May 24, 2009

We crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky and ended up in the town of Augusta.

There's a somber after-the-flood feeling:

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(The great flood was in 1997.)

There were beautiful old historical buildings — like the Rosemary Clooney homestead — but many moldy and dilapidated places.

People worked on their gardens, though. Sometimes in an incomprehensibly manic style:

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That's a goldfish pond with fountains at the extreme left.

And the people seemed pretty friendly:

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And, yes, I asked the man in the elephant mask if I could take his picture. He said: "Sure, let me put the beer down," and I said, "No, the beer is fine."

38 comments:

blake said...

That little red & yellow Flintstone car in the back is very popular with the kids these days.

traditionalguy said...

Elephant man seems to enjoy post-flood traumatic therapy scaring visitors in Audi TTs. Did he offer to tell his flood story over a beer?

Ann Althouse said...

@tradguy My car was parked on another street. We were on foot.

blake said...

Althouse went on safari!

rhhardin said...

What do Democrats dress as.

Penny said...

That guy had one heck of a "honey do" list. It's a good thing Ann and Meade stopped by when it was time for that cold one.

JAL said...

@ 6:14 blake said "That little red & yellow Flintstone car in the back is very popular with the kids these days."

It went through a redesign, but Paul Harvey *years* ago had a piece on The Best Selling Car in America -- it was that little red and yellow model!

My daughter (who is now 19) had one given to her (used) when she was about 3, and she *loved* to tootle around on the walk of the house for hours. When she out grew it ;-( we passed it along. They are nearly indestructable, being made out of that tuff stuff type of plastic.

They do NOT dissolve in landfills in anyone's lifetimes.

JAL said...

Maybe he was the Troll Who Cannot be Named? Lurking in the neighborhood and hoping to get a tag on Althouse?

JAL said...

By the way. Has anyone seen the manifest for the Not-Air Force One flight around NYC last month?

The story appears to have been deep sixed.

Where's our intrepid press when we need it?

EnigmatiCore said...

Has anyone seen where I left my can of Threadjack-Be-Gone?

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse : My car was parked on another street. We were on foot.

Didn't you see the sign telling you not to leave your car or roll down your windows when you crossed state lines?

DADvocate said...

OK, you made it to within 15 miles of my house. I live just across the river from Maysville.

I didn't know Rosemary had a homestead in Augusta. She grew up in Maysville. She was married and her funeral held in my church, St. Patrick's.

Did you see George Clooney's boyhood home? Very unassuming. His parents still live there.

I have several friends that grew up there. Some still live there. Another note, the rough draft of the Emancipation Proclamation was written there.

jayne_cobb said...

You should have asked the man why he parked his Smart Car in the yard.

Michael Haz said...

Althouse - If the opportunity for a longer drive into Kentucky becomes available, drive south through the Cumberland Gap. Incredible scenery in an area rich in American history.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

And they think we are the freaks on the east coast.

I love their freakiness though.

Love our freakiness.

I remember driving through Kentucky and see homes in the hills and saying no one can possibly live there-because it was such a dump, but they did.

Jason (the commenter) said...

"Then I threw him some peanuts and moved on to the next exhibit."

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

There is lots of Waffle House's in Kentucky.

And tons of fast food joints.

Bob Evans, yum.

Please go to Bob Evans and have their biscuits and gravy.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

That is funny Jason.

Michael Haz said...
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Palladian said...

Love the Coca-Cola fireplace.

Michael Haz said...

From the City of Augusta's website:

Shortly before his death, at 102 years old, Kentucky's Historian Laureate, Dr. Thomas D. Clark, made a list of 11 places where every Kentuckian should visit. The eleven places are Mammoth Cave, the Cumberland Gap, Shaker Village, Lilley Cornett Woods, the Fitchburg Iron Furnace, the Speed Art Museum, the Falls of the Ohio, the Abbey of Gethsemani, the Cane Ridge Meeting House, The Land Between the Lakes and the City of Augusta.

One down, ten to go.

I'd add a day on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

Oh I love the Coca Cola piece too.

They probably wouldn't call it a piece though.

I went to Kentucky a couple of years ago. It was my parents 50 Wedding Anniversay. We went to Louisville, Lexington and some army base where my dad was stationed. It is by that mint building. I really loved it there.

Are the horses still racing? Keeneland is beautiful. And the farms around Keeneland are gorgeous. If you have a chance go to some of the horse shit around Lexington. I saw some famous horses, watched how horses fuck and then I did a horse.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

And if you take the tour of the horse farms you get to go to this cutest little famous cafe in the country. I forgot it's name but it was delish.


I found out from my tour that the AAAArabs are buying up all the farms.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

Applebees are big in Kentucky too.

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting an Applebees.

hdhouse said...

If you would have continued your travel east and entered Maysville, you would have found a street named after Ms. Clooney and a town that somewhat has adopted her.

There is an opera house dead center of this town that goes back to the early 19th century (a few times rebuilt) and changing rooms, green room etc., that have walls with signatures and carved initials of just about every great vaudeville star who toured out that way all the way to Cincinnati stopping along the river.

those quaint river towns are remarkable for surviving the floods and hosting all manor of drama and art in their prime. it is well worth the day trips. the court houses go back 200 years and the records are ripe for the read...you would love it.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

I also remember some of the great homes that I saw in little towns in Kentucky.

They were so beautiful. Old, southern and intoxicating.

TitusPushPushInTheBush said...

Please share with us some of the food you are eating.

Jason (the commenter) said...

That's a great first elephant-man photo Althouse, but next time you're going to need a razor, some gray body paint, a warm room, and a model willing to take his pants off and do the crab-walk backwards.

kentuckyliz said...

I love Kentucky and Kentuckians. Moved here in 94. Love it love it love it.

rhhardin said...

I'm surprised the little blue tractor on the ground isn't up on blocks.

rhhardin said...

Eudora Welty commented that in Ohio the barns are bigger than the houses, finding that unusual.

It must be different in Kentucky or she would have mentioned it there too.

chuck b. said...

I really like white picket fences.

I've lived near two Augustas before and people in both places called it "Disgusta".

The man in the elephant mask is creeping me out in a Donnie Darko kind of way (and the garden too, I guess). I must be dead.

Jason (the commenter) said...

This photo series is a vision of the future of America under a cap and trade system. People driving around in self-propelled cars made from recycled plastic, living in unrepaired homes, growing vegtables and even fish in their own front yards; trash piling up to be used for other purposes. Masks worn over the face to protect yourself from identification by the omnipresent police surveillance system.

Thank you Obama.

JAL said...
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JAL said...

See EnigmatiCore?

Someone else thinks about Obama looking at the elepeant face with the red white and blue victory sign on his chest.

Will said...

The logo on elephant man's t-shirt seems familiar. I had sticker on my desk when I was a kid in the early '80s, but I can't recall what it was meant to support.

shade said...

Photographing people in odd masks is a fine Kentucky tradition. Maybe your subject knew Meatyard:

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/M/meatyard/meatyard_lucybelle64_full.html

E.M. said...

The elephant man finds your quote-unquote "ironic" comments neither witty nor the least bit intelligent.
Eliist is what the majority of you self-important schmucks are...
Get a sense of humor!!!!
Elephant man out...