Expedition

Yesterday my family and I set out on an expedition to Big Bone Lick and points beyond. I haven't been to the state park in years--and for many of those years all I had was a T-shirt. It was interesting as I tried to explain the shirt to people who saw it. Many people in California had absolutely no idea what it was about. I think the easiest way to describe it might be to compare it to the La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California. Both areas attracted many animals who fell into morasses and died. The attractors were quite different however. At BBL animals were attracted by the many salt deposits--hence the title of a "lick." It was quite a popular area for Indians to hunt because of the abundance of animals. The first Europeans in the area were amazed by the massive bones that they found, including those of mastadons and mammoths.

As you can see in the signs above even Lewis and Clark were involved in researching the area and hauling bones back to museums in the East. The only bad part about all of these expeditions which established the start of vertebrate paleontology in America is that there are no bones remaining at the site (or very few). The Shocktober exhibit at the Museum Center last October was partially based upon the premise that giant eggs had been discovered at Big Bone Lick (fictional of course).

The area includes several attractions, though they are small. There is a nature center (closed on Wednesdays), a trail with animal recreations, a .4 mile nature trail, a small museum, and a mini-herd of bison. The recreation area (right) was interesting. I even bought a postcard of the display--though the picture looked a bit better as the area was flooded. Actually it was that detail that allowed me to find out where the bison herd was located. They weren't where they had been previously (and were still listed on the park map) because apparently the area is subject to frequent flooding. Therefore a new bison pasture had been constructed and the clerk at the gift store gave us directions. After eating lunch under a pavilion at the picnic area (it had been threatening to rain and sprinkling a bit all day) we hiked up the trail to see the bison.

Before this though we had been through the "museum." Now perhaps quite understandably because there are not many bones left at the site and there isn't anything dramatic like tar pits the museum isn't too large. It actually consists of one large room with displays along the walls (such as the skull on the right), a large painting of mastadons and mammoths along one wall, and a central display with a large skull. The gift shop took up nearly as much room as the museum area. I didn't really find much too interesting in there, except for some shirts that were too expensive for me to consider at this time. I did find a small keychain related to the Lewis and Clark expedition bicentenial (1803-1806/2003-2006) along with the postcards mentioned above.

It was fun to see the bison as I don't think that I've seen any for many years--probably not since I was last in Yellowstone (probably during the last century). There weren't too terribly many, but it was still enjoyable to watch them--especially the several calves.

After Big Bone Lick our next objective was Kincaid Lake. Apparently my sister and brother-in-law have been hearing for quite a while about the campground there and wanted to check it out. I don't think they're going on a long summer trip this year so they are looking for camping places closer to home that they can enjoy. Unfortunately we headed east from Big Bone Lick. Only 40-50 miles separate the two areas (both have campgrounds so we checked out Big Bone Lick's before we left there) but it seemed much longer.

I think it was Route 22 that we took from the Interstate over towards Kincaid. Soon after leaving the freeway we were deep into the country and the road began winding, dipping, and curving. We passed a fifteen miles to Kincaid sign at one point and then about ten miles later we came to the ten miles to Kincaid sign. That might be a slight exageration, but on the other hand that road did curve quite a bit. I doubt there were any straight stretches longer than a couple car-lengths. Finally we arrived in the thriving metropolis of Falmouth, Kentucky. (In response to this my sister said "I don't know what was thriving there except for the graveyard business." --more on that in a bit)

Oh, I forgot to mention something earlier. At one point my brother-in-law's mom (who was following the van in her vehicle) lost us at the turnoff to Big Bone Lick. She didn't see us turn off and then we played phone tag for a bit until we managed to finally reconnect. Coming through Falmouth I spotted the sign to turn to Kincaid and I pointed it out--though my Dad (driving the van) didn't see until it was too late. After we came back around we headed up the road until everyone became convinced that we had made a wrong turn. We came back through the light and saw that no, the sign was there. Finally after asking two different people directions we found the proper way through Falmouth, over the blue bridge, and up the hill to the lake.

There were some interesting sights in Falmouth, including a sign above a plumber's business that had us all in stitches and a library entrance that looked like a prison. Mostly though the buildings didn't look in great shape, and there weren't many people about. Graveyards and funeral homes were definately in abundance on our drive to the lake though. I think that (including right at the lake) we saw no fewer than six graveyards, some quite large.

We didn't really see the lake, except as we drove by, but we did explore the campground (it was nice, but a bit too open to visit if it was crowded) and the picnic area. The kids had a great time at the playground--but my nephew Chase got stuck when he climbed into the kiddie swing. He is small for his age (going into seventh grade next year) but not quite small enough that he could fit in the swing--though he had thought that he could. Around five it started pouring so we all retreated underneath the pavilion and dived into a picnic dinner of macaroni salad and rolls.

While it did sprinkle several times throughout the day it never truly rained when we wanted to be outside and so it was a great day, even with the long and twisty drive to Kincaid Lake. Thankfully we discovered a more direct route back that would be used if ever going back to the lake to camp or picnic.

On the way back I was dozing until we lost my brother-in-law's mom again when she stopped at a gas station. I was dropped off to get a better picture of the plumbing sign (though I misunderstood and snapped a picture of the historical sign at the left). I was upset that I had been largely woken up and so stood around and took pictures of the non-bustling downtown area. Then I spotted the gas station and decided to walk down, thinking that there was no point to my just standing around waiting to be picked up. On the way up the road I passed by the library though and decided to duck inside. I had an idea that I might ask about a library card (since Kenton County where I live abuts Pendleton County I might be able to get a card there) but these thoughts were dispelled when I spotted a table of books with signs reading "$1.00 per bag." I immediately forgot about the gas station and rationalized that if everybody else noticed I was missing they would of course look in the library for me. I spent a few minutes browsing books and was disappointed not to find too many that were interesting. After my dad and nephew Chase came in looking for me he picked out a kids book to get and I took the stack up front to pay my one dollar. At that point I wasn't at all disappointed that I had been dropped off. One of the books is all about eighteenth century American pioneers and the foods that they ate in different regions of the country. It also contains recpies! :-)

~Matt