Highway 77 - A Journey

So...how do I choose the pictures that I post?  Pretty much, I will just choose a date of a file folder and look to see which pictures I want to share.  Today's pictures come from several different places in Eastern Kentucky.  The pictures were taken at the beginning of Spring 2010 (4/10).  It was a gorgeous day and we decided to take a drive around the countryside.  I had always seen the signs for Natural Bridge (picture below) and wanted to check it out.  We could have simply went to Mount Sterling or Winchester to hit the Mountain Parkway, which is recommended, but we wanted to take the backroads.  We left from Morehead and headed on Highway 60.  We stopped at the Frosty Freeze before you get to Salt Lick, Ky to get something to eat.  If you are ever around this area, I would highly recommend stopping at the Frosty Freeze.  They have awesome food and even the cole slaw they put on hot dogs is pretty good.  Anyways, we headed on Highway 211 to hit Highway 36 going toward Frenchburg.  Frenchburg is a SMALL SMALL Town, but for some reason it was buzzing on this day.  There was a small fire in a wooded area just right across the street and creek from the courthouse.  It seemed like that was the biggest event of that town because everyone was out trying to figure out what was going on.  Also combined with being a nice day meant even more traffic.  My friend made small talk with a couple from Michigan who had a small dog that were driving through the area.  Anyways, while we were taking pictures of the surrounding area (which I do have pictures of the smoke coming from the fire), there was a blooming tree on the lawn in front of the courthouse (Frenchburg is the county seat for Menifee County).  I wanted to take a unique picture looking through the blossoms.  It just happened that at the time I snapped the picture there was a person walking in the background.  I like this picture because as I am looking out and seeing snow on the ground this picture reminds me that Spring and Summer is around the corner.   

The second picture is of the Nada Tunnel.  As we left Frenchburg and while I still had cell phone service, we mapped out the directions via Frenchburg to go to Natural Bridge.  We stayed straight on Highway 36 as it then became US Highway 460.  We turned onto Highway 77 and went past the Frenchburg Job Corps.  I think I finally start grasping how to drive in Eastern Kentucky on this day going up and down the ridges and around the mountains.  If you get car sick or nervous about small roads, then Highway 77 may not be the road for you.  If you like adventure and going across a very pretty area, then it is for you.  Anyways, sorry for my rant.  As we continued on Highway 77, we past the road going to the Red River Gorge (I want to go there if I ever get a chance) and continued on toward Natural Bridge.  We crossed into Powell County, without stopping to take pictures and me using the restroom on a gravel road.  We came up to Nada Tunnell, which is referred to as the Gateway to the Red River Gorge.  The Tunnel was orginally a railroad that was used to haul timber.  The Tunnel was created in 1911 by using dynamite.  According to the sign at the tunnel site, one man was killed when trying to thaw out a frozen stick of dynamite.  It exploded when he set it near fire.  The first set of logs to go through the tunnel got stuck in the tunnel and they had to use dynamite to explode it.  Now, the Nada Tunnel is a one lane tunnel.  There is a sign before the tunnel that request for you to turn on your lights.  This is to alert drivers on the other side of the tunnel.  When you go through the tunnel, the temperature is very cool because of the water within the mountain (random tidbit). 

As stated earlier, this picture is of Natural Bridge in Slade, KY.  If you like outdoor trails and hiking, Natural Bridge is a MUST SEE.  If you go around Spring Time or Fall, you will fascinated by the views of the various colors.  There is a resort for those that do not want to make the trip in one day.  They have several trails leading to and around the Natural Bridge area.  One of them was 9 or 13 miles long, which is a lot of hiking.  They also have other sites in the area, such as Lover's Leap.  My friend who was with me said that it was told to her that Lover's Leap got its name from when a Native American woman leaped off the side of the mountain because she was heartbroken when a White Man did not choose to be with her (Correct me if I am wrong on the story...I did not take notes).  Anyways, for those of you who do not want to or like to hike, they do have a rail system (for a charge) that will take people to the view.  There are many people that come to this site to view the Natural Bridge.  Like I said, it is a place that I would love to go back to...but all my Eastern Kentucky folk know that there are more than enough views like this that many people don't know...i.e. Lockegee in Rowan County and The Pinnacle at the Cumberland Gap.

On this day, I think I took almost 400 plus pictures.  It was a fun day going on the country roads.  We saw rock climbers from Michigan who were climbing up sides of mountains.  We saw bikers enjoying the beautiful day.  It is fun exploring areas that are around you.  Also, this day did not come to a full end.  I ended up going to a casino in Indiana and came out with 4x more than what I started.  All I got to say....[that day] was a good day.