We (my husband and I) have returned from LBL (Land Between the Lakes)! It was so nice and relaxing and beautiful we did not want to come back. We has some fun adventures that we did not expect and with those found many new things to explore! When we first got there we went straight to our favorite place, Kentucky Dam, only to find that there was major construction happening. We were very disappointed, because it seemed as though we could not actually go down to the Dam itself. So we continued on and checked in at our hotel, then went into Paducah to gather some supplies. Once we left there we went to the park and did some fishing, we caught a few bluegill and other small fish, no we did not keep them, we let them live the rest of their fishy lives. When we were done fishing we went back to our hotel room and relaxed for a bit and went to bed.
We awoke ready for adventure, but first breakfast! After breakfast we headed into the the LBL park itself, it was beautiful! Our first stop was the drag boat races we saw in the paper. It was an adventure trying to find the cove where they were going to take place, I was sure we would be late. Turns out we were actually early! We sat and waited and ate lunch, and finally the events began. The first day turned out to be the qualifiers, but was still very exciting to watch! There were thankfully no wrecks but one did come very close to it, it was scary!
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| Half a car pulling a boat to the water. |
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| The racers patiently waiting to take their place at the starting line. |
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| I think the far boat is the purple one above. |
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| The really fast boats...they were harder to get pictures of, I did eventually get one though. |
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| Add I believe this is one of the fast boats. |
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| The fast boats returning they were pretty cool looking. |
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| Another modified car ready to pull a boat |
Once done there we went to one of our new discoveries, the nature center. The visitors had a been a place we had always skipped over thinking there was nothing too exciting there, boy were we wrong. We went in and they had the typical stuffed animals, and displays, but when you get to the back they have a whole treasure trove of real animals out side, like a mini zoo.While there we got to see the groundhog being fed, the bobcat asleep under his log, a bald eagle, a few varieties of owls, and a few other creatures.
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| Flying Squirrels |
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| Display inside the center. |
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| Mr. Groundhog eating. |
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| "Mmmmm Peanuts!" |
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| Barn Owl. |
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| Great Horned Owl. Neither owl would/could tell me where my Hogwarts letter was, and why it's so late. |
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| Bobcat...not to be confused with MY BobCat. |
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| Hawk |
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| American Bald Eagle |
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| If you look closely, humming birds. |
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| One last look at Mr. Whistle Pig. |
Our next adventure was the Golden Pond Planetarium, where we watched a short laser show, then a show about the planets and deep space, then a short presentation of the stars we could see this time of year. This is a staple of each visit we make to LBL. I was sad to hear that the star gazing is now only every other week end and we were there on the wrong week end, however we did find some more exiting things to do instead.
We next found ourselves heading to the Bison and Elk Prairie, another staple of our visits. We now have the timing right and we got to see a ton of Bison and a few Elk as well. Last time we went we saw the opposite so it was a nice exchange. We saw quite a few female bison with babies and one bison who was alone who we believe was a male. I am always surprised how big both the bison and the elk are, and how crazy some of the visitors are who try to call the animals to them and get out of their car when the animals are very close, both of which are not allowed. Gladly there were no catastrophes here either.
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| An elk grazing. |
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| Another elk munching on some grass. |
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| Bison, Herd. |
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| One lone Bison. |
Our next stop was the dam which we had discovered earlier was indeed open to the public, after sitting and watching people catch a few spoonbill catfish, we headed back to the hotel for the night after a full day of exploring we were tired.
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| Ky Dam |
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| A Birdie munching a fish at the river. |
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| Jessie watching the boats, and the finally finished bridge behind him. |
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| A turbine from the dam. |
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| The Ky Dam and visitors center. (which is what was actually closed.) |
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| Pretty flowers at the dam. |
The next morning was time to leave, we ate breakfast checked out of the hotel and made one last visit to the Dam and headed home. We had a blast and cannot wait to go back!
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| A fishing spot we stopped at. I liked the trees in the water. |
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| Another angle of the partially submerged trees. |
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| The lake. Or one of them anyways. |
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| More lake. |
