While I totally loved walking around the school, these activities were more my style. This was a different view of KY…………..
The arboretum is on the edge of campus and right behind the house. I mean, it is literally in their backyard. When they first moved here, it was a field. Now, it is a fantastic use of ground and definitely a gathering place for visitors, walkers, runners, families and anyone coming to UK. BTW, UK stands for University of Kentucky, not United Kingdom.
They have events throughout the year and most recently they had groups come and design scarecrows – I couldn’t resist this shot. No, you can’t get away from Mickey.
A section of the arboretum is for test trials and I found this one for Echinacae. Love all of the different colors, especially the one with two colors on the end.
One thing for sure, you can see the UK water tower from all points of the garden.
Their big farmer’s market is on the weekend, but they had a (much) smaller version through the week. I was looking for pumpkins, squash and gourds to take home. Eric was looking for supper. We found these ‘candy corn’ onions (left photo, middle basket)for dinner and I found my fall items. Purchases were made for both of us.
Eric found a market (Elmwood) with locally-grown meats – that was our first stop heading out of town. We pulled in the driveway and said ‘What now?’. The place looked deserted. Eric called and after turning in, there was still a mile to drive down the lane before reaching their market store.
A nice roast was our selection and was dinner one night that week. While we picked up a beef roast, there are numerous choices as you can see below.
I couldn’t resist a few ‘live’ animal shots and one kitty. She had the prettiest,soft grey coat – which matched the gravel. 🙂
Next stop……….Evan’s Orchard. They had this great photo spot for the kids and the ‘young at heart’. Gigantic pumpkins, mums and cornstalks were irrestible.
Let me tell you what……….this place had it going on. It was a mecca for school buses and kids on field trips. They had a huge ‘bounce’ pillow, a corn maze, old-time machinery, covered pavilions, a playground and yes, apples and pumpkins.
Oh yes, and racks of ‘normal’ pumpkins.
We stopped at another orchard (Eckert’s) which was a scaled-down version from our first stop.
In true Disney fashion, another couple offered to take our photo (after my selfie attempt was not working out) and we took their photo.
We had one more place to check-off our list – Weisenberger Mill.
We go there most trips to pick up stone-ground (white) grits. None of those ‘instant’ grits come into the Darden household – just saying! These might take a little extra time to cook, but they are well worth the trouble – especially when your husband cooks them – thanks hon!
There was a framed picture from an earlier rendition of the mill. One of the owners was in the office when we picked up our items and shared their family had owned the mill since 1864.
A grinding stones was out front of the mill, making a nice display and photo op. Notice the horseshow in the center? It’s turned up to keep the luck from running out.
There are a few more posts coming from our KY trip. One of which is quintessential Lexington.
Ginny
Darden Travels 