Red River Gorge

When you've got a lot that you want to share, it's hard to know where to start. And then it's even more difficult to be concise.

We finally got to escape, our yearly autumnal excursion to the mountains. Our usual destination, Ashville, is uncomfortably far for a day trip and so we picked somewhere new. The day started with a drive, two hours east, past Frankfort, Lexington and into the Daniel Boone National Forest. As we travelled, the sky transformed. Just watch it in the pictures below as we traveled east from Louisville.

This summer has been one of the wettest I've ever experienced, but the past month has been extremely dry. Which usually means lackluster fall colors. But as we grew close to our destination, things finally started to look a bit more autumnal.

The plan: a day hike on some of the trails in the Red River Gorge. The Gorge is an impressive collection of sandstone cliffs and arches, sheltered canyons and waterfalls. It's a rock climber's paradise, and a lovely getaway for everyone else too. The road leading to various trails shown just above is made of gravel and the fine white dust of ground sandstone. Isaac's car was sugar-coated with it by the time we left. But when we arrived home, all of the fine silt had blown off except for bits stuck to fingerprints on the edges of doors.

About 100 feet past the trailhead, we began to understand a bit more about this place. Our hike began on top of the gorge, on sandstone cliffs similar to what we could see before us. It's not that we were so very high up in mountains, but the sharp contrast of cliffs and canyons gives that feeling. Our trail wound around the edge of a cliff, offering vista after vista on both sides perfect for snapping pictures.

Above, Isaac's reaction after I said "Dr. Nam goes on a hike. Wearing a jacket with a lapel and carrying a chick-fil-a cup." Below, this rock was too picturesque to resist awkwardly posing for a photo.

The two days prior to our visit, this trail was closed because of a wildfire started by an unattended campfire. You can see some scraggly burnt trees.

After trying to cut back on my picture taking, we finally reached Courthouse Rock, a sort of halfway point on our route.

One of my favorite parts of hikes is noticing the trees themselves and how they change along the trail. On top of these sandstone cliffs, with cold and biting winds, the trees can't grow very thick and wide. They seem so lean and resilient, miniature versions of their cousins below in the canyons, tiny forests high up top.

Isaac being patient as I tried to take pictures that did the wind-swept trees justice. Below, stretching pines that looked like topiaries and reminded me of Korea.

Courthouse Rock was truly stunning, especially the part shown in the pictures above. This is a terrible panorama, but I was trying to show its sense of openness. A narrow stretch of bare sandstone, with endless ripples of canyons, ridges and mountains all around. This is looking east, just on the edge of the Appalachians. The only other place I've ever experienced this feeling of openness - a narrow path with drops on either side and 360 view - is at the Grand Canyon.

We walked a little further and then it was time to descend into the canyon. The route we took goes down and then doubled back in the gorge, across a stream and then up again.

The only part of the path we saw that was noticeably man-made, a sturdy staircase. The rest of the trail is wonderfully natural feeling, even the intersection of three different trails shown below features just unobtrusive signs.

A new perspective of the sandstone cliffs.

As we descended, the forest transformed. Here trees wore a lively green with bursts of saffron sunlight.

We walked on and on, and finally I had to admit that the photos just weren't capturing the moment well enough, and I eased off of snapping pictures of everything.

We padded along, crossed the stream, ascended, and walked along the top of another sandstone cliff.

And as if the Gorge hadn't already filled us enough with senses of wonder, we found ourselves surrounded with a fragrance. Isaac noticed it first. A surprisingly familiar smell. It has a smell so unique and instantly recognizable, yet we couldn't believe it at first. Ginseng. But we continued to walk, and continued to smell that sweet, tangy, warm, one-of-a-kind scent. If it wasn't for Isaac, and my exposure to Korean foods through him, I wouldn't have recognized the scent and would've just passed it off as a neat woodsy smell. I guess that most hikers here do the same.

We plodded through forests filled with ginseng on Saturday. Never would have guessed that. We laughed and marveled about it for a good chunk of the way home. We will definitely be coming back here.

Fall Break and Bunny

Even if the leaves are still green and long sleeves turn uncomfortable in the afternoon sun, autumn is officially here. We know because it is fall break time at universities, which means Isaac's little brother had enough free time to come visit us.

I was bursting with ideas of things we should do, but tried to cut back in order to make his time here a good balance of restful and fun. The seven hour drive from Columbia to Louisville may be beautiful, but it's still quite long and tiring. And it may be fall break, but school assignments are still due in the following days. So we settled on sharing our favorite local areas around Louisville and just one day trip - lunch in Frankfort and a visit to Buffalo Trace Distillery.

Coming into Frankfort, we pulled over at the roadside vista overlooking the statehouse. How lovely is this city with its tree-filled skyline?

Its handsome streets lined with local shops, and even more trees just beyond.

We ate lunch at Gibby's, a local sandwich shop with a wide menu of nearly everything nestled between two pieces of bread - fish sandwiches, barbecue, deli meats, grilled chicken.

All three of us agreed that it was even better than we expected. Classic food done very well.

After lunch, we headed to Buffalo Trace. It was perfect weather to wander around the grounds while we waited for our tour to begin.

Although Isaac and I have visited here before, visiting on a different day and listening to a different tour guide made the experience totally fresh for us too. Our group wandered around a different part of the distillery, watched a short (and slightly cheesy) video about its history for the first time, and walked through a different warehouse with stacks and stacks of bourbon barrels.

Our guide (Don I think?) has been giving tours so long his name tag has faded away. Prior to working at Buffalo Trace, he was employed at Woodford Reserve. So he has been around the bourbon business for many years and had plenty of unique stories and details to share.

After the tour was the complementary tasting - ending with a Kentuckian's favorite dessert - bourbon cream and root beer.

The rest of the weekend we relaxed at home, venturing out to eat some tasty food together.

Thai (and other Asian tastes) at our newly discovered favorite Thai restaurant - La Que. Below is the street view from the Thai restaurant, perfect for people watching and relaxing on a cool night. Also, my curry, rice and mango lassi at an Indian restaurant called Shalimar. This place is a favorite of Isaac and his colleagues for their weekday lunch buffet.

I'll leave by sharing some spoiled pet pictures. Lately we've been letting Cookie hop around in the living room a little bit. It's quite a big adventure for such a small bunny, and she makes some pretty cute expressions as she explores.