Silo Overlook

The other day we did a geocache at a cool location at LBL in Kentucky.  It was called Silo Overlook.  I really like caches that take you to an interesting location, and even though we've been going to Kentucky Lake for years, we've never gone to see the Silo Overlook.

Wonderful old, but locked, grate door....

At one time there were 3 pavilion's at the top of the silo that afforded you a fantastic view of Lake Barkley.

It was a sunny clear day, but with a cold, brisk wind that roared in from the lake. 

The old wooden walkway to the top of the overlook has fallen apart and is now partially dismantled.  No way to get to the top anymore, which was a shame, because I would have loved to go up there.

Before we left, we took the opportunity to do a little phooning.

Even though we couldn't climb to the top of the silo anymore, we did find the geocache that was hidden there.  This was a great location and a fun place to visit.  Plus it felt good to be out walking in the woods again.

Thanksgiving Geocaching

The weather in Kentucky over Thanksgiving weekend was perfect for a little geocaching and hiking.  Chablis, Nicki and I headed out to Land Between the Lakes in search of a few caches.

The first stop was for a quick park and grab cache at Barkley Dam.  Last spring when we were here, this whole area was flooded.

Chablis dodged off trail to grab a cache in a stump....

My favorite cache of the day was about a 3 mile round trip hike.  Right off the bat we started on a steep decline, so Chablis and Nicki did a little "surfing!"

I like narrow trails like these that wind through the woods.  Every once in awhile we would catch a glimpse of Lake Barkley....

The GPS put us right at the edge of an embankment.

 The cache could have been either down below towards the beach, or up top, where we were.  Chablis and Nicki decided to search the upper level and I climbed down to the beach....

It turns out that Nicki found the cache up top after all, near this cross...

The view was really nice so we sat for a few minutes to enjoy it before heading back to the car....

By this time we had worked up an appetite, so we headed over to Patty's 1880 Settlement for lunch and some Christmas shopping.  We ate at Mr. Bill's Restaurant, which was decorated for Christmas and I love these colors....

With lunch we got one of their specialties, which is a loaf of bread baked in a flower pot, and served with whipped and/or strawberry butter.  It's wonderful!

Afterwards we walked around the shops, looking for gifts.  They had a snow flake machine churning out snow, which looked so pretty dancing in the wind....

They were setting up their center gazebo with decorations and lights in anticipation of Santa's arrival.  Chablis sat down to rest for a second.....

Walking back to the car, we noticed this building.  We had to laugh at a building that housed a cafe, a golf cart rental and a bait shop.  I'm glad we didn't have lunch there!

All in all, it was a really nice way to spend a mild November day.

Flood Waters Going on Down - Slowly

The flood waters are slowly receding.  Yeah!  We took a ride to Kentucky Dam to check it out.  This parking lot was still really flooded...

Here are the tennis courts. Tennis anyone?

The metal bridge in the distance goes across to an island and we can usually go underneath it with our pontoon boat...

This is Kentucky Dam at the Tennessee River.  All 24 dam gates are open and spilling water.  Notice all the flooded construction equipment to the right....

This is the canal that links Lake Barkley to Kentucky Lake.  Those steps go down another flight yet...

I feel so bad for all the people who have to sand bag their homes and hope for the best..

More flooded fields underneath the wires....

Then we drove over to Barkley Dam.  We were able to take an access road and get right up next to it. The water on the back side of the dam was less than a foot higher than what was on the spilled side of the dam.

We came home and it had stopped raining, so we went fishing for awhile.  We caught another nice bunch of bluegill and redear...

While we were fishing we enjoyed the antics of a pair of purple martins as they worked on their nest inside the house.  They did not like us fishing so closely to their home and kept dive bombing us!  Can you see the female peeking out of the hole behind the male?

I was rewarded for a job well done for all the fish I caught...

And then we had some friends over for a fish fry for dinner...

The good news is that when we got here on friday, our snug harbor sign was 2 ft. under water.  Today the top of it is peeking out, so the end is in sight!