I was born with a shotglass in my hand...

Where? Ashland, Kentucky - Lawrenceburg, Kentucky - Loretto, Kentucky - Clermont, Kentucky - Louisville, Kentucky
Tunes: Lady GaGa, random country radio stations

I'm kind of loving Kentucky. I had never been here before and I don't really want to leave just yet. The past two days have been pretty good. Yesterday was my day o' bourbon and today was my tourist day.


I left Ashland, KY yesterday morning around 9:30. I decided to bypass going on non-highways roads this day because I wanted to make sure that I got to all the bourbon distilleries that I had planned. Plus, it was raining on and off all morning. The first place I went to was the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg which was about two and half hours away. Did the tour thing, had a good time. They brought us right into the actual distillery and even let us try the "moonshine" bourbon.

It was really interesting to see how bourbon is made, even though I'm not that much of fan. But they didn't give us any free samples afterwards! Next up was Maker's Mark in Loretto which was a good hour away from Wild Turkey but I made it there in record time. The tour was at 3:30 and I got there at 3:25. My GPS brought me through all these gorgeous backroads of Kentucky. I drove by all these farms with rolling hills and even crossed a couple one way bridges. Maker's Mark tour was much shorter but they gave us samples afterwards. Also, the tour took us inside the bottling room where all the bottles are hand-dipped in red wax. Really cool!

I raced to Jim Beam to get there before it closed but honestly, I was disappointed. There wasn't a tour, just a tasting where the guy was basically just trying to get you to buy a bottle. Oh well. I can still say I went there. Last night I booked two nights at a Days Inn in Louisville - about 8 miles from the city - and spent the rest of the night trying to catch up on all my tv shows. Man, I really hate wireless.

Today I spent the day exploring Louisville. I slept in a little late and headed on down to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The tour was cool, as they were actually producing bats today. The bats they were making were World Series bats for the Yankees. Too bad the stupid Yankees haven't even MADE it to the Series yet...

 

I had lunch at the Bluegrass Brewing Company where I had a couple beers made with bourbon, Knob Creek to be exact. So good! I could have had a couple more but I had more exploring to do. I walked all over the city - up Main Street, down by the Ohio River - and really enjoyed it. It kind of reminded me of Providence. It wasn't congested, was easy to get around, right near the water, and not too many tall buildings. And the area down by the river was great!

After walking around the city, I decided to, on a whim, punch into my GPS Churchill Downs - the home of the Kentucky Derby. Turns out it was only four miles away so guess where I went? And I HATE HATE HATE horses! I took the free tour and when the tour guide wasn't looking, I stepped onto the track. I may not like the creatures, but I could appreciate the sport and the history.

All in all, a GREAT time in Kentucky. Tomorrow, like I said above, I will be stopping by Mammoth Caves and the Daniel Boone National Park on my way to Tennessee. I think I'm going to spend a couple days in the Knoxville/Pigeon Forge area. I really want to explore the Great Smokies and who knows, maybe I'll go to Dollywood! Haha. I can't believe it's almost been a week since I left! I could do this forever...


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