mgsmom

Thanks again for the warm wishes and thoughts. He was such a good boy and we enjoyed him so much. He had started to show his age the last 6 months, but the end came really fast. I still stop to look out the back window to check on him, look for him when I get out of bed, and expect him to greet me when I get home. Just gotta get used to being without him.

Having said that, I am going to get on an update here tonight and give you guys the down-low on the Louisville Slugger Museum. I glanced at some threads I wanted to follow and I'm pretty sure there is no way I am going to get caught up in TCD's report! See you guys in a bit.

Oh, that is terrible.

I am so sorry.

Take your time.

TCD

Thanks. I definitely needed some time to pull myself together.

I'm so sorry, Beth. I know how hard that is. :bighug:

I feel the hug!!! Thank you!

I am very sorry for your loss.

Thanks Aaron. He was a good boy.

So sorry to hear this. :heart: :heart: :heart:

Thank you! I feel the love!

Great updates!

Cigarettes and bologna... I do remember those days, vaguely of course, since I'm young. :rofl2:

I'm glad your daughter found some nicer swings. But who in the world would give their child a middle name of Dickey?

Great family shot in front of the wigwam. Who else has one of those?

I know, the name was funny to us too! We are definitely framing a copy of the wigwam picture.

Love the IGA. We lost our IGA here in the 90's. My Granddaddy who was in his 90's went to the IGA every day. I think when it closed it just kind of took his purpose away and he started to decline. I know it sounds crazy because he was 92, but I really think it had that much impact for him.

Our IGA had everything! hushpuppies shoes, underwear, pots and pans you name it! "Charge it to Grandma" was heard frequently in our hometown IGA!

Thanks for bringing those memories back for me! :)

Ready to see where we're going now!

I remember charging at ours too! There was even a gas pump at ours, and in high school I would often fill up and "Charge it to my dad". They kept up with everyone's accounts on a index cards. Every month, he would go up and pay his account.

If I am ever in Kentucky, I am going to look for the Wig Wams. That death trap playground has some of the same equipment I remember fondly from my childhood. Playgrounds used to be a lot more fun than they are now. And, for the record, the worst injury I ever suffered from one was two broken arms- so death trap is a bit of a misnomer.

I love those historical markers. You know you are in the middle of nowhere where there is a historical marker celebrating the fact that some guy stole and burned a train.

TCD

I am a huge fan of historical markers, too - so I was so excited to see those! We laughed pretty hard.

Sorry to call them a death trap - I guess I should call them arm traps! :rofl2:

Late to the party...but all caught up. Love the wig wams but can't wait for the Louisville Slugger Museum.

We are headed there tonight! Getting ready to update.

Sorry guys - I do promise to finish this report.

My boxer passed away yesterday evening and I'm having a really hard time.

I'll be back in a day or two to get going again.

The best TR EVER!!!! I remember Jordan from your TR and also GI Jordan - that was so awesome!

I am SO glad he is home safe and sound for a while and you guys can sleep well.

Please tell him we said "Thank you." And DD says "Thank you for keeping the bad guys away"

:jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

And, apparently, I do not wear waterproof mascara... :rofl2:

Doh! I'm late but here and following along (and enjoying).

Glad you're here and enjoying! There wasn't too terribly much to it, but it was cool to have done!

Alrighty, let's try this again...

So, off we go into little Cave City to see what there is to do. Cave City is very small and very old. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the downtown. It is pretty cute and only covers 1 1/2 blocks. However, there are only like 4 businesses and none of them were open.

We did stumble on this little city park and it was very shady and had swings - DD loves swings!

It was also extremely close to the railroad tracks. We also saw these - and we love historical markers!

We had a nice time at the little park. DH and I sat on a picnic table and talked while DD enjoyed the swings. DH even carved our names in the picnic table. :heart: We weren't the first ones, though. Trust me. It was really lovely, just relaxing together and not rushing off to do anything or be anywhere. It was a great first day to our vacation.

Across the street from the park was a cool old-school IGA store. Maybe I'm silly, but we don't have these where we live anymore. DH and I both have fond memories of these as a child. We all remember the 70s right? My mom used to smoke her cigarettes while grocery shopping in a store just like this. And nobody cared. Hilarious!

Sorry that is the only shot I got of it. DH really got a kick out of it. He walked in and said "Yep. Smells like cigarettes and bologna. Takes me back..." :rofl2: He went in to get some lemonade. And yes, that is my pink VB wallet under his arm. He ain't skeered. :rofl2:

About this time, my stepmom, brother, sis-in-law, and 2 nephews had arrived at the wig wam village! :jumpforjoy We all met up and compared wig wam decor and ideas for fixing up the place. The kids played on the monkey bars - my DNs are so sweet and are really great about playing with DD even though she's younger. They are 7 and 9. I won't post any pictures because I'm not sure how DBro feels about that.

We had discovered on our drive through Cave City that there was a pretty decent exit off the interstate about 2 miles away. And what do they have at almost every exit on every interstate? Cracker Barrel!

Ok, this one only has the back of DN's head...

Her first time getting to sit "at the kids table"

We head back over the wig wams and let the kids play some more while we enjoyed some frosty beverages from our cooler. Right about dark, we walked to Dairy Queen to get the kids an ice cream (sorry no pics of the kiddie cones). After that we all went to bed.

Here are some final wig wam pictures (I know you guys like pictures)

These are all from the following morning when we left. It was a nice morning!

View from looking outside our door:

That's all for the wig wams. When we left here, we all drove up to Louisville to see the Louisville Slugger museum! My nephews were particularly excited about that.

Oh I HATE that! I had a whole update 3/4 done and accidentally closed it out!!!!!!!!

I'm starting over... :blowup:

What can I say? Hot slide=hot buns followed by a run through the mister? Thanks for the update, I'll be here waiting for more! :)

Yes, her buns definitely got cooled off! She was so funny, desperately trying to slide down that thing.

I am in. My wife would have totally made me pull the car over and try to get a room if we were driving by.

Yay! And yes, you would def have to pull over and try to get one!

Looking forward to the next update. :)

Coming right up!

I'm sure money is tight, but I bet if they upped the amenities they would get more business.

I agree. My stepmom (who is one of those crafty-makes everything perfect-Martha Stewart types, but on a KMart budget) was FULL of ideas for making it better. "They could really get some curtains with some ricrac along the bottom to tie in the zig zag in the tile" "You know you can get new wooden picnic tables at Lowe's for $60" "Horseshoes could go over there..." She was all over it!

OK next time pack the waxpaper (for the slide) won't cool slide but boy will make ride down quicker. But NO BARE SKIN on slide!!

The mister set up is cool.. and cooling :)

:rofl2: Yes, she was trying to hold her legs up and slide on her dress!

as long as there are no boats I am in, great TR great pictures :)

Thanks! And no boats - I promise!

So, we have arrived at the Wig Wam village and checked in. Here are some views of the village:

You can get ice here:

The wig wams are in a U-shape around a large common area. The way the common area is kind of sunken in, makes me wonder if it didn’t used to be a little pond or something.

The facilities are… well… in need of some TLC and an update. The playground pretty much looked like a death trap and DD was not allowed to use much of it. DH did take her to the slide.

Did I mention it was 100 degrees outside? Oh, and it’s 3:00 in the afternoon with not a cloud in the sky! Beautiful, and I love hot weather, but not really good for DD playing in an open field. Or sliding down a metal slide :bugeyes: .

See the multicolor plastic tube thing? It is an old McDonalds playland laying on its side. Very creepy looking – we did not allow DD in there.

I really wish they put as much effort in the outside as they do the inside of this place.

They had this mister thing set up. We turned it on and ran around a bit.

And that’s about all she wrote for recreation! My family was running late due to a wreck on I-65, so we decided to "drive into town" and see Cave City.

BTW - I know it looks empty now, but by the time the sun goes down, every single wig wam is taken.

Next update, we will check out Cave City. I will leave you to talk amongst yourselves about the "recreational accomodations". :rofl2:

I'm late, but I'm here!

I have to admit I was nervous about your accommodations after seeing the outside, but the insides look cute and clean.

Who knew that wig wams had ceiling fans?

I guess that's to help disperse the smoke from your peace pipe?

Hey girl! Glad to see you here! I was pretty nervous when we drove up too - wasn't quite sure what to expect.

There is no smoking in the wig wam - take your peace pipe outside :rofl2:

Well, the inside of a Wig Wam looks a lot bigger that I expected.

No need to apologize for the luggage. With all that Vera Bradley and the Longaberger basket, it looks like you are part of the TCD gang:

TCD

It was bigger than I expected too! You are very close on your branding - there is definitely some VB, but the basket is not Longaberger. A parent of one of my students made it for me about 10 years ago. It does get mistaken for Longaberger a lot - she did a great job on it!

This place is too cute!

I was pleasantly surprised when we went in!

Good catch, Andrew!

I agree, the place is cute and more spacious than you'd expect from the outside. Looking forward to more of your TR.

Thanks Gwen! I'll get an update for you soon!

I may have to pester the DH to check this place out!

It was fun!

What, turn in the man card that you mistakenly thought you had after the pink drink and Sushi eating ordeals.

For those of you that have seen Cars, they do a take off on the "Wigwam Motel" chain with the "Cozy Cone Motel".

Wigwam Motel, #4, was in the Orlando area up until the mid 70s.

That's right - there were also locations in Alabama, Louisiana, California, etc. I think many of them closed in the 70s, due to interstate highways becoming the new way to travel. Poor Cozy Cones.

They seem kinda cute,per say. Good call on not driving all the way to Arizona to see one...lol

Yes, they are cute and fun. But I would not do a long drive to see one!

This trip looks like fun. Inside is nice and bright, cool tile work in bathroom. Thanks for taking us along.

The tile work was nice and went along with the native American theming.

That is just too cool! I don't think I've see a TR that started with a night in a Wig Wam!

ETA - TCD is good, I couldn't even begin to identify designer bags by name!

Hey, maybe I've got a first! He did a good job with the bags - but he lives with 4 women, so I'm sure he gets a good sampling of all the fads!

I LOVE road trips. Glad to be following along!

Thanks for following along! I hope you enjoy!

Okay, so we pull up and it definitely looks 75 years old! We go into the Main Office wig wam to check in. At some point, many years ago, it was a gift shop. Now, it just kinda looks junky. We got checked in and drove around to our wig wam.

Now, I’ll tell you I was nervous at this point. The common area was not very inviting looking and I was wondering if we were going to be brave enough to stay.

Thankfully, we opened the door to a very clean, more spacious than expected, room with an ice-cold A/C unit running.

The double bed – it was super-comfy:

To the right of the bed:

Across from the bed (sorry about the stuff on the floor - we already were unloading):

The little dressing table was pretty cute. It had a coffee pot on it (yay!). My stepmom said she actually sat down and got ready for dinner at hers.

TV to the right of the A/C – things were looking good! We have 3 things that are really crucial to our optimal comfort: coffee pot, TV, ceiling fan.

Nice. Very nice. And very clean – the room even had a pleasant lemony clean smell to it. We saw not a single bug the whole time we were in there.

Okay, on to the bathroom. It was pretty small, and the roof was really sloped in there – but for one night it was perfectly fine.

The shower was a bit dark – DD made me leave the curtain open for her when she took her shower.

OH, I forgot to show you our artwork. We soon discovered this exact picture in my brother’s wig wam as well as my stepmom’s. Hilarious.

Next, we decided to go outside and check out the village facilities while waiting for our family to arrive.

It was, well, interesting…

Holy guacamole! I turn my back for a few minutes and I already have fiends! Yay!

This is going to be so cool!! Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!

I'm on it! Coming right up!

I want to see the inside!

I know of a Wig Wam place in Arizona. I actually looked into visiting there, but we never made that trip.

I didn't know there were others.

TCD

I wonder if that is on Route 66? Apparently that is the one that was parodied by the Cozy Cone in Cars. I tried telling DD we were in Radiator Springs but she kept saying "No, Mommy, we're in Kentucky." That's what we get for reading the road signs to her...

Have you ever stayed in a Wig Wam??? We have! This summer, we made our trip to visit family into more of an adventure for ourselves. This TR, we will visit Wig Wam Village #2, the Louisville Slugger museum, and the St. Louis Zoo. All within 48 hours.

So, let’s get this underway.

We left on a Sunday morning, and DD and DH did not know where we were going. They knew that we would end up at DSiL’s house at some point in St. Louis. I punched the address of our first stop in the GPS and off we went! Every hour (on the way to the Wig Wams) I gave DH a clue as to where we were going. I am a pretty decent clue giver and he is a very good clue getter. However, I’m pretty sure he didn’t even know the Wig Wams existed. By the time we were about an hour away, he had figured out that :

1. My stepmom and my brother and his family were meeting us there. (They all live in TN)

2. We were staying in a really old motel that wasn’t really a motel.

So, we arrive on a blistering summer day – I believe it is around 101 degrees locally.

We are in #11

Cool, huh? They were built like 75 years ago and originally there were several of these motels around the country. I think the only other one that still exists is on Route 66. Very Americana. Right up DH’s alley. Plus, I knew DD would get a kick out of it – she did think we were at the Cozy Cone. :heart:

I know you all want to see the inside – let me get more pictures loaded and get back to you.

I know that skit - the girls nailed it! huh-freakin-larious! :rofl2:

Great TR! You guys are so funny!

That stinks about all the pepper - my DH would have felt the same way, too. I, however, am addicted to pepper and spicy stuff. Shoulda mailed me your doggie bags :rofl2:

Awww! I :heart: Monsters, Inc. When DD was about 2, she looked just like Boo! And acted like her too.

Love the doppelganger antics! LM is my DH's favorite movie. Sounds like you guys had a great time hanging out on the ship for the day. That is totally something we would do to avoid the mass of humanity that comes with Disney sometimes...

Thanks for the tip on the bikes. DD would probably be okay - she is a hot weather girl like her momma. We were at Carowinds today all day at close to 100 degrees and I had to DRAG her out.

That New Yorker drink is hysterical! You carried it off well, though. My DH might not have been quite so sporting. Good for you!

Wow! I leave for a few hours and come back and there have been TWO updates! Good job TCD! And we thank you.

First, love that you can take booze with you. And love that you took it on the island and used your shoe bottle opener. The best part is that you guys finished it off before leaving. :beer:

How awesome to be last on the ship - I would be way too chicken for that! You definitely get big bragging rights for that!

Glad the rain passed over. That's usually the biggest part of a trip like that you can't plan on. The weather.

Bicycle question: did you happen to notice if any of them had training wheels? Little inquiring minds would want to know...

Fun times at CC!! Your girls are so funny. Sorry your crab didn't win. At least you didn't miss out on a medal!

So impressed with Mrs. TCD - she rocks! Talented people are very fortunate. And she obviously was able to look beyond your pictures of kitties mustache to fall in love with the inner you... so she's deep, too. ;D

Looking forward to hearing how that weather pans out for you!

ETA: lookie there - I've been edited - cause you know that didn't say "pictures of kitties" mustache when I typed it LOL- I guess I should have said your prawn mustache...

Hold. the. phone.

"Camp counselors come around and collect the kids"

Dang. So DH and I could eat dinner and talk in complete sentences? While on vacation?

We were toying with the idea of doing a Disney cruise with DD for our 10th anniversary next summer. I think that idea just grew legs.

And thanks for the pics of the hot tub of death. I think I could deal with the Aqua Duck cause you're moving pretty quickly, though.

What a great way to start off the trip and to enjoy Mrs. TCD's birthday! Looks like a very nice dinner! I'm wondering what in the world do the little kids do? Do they sit for the whole 2 hours? There is no way my DD (4) would hang that long sitting at a table.

I'm with Dave - no thanks on the suspended hot tub. Yech. Way too creepy for me.

Awesome job on scoring the Aqua Duck rides! Sweeeeeeet!!

Enjoying your TR so much! Great pics from the beach - you have such a beautiful family! I think God knew you needed lots of sweet ladies around you... :heartsmiley:

I have more than an earful of cruise questions, but will start with this one. If I am assigned to eat at 6, but don't feel like eating at 6, what do I do? We are considering a Disney cruise next summer.

Can't wait to hear more!

I had no idea you could take a pop up on a cruise. Learn somethin' new every day...