My visit to Hidden Cove on Memorial Day Weekend 2010

My visit started when I arrived in Louisville Airport on Sunday morning. I happily delivered a Starbucks triple shot nonfat venti vanilla latte to Cathy for picking me up--and rode with my mother and Cathy through Kentucky to get to Nolin Lake.

We had to stop by Wal-Mart for some extra supplies—cheese, an onion and ping pong balls, and picked up some cute lightweight zip up hoodies along the way. It was during our discussion on our purchase of ping pong balls for Beer Pong that prompted my suggestion of the game of Flip Cup to Cathy and my mother. The size of our group was perfect for a drinking game that involved more than just four people. Intrigued by my enthusiasm for the game, my mother immediately became a strong advocate for the introduction of Flip Cup into our agenda of Sunday group activities. : )

Upon arrival, I took an individual tour of the property before enjoying a trek to the Summit with John in the new Gator.

After which, I took a leisurely boat ride with Cathy and John Phil and their crew of happy Hidden Cove weekend visitors.

When we got back, a wine reception with crackers, meats, cheeses and fresh fruit helped "Hidden Cove Platinum Club Members" pass the time while they waited for the rain to subside.

I CHERISH great times and great memories like these. We always have SO much fun together!

As this was the only day that the entire group of Memorial Day vacationers would be together, we collectively donned our commemorative 2010 hidden cove tee-shirts in preparation for a group photograph.

Visitors picked out Hidden Cove temporary tattoos while Mother and Cathy prepared a phenomenal rib and chicken dinner. After dinner was finished, Tabitha’s friend, Bree, took a picture of our entire Memorial Day group.

It was appropriate that our picture be taken in front of the Gazebo, the focus of our 2010 Hidden Cove Tee shirts. Post-photograph, the entire group headed back up to John and Cathy’s camper and participated in a Flip Cup tournament. A relay-race drinking game pairing beer chugging with plastic cup flipping agility, Flip Cup was the ideal activity to engage the entire group.

After the team of Chris, Maggie, Corry and Nick had dominated the entire community of flip-cup tournament participants, we headed up to the Summit for a bonfire of extraordinary magnitude. The bonfire was carefully constructed on Saturday by John and Chris, in preparation for Sunday. After John lit the incredible structure of sticks, logs, twigs and debris,

flames quickly lit up the sky.

Cathy provided ingredients for S’mores, but the intense heat of the flame made it difficult to toast marshmallows! Some crouched down to beat the heat while others attempted to toast over a baby bonfire. Regardless of the method for toasting them, the marshmallows made for fabulous fireside snacks.

The Giant Summit Bonfire was a lovely grand finale for the Hidden Cove camp. When everybody retired to bed, I got to hang out with my cousin Nick and his girlfriend Maggie. I quite enjoyed catching up on what’s been going on in his life and updating him on what’s been going on in mine. I’m so grateful that I have such a strong friendship with my cousins, and I credit the existence of Hidden Cove for allowing our families to grow so close. Sharing in the experiences of exploring and developing the property into what it has become has really made Hidden Cove a fun family getaway. The millions of memories that I’ve made with my family at Hidden Cove are what I appreciate most. Virtually everybody left on Monday: Brian and Karen left before the sun came up, Chris, Tabitha, Corry, Maggie and Bree left around 1:00. Charles and Judy left with Cathy (Maizie) and Nick around 2:00. John, Mom, Dad and I collectively reduced the camp capacity to a more manageable level and tidied all of the campers for the next wave of vacationing visitors. After chairs were put away and trash was taken away, mother prepared a tasty teriyaki chicken dinner for the four of us. With the gazebo back in functioning order, we finished the evening off with wine, cigars and great conversation. My boyfriend, John, arrived around 11:30 Monday evening. Dad directed him into the camp and we all called it a night.

Tuesday morning we had a hearty bacon, egg and hashed brown breakfast.

While I gave John a tour of the property (John is pictured here on Holly Falls), Dad and John Phil worked on maintaining the grounds and deterring Summit trespassers. After a boat ride with my parents and some moderately enjoyable jet-skiing, John and I made it back up to camp while my mother prepared an incredible steak dinner. Per Cathy’s request, I used up the cilantro, tomatoes and peppers in her fridge to make salsa. Chips and salsa made a great appetizer before dinner! We all finished the evening in the gazebo again--smoking the cigars and drinking the wine that John brought with him. It was lovely.

The next morning flew by. Mother prepared waffles while John and I packed up the pop-up trailer we’d been staying in. We spent the next couple of hours chatting at the round table outside of John and Cathy’s camper in preparation of our departure. When my mother discovered that the Makers Mark Distillery tour we were planning taking ended sooner than we had expected, we rushed to leave Hidden Cove in a hurry. We had planned that day to plant the blue spruce “Love Pine” that John and I had purchased as our Christmas tree 6 months ago. Because we had to leave so quickly, John Phil volunteered to plant our love tree for us.

Fortunately we made it to Makers Mark in time to take the entire tour. We walked straight to the building where the bottles are filled, labeled and hand-dipped in signature Maker’s red wax.

The whole tour was quite impressive, especially the tasting room/gift shop. Not only were we able to finish the tour with a taste of the phenomenal Makers Mark whisky, we were also able to taste a Mint Julep, the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby! John and I both took the opportunity to dip Makers Mark bottles in wax and also invested in the refreshing and limited-time-offer Mint Julep bottle.

On our drive back to Indiana, we reflected on how ours really was the perfect visit to Hidden Cove. Although I’m covered in excruciatingly itchy bug bites, I cannot wait to go back. So many memories were made in the single weekend that our families were able to spend together. As this marks the beginning of the 2010 summer season, I’m hoping that mine is not the only Hidden Cove Blog entry for the year. Share your memories from Hidden Cove with the rest of us--Contact the webmaster to contribute to the Hidden Cove Blog!