travel – Lost Between the Pages

Lexington Mural Guide

June 16, 2019by KellyLeave a Comment

Several of my best friends live in Lexington, KY, so I usually make a trip down there a few times a year for girls nights or Friendsgiving celebrations. A few weeks ago, Paul McCartney played at Rupp Arena and I met up with my gal pals, along with my mom and dad, and we all went to the concert.

I’ve never really gone looking for murals in Lexington before, so since the weather was nice and I had nothing else going on, I left Indianapolis a few hours early and decided to hunt some down! Surprisingly, there aren’t a lot in the town that the University of Kentucky calls home, but I found some cute ones nonetheless!

This cool train mural is on the side of a bar – I especially enjoy the message. It makes me want to spontaneously buy a plane ticket somewhere and just go!

I stumbled upon this pretty mermaid while looking for the “I Love You Kentucky” mural – they are in the same neighborhood, which had a bunch of really cute shops I would have liked to go in, but I didn’t have a lot of extra time for shopping. There are also some pretty plain color walls in this neighborhood too.

Near Shop Local Kentucky, 212 Woodland Avenue

This next mural, on the side of Hive Salon, is ridiculously cute! My family had bees growing up and I would help my dad with the beehives, so I really loved the aesthetic of the mural on the side of their building.

Processed with VSCO with al3 preset — Hive Salon, 156 Deweese Street

Right across the street from Hive, is the mural of Louie Armstrong, the late jazz musician.

Also in the same vicinity, this super cute fox! You will see it from both Louis Armstrong and Hive, so park at one and walk across the road if you want to get a photo of it.

Hair salons seem to be the mural hubs of Lexington, you can find this Kentucky Legends mural on the side of Floyd’s 99 Barbershop. I was kind of confused by George Clooney until I did some research and discovered he was born in Lexington. Also pictured are Loretta Lynn, Chris Stapleton and Anthony Davis.

Honest Abe is AMAZING! He is located on the back of the Kentucky Theater and pays homage to one of my favorite U.S. Presidents who grew up in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.

Finally, this super cute Kentucky mural can be found at Shop Local Kentucky. If you find any that I didn’t see, please tag me in your photos or leave a picture in the comments! I would love to see them and check them out next time I’m in town.

Murals, Travel

Cincinnati’s Colorful Wall Murals

May 19, 2019May 20, 2019by Kelly2 Comments

I don’t know if you’ve ever visited Cincinnati, Ohio or not, but they’ve got a great mural scene going for them. There were murals everywhere you turned – so many that I couldn’t get pictures of them all because I ran out of time!

The BEST Wall Murals in

You’ll find snap shots of my favorites in this post, along with where to find them in case you want to go exploring on your own. And then when you’re done, make your way to Over the Rhine for some great food, game bars or axe throwing.

This fun Cincinati, OH mural is on the corner of Reading Rd. and E. 12th Street. There really isn’t a good place to park, but if you drive around the corner and park on Pendleton Street, you’ll be at the entrance to Boliver Alley, and can walk down it and get to this mural that way.

Once you’ve taken your photo at the Cincinnati mural, make your way back down Boliver Alley for the coolest mural experience all in one place.

Downtown, near OTR, you will find everything from cats, zombies, food to vintage toys.

Crazy Cat mural is located at 1120 Walnut Street and has a parking lot in front of it, so you can park here, then walk to some of the other murals in the area.

This Zombie mural is right across the parking lot from the cat mural.

This one reminds me of something out of the 70s! It can be found at 311 East 13th Street.

Lookin’ Good mural, which has neon lights around it, is right around the corner from the cat mural.

This one shares a parking lot with the Lookin’ Good Mural.

This one is on the corner of E. Central Parkway and Eggleston.

Classic Toy Mural, located at 23 W Court St.

You’ll have to drive out of downtown for this fun mural. Located in Reading, this serves as a welcome to the Reading Bridal District and can be found at 11 Benson Street, Reading, OH 45215.

Part of the legend series, this mural pays tribute to Annie Oakley in the neighborhood where she was born and grew up. 3211 Madison Road.

There are many others I didn’t get a chance to photograph, like James Brown, Neil Armstrong, and the flying pig. However, you can download a handy map of the murals in Cincinnati to see what else I missed.

Have fun exploring!

Murals, Travel

The Best Murals in Louisville

February 25, 2019May 13, 2019by Kelly2 Comments

“LOVE” mural: found right across the street from the Butchertown Crossfit, 37 Buchanan St.

This past weekend my friends and I had a “Galentine’s Day” get-together in Lexington, KY. The drive from Indianapolis to Lexington takes me through Louisville, and since the day was bright and sunny, I decided to leave a few hours early to chase some street art in the city made famous by the Kentucky Derby.

I’m sure I only covered about half of the murals in town, and many of the neighborhoods I drove through had so many other pieces of street art that if you go, you might find something even more unique than the walls I found.

Flower Mural on the Side of Red Tree

701 E Market St.

Flower Mural on the side of the Red Tree Furniture Store, 701 E Market St.

These next few murals are all within blocks of each other; a word of caution – this neighborhood was kind of sketchy. Since it was during the daylight, I didn’t feel terribly unsafe, but I would probably take a friend with me if I went again. These are in the Shelby Park area.

On the side of Red Top, 1127 Logan St. I should have been paying more attention to what Red Top is because apparently it’s a gourmet hot dog place & who doesn’t love hot dogs??

This raven mural is one of my favorites! I love the literature vibes it gives off and the raven seems like it might be some kind of nod to Edgar Allen Poe.

img_2740-1 — Right across the street from Red Dog.

This next mural, on the side of Scarlet’s Bakery screams spring! I love all the swirly pastel colors and had to take several selfies in front of this one 🙂

A few feet away from Scarlet’s, you will find this other bright mural with primary colors.

A few blocks over is this super cool “To the Top” mural which was designed by the Often Seen, Rarely Spoken group. They painted it on the side of Abell Elevator.

On the wall adjacent to To the Top, is a fun geometric mural.

Then literally right down the street (you can see it from To the Top) is another geometric design, which from a distance is supposed to look like flowers. I didn’t see it really, but I also didn’t go across the street. I also probably should have worn sunglasses so my eyes weren’t so squinty in this photo, haha.

This next one is a favorite of mine! Also on the side of a bakery, the bacon and donuts mural is so cute! It was tricky to get this shot because it’s shorter than me and I had to prop my tripod up and angle it weird, but I think the picture turned out pretty good anyway!

And finally, the mecca of murals, the Greetings from Louisville mural that’s near UofL and Churchill Downs. The details that Greetings Tour puts into these murals is stunning and I hope they make it to Indianapolis one day!

Travel

Veal’s Ice Tree

February 4, 2019by Kelly1 Comment

Nestled just off I-74 on Indianapolis’ southeast side is a winter spectacle that’s been delighting Hoosiers for over 50 years. Since 1961, the Veal family has been creating the ice tree in their back yard, and today their granddaughter Wynter Veal-Drummond continues the family tradition.

The tree started by accident. Wynter’s grandparents Mabel and Vierl Veal were trying to make a hill for their children to sled down, so they started pumping water out of the pond next to the house to make an ice hill. The wind had other ideas, and blew the water onto some nearby bushes, creating the first ice tree. The family thought it was pretty and decided to keep growing it. Eventually, it took on the form of the ice tree that we see today.

Building the tree is a pretty involved process and as soon as it starts getting cold out, Wynter begins building the frame. She uses 2×4 boards for a steady base and adds branches from the neighbors’ tree trimmings.

25542741_1521768184525112_641812310201143869_o — Photo courtesy of Wynter Veal-Drummond

Once there are several days of temperatures 30 degrees or lower, they turn the hoses on and begin pumping the water out of the pond to spray on the tree form. As the tree grows, Wynter adds more hoses, and during the 2013-2014 season, the tree grew to 80 feet tall!

The dying process gives the ice tree that magical look that people love to use for unique photo backdrops. Wynter dyes it using a powder form of food coloring and most years they are able to hook a special spray bottle that contains the food coloring up to the hoses and dye it that way. This year, though, she had to do it the way her grandfather did and dye it by hand.

It can take hours to get the final results and on Wednesday, the coldest day of the year, she was outside dying the tree for six hours in negative degree temperatures.

She leaves the backside of the ice tree in its natural state, which looks beautiful as well. Wynter offered to let me climb the formation using cleats, but I decided to stay safely on the ground 🙂

Her mother, Janet Veal-Drummond, lives in the family home next to the tree and estimates there have only been about eight winters that haven’t been cold enough for them to grow the ice tree.

This year’s season may also be a short one; since I visited on Saturday, Indiana has had some unseasonably warm temperatures that will begin to melt the ice formation. Wynter says that once the tree starts to melt, it’s very hard to rebuild it.

Creating the ice tree may be a lot of work, but it’s a family tradition that Wynter hopes to continue for years to come. She says not only does it help her feel close to her grandparents who have both passed away, but it gives her joy to see how happy it makes other people when they see it.

How to get there: 11333 Southeastern Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46259. From I-465 take I-74 east toward Cincinnati. Exit at #99, Acton Rd. 3. Go south to Southeastern Ave. (1st road) and turn left. Turn left at the first drive after the sharp curve.

Follow Veal’s Ice Tree on Facebook & Instagram for the latest on the tree’s condition.