bar | Sherry Lachelle Travels

Today was a big day! First, we drove 1 1/2 hrs. North to Abiquiu to a “real” cowboy’s land to horseback ride! His name is Fred Espinola…and I learned more on this 4 hour ride than I’ve ever learned. Having rode in Spain, Costa Rica, Texas, Indiana and Hawaii…not to mention a variety of places in Ohio…I discovered why horses usually gave me a difficult time. They want you to show them who’s boss…(kind of like men). I fell off of a horse in Spain because he wanted to eat grass on the side of a cliff and I let him. A horse laid down with me on top of him (of course I had to jump off quickly) in Texas. On the Loveland Bike Trail in Cincinnati, a horse tried to buck me off of him. They used to love to scrape my legs against trees and fences. At least I’ve followed the advice of getting back on a horse if you fall off!

I hadn’t ridden in 4 years so I asked for a nice steady horse. Meet Charlie…the one-eyed horse.

Fred had us take a minute to close our eyes and visualize what our ride was going to be like…and to sense the connection between ourselves and our horse…pretty cool!

This is Fred…

This is Mitzi…visiting Fred from California. She’s a sweetie!!

This is Tony Llama!

His horses are rescued Mustangs!

At times, we were riding along some higher hills/cliffs and I was afraid that Charlie (since he was missing an eye) wouldn’t be able to see where the cliff dropped off!

We got to trot/canter/gallop a lot…so I’m still sore a week later!!

Fred made me a little nervous when he said if Charlie starts to paw at the water…to pull him away from it…because that means he’s going to lay down in it!

Next, we stopped at Ojo Caliente Hot Springs to hopefully help with the sore muscles from riding. Their sulphur-free, geothermal mineral waters have flowed from a subterranean volcanic aquifer for thousands of years. Over 100,000 gallons per day come to the surface, revitalizing those who soak in the long believed, healing waters.

SPA is the acronym for the Latin phrase Salus Per Aquas, which means “health through water.”

There was a European guy that hit on me…as I’m telling him about my bruises from horseback riding…he said I was sexy and he would kiss them for me…oh la la!! I told him he had something in his mustache (a “booger”). I’d want to know!

We only spent about an hour there…because we had a schedule to keep. Next…we went to a piano bar called “Vanessie”. The pianist’s name is Doug Montgomery and he is very talented. It is a local’s hangout…if you want to sing…you tell Doug ahead of time and it’s great fun!!

This weekend I went on my annual girls’ weekend with my friends Sherry, Gina and Dee. This was Dee’s first trip with us. The tradition started almost 20 years ago with a trip to Put-n-Bay and the destinations have included Myrtle Beach, Red River Gorge, Ky, Indianapolis, Shawnee Nat’l Forest, and Nashville, to name a few. Typically, we would find a cabin with a hot tub and the weekend consisted of eating, drinking, talking and hiking. But more recently we’ve been heading to cities for sight-seeing and listening to bands. I’m usually in charge of finding the accommodations and booked a 3 bedroom condo in the Highlands section of Louisville for the weekend that I found through VRBO online. It was in a great location, within walking distance to restaurants, boutiques and a large park with walking trails.

The Highlands reminds me of Yellowsprings, Ohio. It was an eclectic blend of boutiques selling handmade jewelry, vintage clothing, books and wares from around the world; cozy coffee shops, a yoga studio, art galleries, and many restaurants that varied from Indian to Asian.

This painting caught my eye in one of the shops!

An interesting sign…

While walking down the street we were stopped by a local T.V. reporter wondering if we’d be interested in giving our opinion on pornography pop-ups on the internet. So…being it was a new experience…I volunteered. I don’t remember most of the questions, but I’ll be able to view it on their website.

We had fun trying hats on in one of the shops…a little pricey for me at $190 per hat!

It was a beautiful fall weekend for our escape…so we went hiking in Cherokee Park.

We went to a bar that caters to the over 40 crowd called Jim Porter’s Good Times Emporium. Boasting three live bands (Pop, Rock and Blues) we had a great time dancing most of the evening! Our husbands don’t particularly enjoy dancing…so we indulged ourselves!

The following evening we dressed for Halloween and our first stop was 4th Street Live in downtown Louisville.

We stopped a man on the street to take our photo before we left the condo…he was a bit shaky I believe! As you can see, Gina was a girl scout! But what was remarkable about it, was that it was her uniform from when she was 9 years old!

After having a very tasty dinner at the Red Star Tavern, our plan was to party downtown…but it seemed a little dead…so we took a taxi back to Jim Porter’s.

Being “Supergirl” I had to pick someone up, so I chose this girl…but the photo turned out too blurry to post!

This girl “the naked girl costume” won third place in the contest at Jim Porter’s. I didn’t think it appropriate to take a picture of the front, although it wasn’t real!