A Visit to Pure Water Hollow (with pictures!)

Last weekend, October 13th and 14th, our Pure Water Hollow Homestead was blessed with family visiting from out of town. From northern Kentucky came my brother, his wife and their two daughters. It is due to my brother being a computer genius that I am able to finally have some pictures of areas around the homestead. As a matter of fact, most of the pictures that follow were taken with his camera. (Thanks for everything, bro!) My mother and step-dad from Cincinnati, Ohio was also here along with my uncle and his wife from Sidney, Ohio. Including the six in my family we all together made up an expedition of fourteen explorers of Pure Water Hollow!

It was a beautiful fall weekend. Here are some pretty pictures of the Pure Water Hollow woods:






On Friday we walked up the above grass/dirt road past the old barn and on to “the clearing”.

Here we are at the clearing.

We went up the "Paw-paw Trail" a bit and then backtracked to the clearing. From the clearing we took what we are now calling the “Split-rock Trail” back down to the barn.

Here are some pictures of Split Rock. Most of the group climbed up to it and enjoyed the unique rock.


You can go all around it, on top of it, and also inside some of the crevices.

Climbing up the hill-side.

Look in the middle and on top.  Peek-a-boo!

I can hear Bill saying, "That sure is some rock!"

Marie and Erica on top of Split-rock.

It was down along the Split-rock trail that we had our only casualty of the weekend when my sister-in-law twisted her knee pretty badly. We didn’t realize how terribly painful it was for her at first because she handled the pain like a soldier and continued on down the trail. I don’t think she let a tear come to her face even though she was limping in extreme agony by the time the trail faded into the pine tree descent to the barn. We all helped her down as best we could.



We sent Matthew down to the house to bring the truck up to the barn so she wouldn’t have to walk the rest of the way to the house.


By the time we got back to the house and iced her knee down, it was time for dinner. Everyone had worked up a good appetite so we took advantage of the “all you can eat” buffet that was being served at the hotel restaurant where our company was staying!
Saturday morning we all went across the swinging bridge, which traverses the river about a half-mile from Pure Water Hollow. This is not on our property, but it is a pretty neat bridge and a unique way to see our river. It is one of the places our county lists as a tourist attraction.

Here is a veiw of the river from the bridge:  (it’s a bit muddier than normal due to the recent storms)

The state is beginning construction of a car bridge here that will connect the communities on both sides of the river. Right now it takes over an hour to drive to our neighbors across the river, while we can walk there in just a few minutes! We decided to look around at the machinery at the construction site.

Here is Matthew pretending to operate one of the bulldozers that was over there. This is not my bulldozer (I wish) or my property, but I thought it was a neat picture. Perhaps someday?



When we got back to Pure Water Hollow we decided to explore our own riverbank. The river was up a bit so we didn’t have as wide a walkway along the water’s edge as we do sometimes. Also, since the water had been up even higher a couple of days earlier, it was rather slippery in many places because of the slick mud. We have several beautiful boulders to sit on to enjoy the river. In the summer we can wade all the way across the river here at the shallow part.

I don't think any pictures of our river bank can do justice to the sense of beauty and wonder I feel when I'm down there.

Here I am, pleased to show everyone the peaceful spots on my river bank.

The children enjoyed playing on the rocks next to the water.

This is Simon swinging on a grape vine over the river:

Back at the house we had lunch outside at our side yard. It was a pretty day and not as cool as early weather reports had given. We had sandwiches, chips, vegetables, and roasted marshmallows for dessert.

The sun was shining and the sky was blue.

After lunch we took the truck up to a place we creatively named “the turn around spot”.  (So named because it is the end of the road and a cleared out place where there is just enough room to turn around in.) Some of us rode but some hiked the entire ½ mile up. A half-mile is not far, but when it is almost continually straight up, it is a good walk! From here we walked a little on the “East Ridge Trail”, back to the truck, and then on the “West Cave Trail” which goes back down to the clearing. Some of our party explored the West Cave while some of us went back to the truck to ride down off the mountain.

Here we are on the East Ridge Trail. It is very pretty up there.

West Cave is not really a cave, but just a neat overhanging rock shelter that you can keep out of the rain in.

Here are some of the children exploring it (and their kitten Puff).

By the time we had all gotten back down to the house it was time for supper and we had again worked up a good appetite! This evening it was Pizza Hut and then we spent some time at the hotel’s indoor swimming pool!

Both days everyone enjoyed watching our chickens run around:

Our famous rooster, Big Daddy Dommer(named after the Dominique breed of chicken, not Jeffrey Dahmer):

Here is one of the hens that has 10 chicks. It is nice to watch the mama protect her babies.

Christina is checking the nests for eggs.

Maybe I’m going picture posting crazy, but I’ll end this post with a few more that I liked:

Our beautiful Great Pyrenees dog, Chief (he is a bit timid around new folk).

This is my sister-in-law and niece next to a large beech tree.

Here is our empty barn loft.

Walking down our dirt/grass road.

Simon hiding in a hollow living beech tree along the trail.

Some roosters waiting for the freezer.

A pretty picture of the sun over one of our hills.

Here are my two oldest children and their cousins by the river:

On the other side of the river behind the children (not our property) we can often see horses trotting around or cows grazing.

All in all I think everyone enjoyed visiting Pure Water Hollow. I am very thankful for being blessed with such a wonderful family! I hope those of you reading this have also enjoyed seeing a bit of the spot God has given us here in eastern Kentucky.

Ya’ll come back, now, ya hear?

3 comments
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Out in the Garden on October 19, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Wow, you surprised me with how fast you put the pictures up! The weekend sure was a great one. What a blessing. Thank-You!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Livin'theMontanaDream on October 19, 2006 at 7:02 pm
What a great time you all had! I loved the tour. Looks like maybe there were a few more pictures at the end that weren't showing up for me. I'll check back later and see if they've decided to appear. What a beautiful place you all have.

Darcy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debi on October 19, 2006 at 10:42 pm
What a beautiful place the Lord has blessed you with. I was wondering if you could post a few more shots of your chicken coop. I have been looking for the "right" design for our chicken coop, but haven't found one that I really like. Yours looks perfect from what I could see.

Again what a beautiful place you have.

Blessings,

Debi

homesteadblogger.com/rldranch