On Thursday, September 4, 2025, we left Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park in Carlisle, Kentucky for a 3 1/2 hour drive to Grove Campground in the Daniel Boone National Forest near Corbin, Kentucky for a 4-night stay.
Our site was a level asphalt pad with water and 50-amp electrical hookups and when you stay in a National Forest you are in the forest for sure. Beautiful trees surrounded us and we weren’t far from the Laurel River Lake.
Friday morning we enjoyed breakfast and then took Bella for a hike on a nearby trail. The highlight would be coming across a Box Turtle (Cindy was surprised I correctly identified it before she looked it up, lol) along the trail. He was pretty photogenic, as you can see in the photo album.
Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum
After bringing Bella back to Nomad we left to make a visit to the Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum (what the locals call the KFC Museum) in Corbin, Kentucky.
Corbin is where Harland Sanders got his start as a restauranteur in 1930 when he placed a table and 6 chairs in the small front room of his Shell Oil service station. In 1935, Governor Ruby Laffoon made Sanders an official Kentucky Colonel for his contributions to the state’s cuisine. On July 4, 1940, Sanders reopened his cafe and featured his new culinary creation; pressure-fried chicken cooked according to his secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices.
And the rest is history.
The cafe and museum is an interesting place to visit with recreations of Sanders’ early service station, motel and restaurant. Of course it is filled with a history of Kentucky Fried Chicken here and around the world. There is also a large collection of memorabilia linked to KFC like their famous bucket designs, buttons, posters, etc.
If you’re a fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Colonel Harland Sanders, this is the place you want to visit and tour.
Since we were there at lunchtime, we decided to indulge in some chicken tenders, fries and drink for our afternoon repast. I have to say, the service was great, the food was fresh and good. We haven’t eaten KFC in a long time because we both got mildly sick the last 3 times we ate at one of their restaurants as we traveled. We assumed it was the cooking oil that was used or something like that so we haven’t had any in more than 2 years. We didn’t have any issues after this meal, thankfully.
Saturday it rained all day long so we simply read, did some writing and (for Cindy) tatting and stayed dry inside.
Cumberland Falls
On Sunday the weather was good so we drove 17 miles to Cumberland Falls State Park to see the”Niagara Falls of the South” and talk about false advertising. I mean, we’ve been to Niagara Falls and, while Cumberland Falls is nice, there is no comparison. Still, as I said, it’s a beautiful waterfall and the rainbow effect (which you can see in the photos and video) is stunning.
Even more than a rainbow, this is the only waterfall in the Western Hemisphere where, on a clear night with a full moon, you can see a “moonbow” as a result of the waterfall. If we lived locally, I’m sure Cindy would have us there every month on a full moon hoping to see the waterfall “moonbow” in all its glory.
Cumberland Falls also has a “Mining Operation” similar to ones we’ve been to before in our travels. You buy a bag of dirt, get a sifting pan, dump some of the dirt in the pan, let the flowing water run through it to wash away the dirt and…voila! Precious gemstones, mineral stones, and even shark teeth are revealed.
Cindy’s always enjoys doing this. I think it makes her feel like an old prospector panning for gold, lol! But regardless, she loves it and gets so excited to find different stones (and almost always knows exactly what she has found), so that she lives the truth of what is written on her t-shirt in the accompanying photos, “That’s What I Do…I Collect Rocks and I Know Things.”
Anyway, we had a fun day and it was a good way to celebrate Grandparents Day by ourselves.
That night, we started the seventh and final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD. It’s going to be sad when we hit the last episode.
Thanks for following The Wandering Wetheringtons.
I realized I forgot Grandparents Day like 2 days later. I never even knew about it before FB and I guess since I am not on FB I had no idea! It is in my calendar for next year! Also, Mikey enjoyed his conversation with you about KFC 🙂
Lol, don’t worry about it. No one ever remembers it is the first Sunday after Labor Day anyway. Yes, we had a good chat about KFC and The Colonel.
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