RDZ Photography

Grant, Alabama – May 2019 – Cathedral Caverns

Not far from Huntsville, Alabama is the amazing natural wonder of Cathedral Caverns. For the last 20 years the state of Alabama has owned the cave and operated it as a state park.

The entrance is said to be one of the world’s widest entrance to a ‘commercial cave’ at 25′ tall and 128′ wide.

This column has been named ‘Goliath’, one of the largest stalagmites in the world measuring 45′ high and 243′ in circumference. To get an idea of the size, note the walkway railing in the lower left corner of the photo compared to Goliath.

The cave is filled with amazing stalagmites and stalactites.

For many years the cave was owned and operated privately. Note the railing on the left side of the photo – that was the path that the original owners had put in. When the state took it over they built a nice walkway with no stairs that runs 3/4 of a mile back into the cave complex, allowing all to have the chance to experience it.

More of the interesting formations in the cave.

About 1/2 mile back into the cave you come to this amazing field.

The stalagmite called ‘Improbable’ is renown as it is only 3″ in diameter, and goes up at a 45 degree angle for 25′.

Cathedral Caverns is truly a wonder of nature, and well worth the trip to northern Alabama.

Tullahoma, Tennessee – May 2019 – Beechcraft Aircraft Heritage Museum

History, Transportation

The small city of Tullahoma, Tennessee has had a long association with flight, as it is located next to Arnold Air Force Base – where many engineers evaluate aircraft and other military apparatus for flight.

As a result of their passion for flight, they have a museum dedicated to Beechcraft Aircraft, despite the fact the planes themselves are built in Wichita, Kansas.

The lighting of the walkway to the museum is made to look like runway lights.

Inside you find 36 aircraft in a number of hangars. The most famed early Beechcraft airplanes are known as staggerwings – as their biplane wings are slightly offset from each other.

These airplanes are quite rare, but the museum has a nice collection of them.

This airplane is known as Serial Number 1 – Travel Air Mystery Ship.

The next hangar have some Twin Beechs in addition to the biplanes.

The final hangar was the largest, with a great collection of single engine aircraft.

Also included in the collection is a cutaway to show the frame of the aircraft.

They are beautiful little airplanes.

The final stop on our tour of their museum was an all composite Beechcraft Model 2000A Starship. This unusually shaped airplane was one of the first carbon fiber frames, as well as rear facing engines and propellers.

The Beechcraft Heritage Museum is a nice stop for any aviation enthusiasts.

Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky & Tennessee – May 2019 – Waterfall Tour

History, Nature

The Cumberland Plateau is situated just west of the Appalachian Mountains, running from Kentucky through Tennessee and into Alabama.

The area has a number of highlights including this natural bridge in southern Kentucky.

The Cumberland Falls is the most famed natural feature of southern Kentucky. They claim to have the 2nd most volume of water for a waterfalls in the eastern United States (a far second to Niagara Falls).

From below the rush of the water is impressive.

Just south of Byrdstown, Tennessee is the Obey River Recreation Area.

Cummins Falls is a 75′ high waterfall on the Blackburn Fork River in Jackson County, Tennessee. This waterfall has two options for viewing – one is the overlook seen here. The second is to go down to the river and wade for 1/2 mile in the river to get to the waterfalls. Because of high water conditions (and not being prepared for wading waist high in water), we opted for the overlook view only.

Burgess Falls is on the aptly named Falling Water River in east central Tennessee. This remains of an old bridge crosses the river just above the series of waterfalls.

There are some cascades before you arrive at this falls, nearly 80′ high.

But the main Burgess Falls is this impressive 136′ drop into the ravine.

Not far from Burgess Falls is Falls Creek Falls. It is the highest free fall waterfall east of the Mississippi, dropping an impressive 256′.

A closer view of the top.

A robust hike into the ravine gives a totally different perspective.

Within the same park is this nice cliff and small falls.

Also in Tennessee is the Rock Island State Park. It has a number of features including this falls along the Caney Fork.

This falls once powered this historic cotton mill.

The Caney Fork continues down. Depending on the release of water from the dam it can look like those, or be totally submersed in water.

The highlight of the Rock Island State Park are the Great Falls. Here it appears the entire hillside is the waterfalls, with water seemingly coming from everywhere along the hillside.

This closeup of the smaller cascade portion show the beauty of the falls.

Finally we had a bonus waterfalls early in the morning in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The Rutledge Falls is on a church’s property but they welcome visitors to come check them out.

Frankfort, Kentucky – May 2019 – Bourbon Valley

Architecture, History, Nature

A narrow valley south of Frankfort, Kentucky was the home of a couple of bourbon distilleries for more than 100 years. In the 1970s they closed.

Their remnants remained unused in this valley for 40 year.

Nature was taking over.

But recently two startup distilleries have moved back into some of the buildings and began bourbon making again. One took over the Old Taylor facility, whose office building looked like a castle.

They have named their bourbon Castle & Key. More on the ‘key’ in a moment, but you can see where the Castle portion came from.

They have invested significant amounts of money into the facility.

The steam towers remain but unused.

There is a great mix of old and new.

The ‘key’ portion comes from their water source – which inside is shaped like a keyhole.

The control for the small dam still functions.

Overall it is a great location for bourbon making.

The massive 4 floor aging warehouse is once again in use.

Just up the road is Glenn’s Creek – another bourbon maker who took over an old abandoned facility.

Tours of bourbon distilleries is a very big tourist business in Kentucky, and there are no settings better than here.

Frankfort, Kentucky – May 2019 – A Small Capital City

Architecture, History

Even though Kentucky is middle of the pack in terms of states by population , their capital city Frankfort is the 4th smallest of all. There are less than 30,000 people in the city.

For the most part it feels like any other small town. They have a small downtown business district.

Interestingly there is a freight rail line going down the middle of main street.

The town is quite old – it was established in 1786.

There are a few restaurants and coffee shops in town.

In the center of town is the Old Kentucky State Capitol. It was completed in 1830 and used until 1910 as the Capitol.

William Goebel was elected governor in 1900, and served for 4 days before being assassinated. He was known for being a deal maker, and a deal breaker.

He had gained so many enemies that he walked with bodyguards, but to no avail – On January 30, 1900 shots fired from the state capitol building – leading to chaos in the Kentucky state government. He died 4 days later.

As you drive around town you see an interesting mix of old and new, with nearly all the new being the government buildings.

The lampposts have banners celebrating famous Kentuckians – while Johnny Depp was born in Kentucky he was raised elsewhere

We are in Kentucky so we need to celebrate horse racing.

Much like many of the state government buildings, the county courthouse is modern as well.

The original state arsenal however, is not. It dates from 1850 and now serves as a military museum.

Across the river and up a hill is the ‘new’ state capitol grounds. Included here is the Governor’s Mansion – which in it’s Beaux Arts style bears a strong resemblance to the White House.

The new capitol building was completed in 1910.

The grounds look back down upon the town.

An additional annex building is located behind the capitol.

One of the most famous attractions is the floral clock that spells out Kentucky – although without a rise to view it from above it is tricky to see.

Frankfort seems an unusual place to have the state capitol, but politics often leads to unusual deals.

Lexington, Kentucky – May 2019 – A Damp Quiet Morning at Keeneland

Sports, Nature, History, Architecture

Keeneland Race Course is located just to the west of Lexington. It is known as one of the most beautiful facilities in the country.

Much like Claiborne Farms everything is done in an understated, but in a posh way.

The stables area are well kept, albeit somewhat quiet on this cool, damp morning.

There was some activity as the horses wait for no man.

At Keeneland the horses always have the right of way.

There is a practice track in addition to the main track.

Returning from the stable area we passed by the library.

A view of the main drive through the facility.

Most of the primary buildings are built from stone.

While this gate was closed, others were open. The styling keeps with the simple elegance.

I am not certain if a Rolex clock keeps better time, but it fits the environment.

The jockeys quarters near the main track.

The entrance to the paddock is closely guarded on race days.

Even the paddock has a nice stone wall surrounding it.

A collection of small statues display the silk colors for some of the major farms.

The main grandstands. This isn’t your county fairgrounds.

Inside the grandstands they had a horse shoe display – Nikes for Thoroughbreds.

A track side view of the main grandstands.

The morning fog gave a surreal feeling to the track.

The finish line – the ‘dirt’ track is in the foreground, the turf track is just behind it.

Attending major sporting events are always a great time, but sometimes the best photography is when nobody is there.

Lexington, Kentucky – May 2019 – Scenes of the City

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Nature

Two things are important in Lexington – horse racing and bourbon!

Even some of the public art – including giant sculptures of books often depicts horse racing.

A number of artistic horse sculptures are scattered around town.

A downtown sculpture area is called Thoroughbred Park – depicting the finish line in great detail.

The best ‘ghost sign’ in town is for Horse Racing Oats.

But there is more to Lexington that just horses and bourbon – there is the University of Kentucky, and their stunning library.

For a city this far off the east coast there are a number of early 1800 or older buildings and homes.

A former courthouse is now the main visitor center – as well as other civic offices.

The area has been growing, and there is evidence of new investments downtown with government buildings and plazas.

The main library is newer as well, and features this 5 story pendulum clock – reputed to be the largest in the world.

We visited Transylvnia University and an art fair that was occurring there. The college was the first institution of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is named for the Transylvania Colony – a proposed 14th colony that never really came to be – but the university name stuck.

Our final stop was the arboretum shared by the University of Kentucky and the city of Lexington. On this spring day there were a number of groups using the setting for their backdrops – homecoming groups, weddings, engages, and others…