Chrysalis Cocoon: Lake Cumberland State Resort Park, Part 2

So as I posted about two weeks ago, we went to Lake Cumberland State Park Resort for the weekend - and unfortunately, left some hang-up clothes in the closet there! (Mark thought I grabbed them, he thought I did.)

The good news is, housekeeping was kind enough to hold onto them for us, and we decided to drive down to stay a night, on Saturday night.

At first, we couldn't get a room and were going to stay an another another state park about an hour away, but luckily, a room opened up.

Because we were there only one night, you won't be as barraged with as many photos as two weeks ago, but we still packed in plenty :)

When we first arrived, it was relatively cloudy - and most of the bright-colored leaves were gone - but at about 7 p.m., we noticed the trees slowly began to illuminate at dusk ...

Until suddenly, everything around had an orange/red hue.

Note: These are NOT filters - there are no filters on any of these photos - this was the actual shade of the sky/trees at the time ...

And when we walked over to the other side of the lodge, we could see why - one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen in Kentucky (also seen in the first photo at the top of the page :)

Until eventually, it looked like the sky itself was on fire ...

And just before the sun disappeared in the horizon, three deer came out to graze ...

The other side of the lodge, just as the sun tucked itself behind the horizon ...

The next morning, we decided to take a walk down to the State Dock Marina to look at the houseboats, considering Lake Cumberland is known as "The Houseboat Capital of the World."

Truth be told, we've been half-considering buying a small one to to live in, docked at a mountain lake property in North Carolina.

This is just the state-owned public dock, mind you - the private marinas are much more lavish, although don't make the mistake of thinking they're cheap - you can still find several multi-million-dollar houseboats here, and there's a general store and a restaurant/bar ...

It's also worth a mention that before you even get on the boat, most boat owners, small or large boats, have on their portion of the docs full mini-bars, mini kitchens, and outdoor patio seating areas with TVs (though most actual houseboats already have these things inside) - sometimes with several tables - as if they're running a small restaurant/bar.

So no matter the size of the boat, don't ever make the mistake of thinking even the person with the smallest boat doesn't also have money, they're just not as ostentatious/don't need a full party barge ...

I mean ... I'm pretty sure a small, poor family could live on just the deck and believe they'd died and gone to heaven :/

Each covered-slip dock has them, the point being, essentially, a giant party where you can party-hop.

I'm not sure, but it almost seemed like a competition, with each dock stall trying to outdo the one next door to it?

In case you're wondering how much these dock slips cost to rent, the covered dock slips can range from $200 to $1,000 a month.

And then there's the high-end houseboats themselves, from the $500,000 to $850,000 range ...

To the $1 million range ...

To this $2-million top of the line, custom-made Thoroughbred (considered the "master" custom houseboat builder - the top three houseboat builders being found right here in South-Central Kentucky near Lake Cumberland). It may not look like too much from the front (except that this is a curved glass enclosure behind the front deck, which is unusual/custom built) ...

But then note that it goes on forever, like a train car ...

And then culminates with THIS on its back deck ...

That's right, folks ... that's golden statue of Pegasus on the top deck. And though you can't really see the inside from this pic, inside those gilded doors is sparkling, textured, gilded wall, meant to look like a wall built of raw just-mined gold.

Well, you know what happened to Pegasus, right? He flew close to the sun, and ... it did not end well.

That's just ... obscene lol. Have you ever seen such (cough, cough, unnecessary) extravagance?

The thing has like 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms or something, back and front decks, plus a covered deck up top.

(Oops, looks like they had a side-window mishap. Drunken party guest?)

So all in, the dock deck full bar and mini kitchen on the dock, boat furniture and appliances, all the extra touches, we're talking upwards of $5 million.

I mean, I'm pretty sure you could like, buy Haiti for less, but here they are, all the faux gold touches, just to show off in front of everybody and be the biggest, flashiest fish in the pond... at. Lake Cumberland, Kentucky?!?

Alrighty then.

Don't get me wrong, I could totally live in a houseboat on the lake for life - like I said, we have half-considered living on a houseboat when Mark retires - but I wouldn't need all the glitz and glam, nor the deck party with my neighbors every night - that's just not us.

Also, not a single non-lily-white person anywhere in sight.

HOWEVER - on the plus side, the boat owners we met were very, very nice, super friendly :)

They were NOT The extravaganza boat owners - but like I said, make no mistake based on boat size - they were certainly not poor.

One man in particular was super nice, so down to earth, who was unfortunately now disabled - you would've never known talking to him he had once been the trainer for Loretta Lynn's horses :)

We also couldn't help but notice a plethora (cough, cough, overkill) of American flags, way past the 4th of July?

And I should say they were all super nice, with the exception of THIS dude - not sure if you can see it from the picture, but he spent the better part of both days parading up and down the cove, honking his horn and flying his "Trump 2024" superfreak flag ... UNTIL ...

... Captain Ahab finally ran out of gas and had to have some brought to him ...

Hehehe ... no, wait ... HAHAHA!

Please, God - let that be a metaphor for what will eventually happen to equally obnoxious Trump - that he'll just run out of gas and be in need of rescue (but no one does?) lol

Mind you, part of the reason we took this trip, besides leaving some clothes in the closet last time, was to have a little peace, a little calm before the storm with elections on Tuesday, but you cannot get away!

You know what, I'd be danged if I'd put any politician's flag on my boat ...

... especially one that isn't even in the current election ...

... but most importantly, the most over-privileged, pathologically lying, criminal-minded, delusional douchebag ever to hold office as POTUS (and that's saying a lot, because unfortunately, we've had a lot, sitting in that seat)! LOL

But ahem, I digress ... back to things that should exist in nature and cost us nothing lol ...

Just some pictures and video of true things of beauty ...

Some local deer ...

Not sure how well you can see this one, he was pretty far away, but a 6-point buck (fairly young) ...

And (Wild) Tom Turkey. followed by his harem of hens ...

The latter of which we got a video of, and if you listen closely, at timestamp 1:09, you can hear the Tom call out his "flock locator" call, from the woods, a sort of soft, high-pitched trill, rather than the rattling "gobble" we all know (which I imitate shortly thereafter lol) ...

By the way, I ask Mark in the video what a group of turkey was called, but neither of us knew.

So I looked it up a later - a group of turkeys is called a "rafter," apparently?

And though most of the leaves have now gone away, you could occasionally find some residual patches of color ...

And alas, it was now time to go home, but on the way out, we decided to take Brookie as close as you can get to the water, an old boat launch, no longer in use, down "Old Rowena Road" in the park, which Brookie thoroughly enjoyed ...