Owensboro, KY and Moonlite Bar-B-Que

This morning I looked at the map and realized our driving route today would take us through Owensboro. I lived in Newburgh, a suburb of Evansville, for five years when I was a kid and remembered a barbecue place in Owensboro that was my favorite. Upon further investigation, I saw that my place, the Moonlite Bar-B-Que, was basically right on the route. I had to stop there and introduce August to the legend!

The drive was very pleasant today, under an hour and a half again and pretty easy for the most part. We made it to Owensboro right at lunch and headed directly to the Moonlite. I learned that I've had better barbecue since I was 13, but the buffet was out of this world.

Mac and cheese, green beans with new potatoes, baked apples, mashed potatoes and gravy, barbecue beans, 8 different styles of smoked meat (chopped pork and chopped beef are my favorites), cornbread muffins, rolls, salad bar, and even several desserts (I had the blackberry cobbler). I ate myself miserable, and would do it again. The lunch buffet is only $11, which is really reasonable considering the quality and variety of food on there, especially meat for those that like to eat a lot of it.

August practiced his fork skills with the apples and rolls. Yes, we head to the buffet in the name of early childhood development! Of course, we brought Daddy some since he can always use the calories and we didn't want him to miss out on the good food.

Then it was on to the campground, which was only another 10 minutes down the road. Our generalization of private versus state campgrounds has held true again. The place we're at tonight, Diamond Lake Resort, has tons of amenities, including a nice pool, shower houses, laundry etc. It was only about $6 more than our site last night, so not bad. Also, we haven't been hassled by the crusty park "ranger" like we were yesterday at the state campground. And for the record, he was not a ranger in any official capacity, he was a guy on a jazzy scooter who worked for the campground and liked to call himself a ranger and yell at guests.

Our week of visitors continued, and we had a fun visit from my bestie Carrie, her husband Scott and their daughter Hannah.

They live in Evansville which is only about 45 minutes from here. Chris made a gourmet meal of stroganoff Hamburger Helper and a caesar salad, and then we all went for a swim in the pool. Hannah and August took turns being sad that the other one was using her/his float, but still had a good time.


Afterwards Chris built a fire and we made s'mores. I don't think there's anything cuter than little kids and the mess of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate!

One more day in Kentucky! The last few days here have treated us well. Anyone who knows me knows I love making Kentucky jokes (it was bred into me at a young age living in southern Indiana), but our experiences here have actually made me like it more. Don't expect the jabs about shoes being optional in the bluegrass state to stop though.