about 45 minutes, a slight white bow appeared - barely visible to the eye. Caroline & Laura noticed it first and thought it must be "It", and started asking those around them. All the answers were negative - nobody thought it was happening yet.  So Laura decided to take a picture. Interestingly enough, the moonbow is white to the eye, but a camera will capture the color.  Sure enough, after she took her picture, it showed a slight rainbow. She began showing it to those around her and the news quickly traveled down the line of people "It's here, it's it!" :)  So here's what our eye saw:

 

 

 

And here's what our cameras saw:

We had fun playing around with the cameras & getting great pictures with the moonbow:

We made these by taking a long exposure and using our cellphones to

light the people. They turned out so cool!

 



 

These are a little out of focus, but it still works - at least you can see we were there, right?

 

And in this one Samuel's "ghost" hovers in the foreground :)

We really had such a good time. If we hadn't had so many other grand adventures, this would've been my favorite. But, in the end we did have many great moments that I don't think I can pick between them. What a great trip!