Golden Pond Visitor Center

After driving through the Elk and Bison Prairie we drove to the nearby Golden Pond Visitor Center.  We first ate lunch outside at a picnic table and then headed inside to look through the exhibits.

The Golden Pond Visitor Center serves as our information hub at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Visitors will find brochures, recreation  maps, trail maps, state maps, clean restrooms, soda machines, a gift shop, children’s play area, pavilion, trail heads, recycling center, and more. Regional brochures describe attractions and historic sites in the area.

An exhibit room of historic photographs and interpretive messages explains the rich heritage of the land and the people who lived “between the rivers.” The exhibit also delves into the buildings of the dams on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers with the eventual forming of Land Between The Lakes.
-from Land Between the Lakes website

Just inside the entrance you'll see quite a few pamphlets and the entrance into the exhibit area.

The visitor center also has a Planetarium which I'd like to visit on a future trip.

The exhibits tell the cultural and geographic history of the region, starting back when it was just an area between two rivers and continuing through the area in which the lakes were created by damming.

The area was called between the rivers when it was first explored and settled by Americans.

I always enjoy looking at maps in a museum, especially old maps that don't quite match the modern maps we use today.

Quite a bit of work was done to the land between farming, trade, and industry (like the smelting furnace we'd seen earlier).

Sadly the history wasn't entirely happy with a history of bad treaties present.

I'm a sucker for taxidermy displays.  I think they add quite a bit to a museum display.

The girls sat mostly still with my parents to watch the video at the end of the exhibits.

The gift shop wasn't large but had some interesting items in it.

I thought this t-shirt was a fun design.

As we were leaving we saw this beautiful tree next to the visitor center.

The visitor center wasn't large, but it was well worth visiting if you were in the area.  You can find a few more pictures that I didn't post above in this album.

~Matt

Elk and Bison Prairie

While we were camping in the Land Between the Lakes we decided to visit the Elk and Bison Prairie.  It was an excellent decision as we ended up visiting on a great day to drive around.

We saw quite a number of bison as we drove around the loop road.

The Elk & Bison Prairie offers a native grassland habitat common in Kentucky more than a century ago. Elk and bison roam free within this 700-acre enclosure. Visitors travel in their enclosed vehicle via a 3.5-mile paved loop road. Numerous other wildlife species also thrive in the prairie. Wild turkeys, a variety of birds, small game, butterflies, and prairie mammals find sanctuary in the Elk & Bison Prairie.
--from Land Between the Lakes website

We weren't sure about paying at the site as we thought my parents might get a senior discount so we drove to the nearby visitor center and bought an entry pass there.  the regular rate is a very reasonable $5 per car.

Because of how often I deal with point of sale systems at work I had to take a picture of their automatic payment system

The gate remains closed until a car approaches in order to make sure the animals don't escape.

I decided that I wouldn't get to read what this first sign said.  I would have been excited if these were as close as we got to the bison as it was a great view, but better was yet to come.

There are plenty of wallows at the side of the road.

I did stop at several other roadside stops since there were no bison at them.

I even grabbed a panoramic view.

We also saw some elk in the trees, but I didn't have a way to zoom in so I only got a distant view.

When we drove around almost to the end of the loop we saw a number of bison in the woods.

We drove up a bit closer and parked the car to wait for the bison to wander near, and they did.

I got some great views while just sitting in the driver's seat of our van.

This one came close enough that I could actually read its ear tag.

I took this inside shot just so I could get a picture of the bison with our stuffed bison in the same view.

We must have still had winter salt on our car as this bison decided to give the car a good lick.

Ahead of us was a serious photographer with a huge rig in the back of his truck.

I was very pleased with how close we got to see to a number of bison and take photographs.

If you're in the area I'd definitely suggest dropping by the Elk and Bison Prairie, it is well worth a drive through.  The rest of the photos from our visit are located in this album.

~Matt

Land Between the Lakes

In April we went on a camping trip with my parents to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.  My wife had scouted out the area ahead of time and found several good campgrounds in the area.

Access over 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline, 200 miles of paved roads, 500 miles of trails, and 170,000 acres of forests and open lands.

As part of America’s great outdoors since 1963, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area manages over 170,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and open lands on a peninsula between Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Western Kentucky and Tennessee. The family friendly recreation area offers one of the largest blocks of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States.

With 300 miles of natural shoreline, lake access provides idyllic settings for camping, picnicking, hiking, fishing, boating, wildlife viewing, and water sports. Licensed hunts for deer, turkey, squirrel and other small game animals occur throughout the year.
--from Land Between the Lakes NRA website

We stayed at the Piney Campground in the southern portion of the area.  It sits on the lake just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee state line.

There are a number of lake-side sites in the campground.  We scouted the area out in person before selecting a site.

We saw a rather interesting camper as we drove around.

Ultimately we settled on this site.  It had some shade, but also plenty of sun (nice in the cool spring) and wasn't too far away from the lake.

We had two tents to set up as my parents have gone back to tent camping after selling their fifth wheel camper a number of years ago.

Our humble tent.  Once we started camping with multiple tents we upgraded to a larger tent that could accommodate our sleeping bags, a pack and play, and space for more kids.  Yet it isn't so large that it takes up too much space.

It really was a beautiful campsite.

 We enjoyed several beautiful sunsets.

We had a number of fires and even did some cooking over the fire.

The sunrises next to the lake were also beautiful.

While driving around one day we drove by the site of an old blast furnace.

I always read the signs when I see them and then photograph them so I can read them again later.

While only the stone is left the furnace used to be a decently large operation.

We may not have ancient ruins in America, but it is cool to see stone structures from the past couple hundred years.

Looking at it now it is hard to imagine how hot this chimney once was when active smelting operations were underway.

We also spotted some bison while driving around.  Though we ended up seeing quite a few more later.

We also went to several places in and around the area that I'll blog about separately.  The general photos from the Land Between the Lakes are in this album.

~Matt

Turkey cooking

Today, as we do every Thanksgiving my family is cooking a turkey.  However, we don't cook the turkey in the oven or use a deep fryer.

We have a different way of cooking turkeys that my parents have been doing for decades now.  In fact I have my own turkey cooker that they had made for me, though we haven't had a chance to use it yet as we always end up spending Thanksgiving at either my parent's house or the house of one of my siblings.

I think my parents originally learned this cooking method from my uncle (my Dad's late brother) who learned it in the Boy Scouts.  Whatever it came from I know it was many years ago.

First we start with the charcoal.  Place a good number of briquettes in a fireproof container and set them alight.

In the meantime the turkey is being prepared.  All of the items packaged inside are removed, heavy-gauge wire is strung through the turkey, and it is double-bagged.

My Dad reserves all of the guts and such packed inside the turkey because he likes making giblet gravy.  Not many in the family enjoy it as much as he does--most of the rest of us just like regular gravy.

Once the turkey is ready it is hung inside the frame.  The frame consists of four legs joined together at the top by an eyebolt from which the turkey wire is suspended so that the turkey hangs in the middle.  At the bottom of the legs are baskets made of chicken-wire.  Once the flames on the briquettes have died down then you're ready to go.  Divide the burning briquettes evenly between the four baskets.  Then fill up the rest of the basket with unlit briquettes.  As the briquettes burn they'll light the others on top of them.

Next starting near the top of the frame wrap it with aluminum foil.  It will take several long pieces to cover up the entire frame.

Make sure that your strips of aluminum foil are long enough so that you'll be able to crimp the two edges together.

Put the bottom piece of foil on last as you'll be removing it several times during the cooking process to add more charcoal briquettes.

At the end of the wrapping process after you add foil to the top you'll want to add some old towels for weight to make sure that the foil doesn't come off and let all of your cooking heat escape.

Here you can see the burning charcoal briquettes with the unburned ones that were added on top not yet burning.

When you're ready to add more charcoal open the bottom wrap of aluminum foil.

You can see that a number of the burning briquettes have crumbled to ash and there is room to load more fresh ones at the top that will catch fire and keep the cooking process going.

The inside of the frame is a hot oven cooking the turkey by this point.  It will continue until the meat is fully cooked and usually falling off the bone tender.

At the end of the cooking process the turkey looks amazing.

Five years ago I filmed the entire process and edited it together into one video, so if you prefer that style then watch it below.




I hope that you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving however you decide to cook your turkey.

~Matt