If you just read the title and aren’t 30 years or younger you may not know what taking an “L” is, so let me explain. The L stands for loss, so taking an L is like having something bad or embarrassing happen to you. Now, with that out of the way, let’s begin this whale of a tale.
So my best friends Sabrina and Betsy and Betsy’s boyfriend, Dakota, were going to Falling Rock Park in La Grange, KY to celebrate Sabrina’s birthday early. If you’re unfamiliar with FRP, it used to be an old rock quarry that filled up with rain water and they turned it into a park where people can go swimming. There are a few rules which include:
- Must fill out a waiver
- Must be 18 years or older
- Must bring a photo ID
- $10 per person
- No drugs/alcohol
- No pets
- Must have a flotation device at all times
We had been planning for this trip for quite a while and we were very excited. We made packing lists and even made/bought some food and drinks to have while we were there. You could say we were prepared.
Well even if you’re prepared, you can’t always expect everything to go perfectly.
After we had breakfast at Chick-fil-A (gotta hook up the friends, amirite?) and got some ice for the cooler at the gas station we piled in the truck and hit the road. It wasn’t too long after we left that I just so happened to look back and notice that the tailgate of the truck was down. I told Dakota and he pulled over to put it back up. Well it wasn’t just that the tailgate was down…several of our bags and the cooler were missing. Yikes!
So we retraced our steps and found where everything had fallen out (literally the intersection where the gas station is.) All of our food and drinks were strewn out along the side of Harrodsburg Rd but the cooler and our bags were nowhere to be found. We picked up what was in the road and the only salvageable things were a container of guacamole that I had made (praise God!) and some strawberry lemonade that Betsy had made. All of our bottled water, Ale8, and apples were destroyed. It was pretty sad.
Anyway, we went in to some of the nearby stores and asked if anyone had turned in a cooler and two bags and everybody said no. We even called the Lexington Police Department because we had seen at least two or three cops in the area, but they said no one picked them up or turned them in. So someone had to have taken them within the 10-15 minutes it took us to realize they were gone and get back to where it fell out. Kinda sad.
Fortunately, there was nothing very important in the bags, just some extra clothes, towels and sunscreen (thank goodness my friends brought some too!) The only thing I was upset about losing was my favorite IWU hoodie and the bag that everything was in was Vera Bradley. But oh well, life happens and you move on. I just can’t believe no one honked or anything to try to tell us that the stuff had fallen out.
After we realized that we weren’t going to be getting our bags back, we hit the road for the second time. A little under an hour and a half later, we finally arrived at FRP. We filled out the waiver, gave them our money, got our wristbands, and had the truck searched (standard procedure to check for alcohol/drugs.)
It was so beautiful! The water is pretty clear compared to most lakes and there were hardly any clouds in the sky (foreshadowing for the sunburns that were about to come.)
There was hardly anybody there when we arrived, which was around 11 o’clock. So we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. We walked over to get our floats blown up by the air compressor when L number two happened. I popped my float with the air compressor (face palm.) Luckily, Sabrina had brought both a float and a life jacket! Thank goodness for friends who pack extra just in case!
That was really the last big L that we took, we had a few other scares throughout the day when Sabrina thought she lost her ring and ID at one point, but they were fine.
The people who parked next to us came in clutch when they asked us if we wanted some extra ice that they had and we all thought “you have no idea, haha.” We were mainly concerned about the guacamole and some strawberries so we just put them inside the bag and covered it up to try to keep it cool.
Like I mentioned previously, the park used to be a rock quarry so it’s literally all rocks. The parking lot is rocks, the walkway to the water is rocks, and the places where you jump from are rocks. I have really sensitive feet (I can barely handle a pedicure because my feet are so ticklish) so walking on the rocks to get to the water was very hard for me. Both Betsy and Dakota wore Chacos so they just kept them on while they were in the water so after the first time of killing our feet, Sabrina and I just had them bring us our Rainbows so we didn’t have to hurt our feet getting in and out.
After floating for a while, we decided it was time for lunch. We had packed PB&J sandwiches, chips and guac, and Oreos. Most of the food items were in a different bag that was inside the cab of the truck, thank goodness.
After our bellies were full, we had a mini photo shoot (gotta get a good pic for Instagram), reapplied our sunscreen and headed back out on the water.
There were three places that you could jump from. Two of them were just a stack of rocks and the other was a platform where you jumped onto a blob that launched people into the water. Betsy, Dakota and I did the blob and it was fun, but very painful. You can’t see when the person launching you is going to jump so you literally have no idea when to expect it and all of a sudden the breath gets knocked out of you and you’re being launched into the air and then belly flop into the water. Betsy went twice as high as me because Dakota launched her haha.
When we had finally had enough and were thoroughly fried, we left and went to this place called Traderbaker’s Flea Market that was nearby that I wanted to visit (gotta get my home decor fix somehow.) This place was similar to a peddlers mall where people can rent out booths to sell their items. There were quite a few booths that had the farmhouse style decor that I’m interested in which was exciting, because the Lexington Peddlers Mall did not have very much in that style at all when I visited.
I ended up getting this cute wooden stool and adorable picket fence napkin holder (how precious is this?!) Sabrina got a red apple shaped wire basket for her future classroom and Betsy got a mug and a trivet made from wine and champagne corks for her mom. So overall, it was a good shopping trip for everyone.
After checking out with our new treasures, we finally headed home. We made one more stop on the way to get some aloe vera at Walmart because we were burnt y’all. Even Sabrina who usually tans got burnt (but only the front half of her legs did 😂 She literally had a line down her leg.) Poor Dakota’s back was literally purple, he was in a lot of pain.
Betsy and Dakota had made a lasagna the night before for all of us to eat for dinner when we got back so we went to Betsy’s house to eat. It was really good (I think it was like 80% beef and 20% noodles and sauce, haha.) Dakota just laid on the couch because he could hardly move haha.
We were all worn out so we called it a day and finally went home and went to bed.
Even after the mishaps we experienced, overall it was a great day! I’m glad I got to take a break from work to spend time with friends and to celebrate Sabrina’s birthday (happy 20th girl!🎈🎉)
I would definitely recommend going to Falling Rock Park, but would suggest going earlier rather than later in the day because there was a long line to get in after noon!
We can’t always plan for everything except to expect the unexpected. When something does happen that doesn’t go as planned, it’s better to not take it too seriously and just roll with it. We laughed so hard about it we were in tears the entire way there.
Much love,
Alyssa
akentuckygirlsthoughts 
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