In Case You Didn't Believe We Had FUN!!

I am not sure how much commentary is required with today's posting.  We are 7 people in quest of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  We do know how to have fun and I think the following pictures will prove that!  And all of this happened BEFORE we even ventured out for the bourbon!  Can you identify all of the players?

Vacation - Day 2

Kirby, Heather, Jim and Mollie

We were up early and eager to begin the second day of our trip from Charleston, SC to Bardstown, KY.  Ray and Lucy were in their RV and took a different route than we did.  First stop was breakfast at a quaint little place just down the road from our motel in Maggie Valley, NC.

The restaurant was cute, cute and had great food and a cheerful waitress.  Here is Heather pretending she could play the piano.

We opted for the scenic route so took the Blue Ridge Parkway over to the highway that ran through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN.  The Blue Ridge Parkway was better than we ever imagined!  Gorgeous!  Lots of tunnels and we even got Kirby to blow the horn. 

This is the view from one of the many pull-out.

Do you remember the picture of us last fall at the Appalachian Trail in NC?  I guess this is as close as we will ever get to it.  Click here to go to that post.

This is the trail heading off.  It was so inviting!  Enlarge the picture to really enjoy it. 

After hours and hours of driving through traffic in the tourist towns we finally arrived at our little house.  We stayed in Bardstown as it was quite central to all the distilleries that we were going to tour.  It was about a 9-10 day and to kill time we played games in the car just like kids and it really was fun.  We played some word games, 20 Questions and Heather had Mad Libs on her phone so we played that too.  Mad Libs made us laugh the most! 

Jim and Heather

We met up with Ray and Lucy and all went off to The Old Stable Restaurant and Tavern.  Everyone loved their food, the service was delightful and we got to tour the whole facility....large rooms full of interesting artifacts and gifts.

Lucy, Ray and Mollie

Heather and Kirby

This is the Kentucky Hot Brown that intrigued all of us!  There was a piece of bread on the bottom, then a slice of ham and a slice of turkey topped with tomatoes and a cheese sauce and then bacon.  Decadent!  Most of the others that we saw on menus the rest of the week had no ham and used a white cheese.

Kirby at the Old Stable

The center of Bardstown

Vacation - Day One

For our vacation this year, we were joined by Ray and Lucy from Texas in their motor home, Jim and Heather, who flew in from Ventura, CA and Mollie who drove from Virginia City, VA. All are friends from our sailing days. It was a fantastic reunion of friends who had been separated by time and miles.

We had decided to explore the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  We only had a few bourbon lovers among us but we had 7 people who like adventure and new things.

We picked Jim and Heather up at the airport on Friday evening and went home for fresh peel and eat shrimp. We had to share the fresh seafood we get here in the south.  On Saturday morning we headed out.Jim and Heather rode with Ray and Lucy and Mollie road with us. We stopped at a Denny's for a good breakfast before leaving the Charleston area and then went on to Maggie Valley in the Smokie Mountains. I had made us reservations at a small motel not too far from the RV park where Ray and Lucy  were staying. The Abbey Inn turned out to be exactly what we love. Small, quaint, clean, inexpensive.

It had lovely views and the air was crisp and clean.  We gathered ourselves up and went to J Arthurs Restaurant for a great dinner.  I had one of the best Cobb Salads I have had in years.

Mollie, Heather and I had so much fun wandering the grounds of the motel and taking pictures.

This was the view across the road.  Picturesque.

Kirby

Dinner Out

If you have been reading my recent entries then you know that our good friends Lucy and Ray are visiting in their big motor home from Texas.  We know them from Ventura, CA and then in Mexico when we were all there sailing and living the good life.  What a fun week we have been having with them here visiting but it is going too fast.  It didn't help anything that I had to work all but today of this week.  So, with this moment to sit a the computer, I wanted to share our fun dinner in the RV Park near our home.  They prepared way too much fantastic food and we ate too much but it sure was a good time!

Our Tour of Mount Pleasant

As we toured Ray and Lucy around Mount Pleasant we got to see new places to us also.  But we started our Sunday at a place Kirby and I are very familiar with - High Thyme restaurant on Sullivan's Island.  The brunch just doesn't get much better than this.  We went early and it was pleasant enough to sit outside.

We managed to time the Ben Sawyer Bridge just perfect for the large barge and had to wait.  Lucy and I got out and wandered around taking pictures.  This is a bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway and we made people wait for us a few times as we transited north and south on our sailboat a few years ago.

We made a stop at the Pitt Street park.  I forced everyone to sit for a picture on the park bench!

We found a "new to us" marina at Hobcow Creek.  This is the home of the oldest shipyard in South Carolina dating back to 1753!  We talked to boaters and had a really good time being near sailboat for a short time.  It just felt good!  I need to post more pictures but I need sleep more! 

Coltranes in Charleston

 We started our day with a carriage ride in downtown Charleston.  We had the luck of the draw and our tour included the lovely Battery area with the largest, most gorgeous homes!  Always a treat but with the  information our driver had it was even better.  But please don't quiz me!  I always forget most of it!

This is our driver and our horse, Millhouse.  We had a private carriage and a perfect day.  It was hot but we went early and it was very "do-able".

 The streets of Charleston never fail to impress me.  Someone referred to Charleston recently as "the Paris of the United States"!  I agree - only better!

 If you walk up to these ladies making the sweetgrass baskets they won't let you take a picture - but if you are passing by in a carriage they don't even know.  These baskets are so fantastic - and very expensive.  The large on pictured here on the table is probably $300!

This is the old Exchange Building and the old dungeon is in the basement.  They give tours and that is on our bucket list - just haven't gotten to it yet.

And on to a pub for lunch of course.  This is the Blind Tiger - the oldest pub in Charleston.

One of my favorite places to spend time is Magnolia Cemetery which is Charleston's oldest cemetery.  The trees are amazing as are the stories that the old monuments tell!

Texas Comes to South Carolina

Our friends Ray and Lucy, from San Antonio, arrived yesterday for a holiday.  We immediately began having fun and will continue for a couple more weeks!

 No, Lucy and I did not plan our matching clothes but it sure is cute isn't it!

After dinner we made an appearance at The Cave so everyone could meet these wonderful people we have been talking about for so long.

History - Many, many years ago Kirby lived on his boat in Ventura, CA.  Ray and Lucy arrived on the same dock with their boat and set up housekeeping.  This was all way before Kirby and I met.  They then all sailed down to Mexico and a couple of years later I arrived on the scene. (1997) Yea!  We all sailed around Mexico together and played and had wonderful experiences.  In 2001 Kirby and I left Mexico for the last time.  Ray and Lucy stayed there on their boat but continued to operate their canvas company.  Five years ago they sold their boat and moved to San Antonio and set up a catering company.  They just retired with an RV and headed east.....and here they are.  So, we go back a good long ways together and have never let go of each other!  We visited them last summer on our road trip in July.

Butterfly Fish

My boss has a fish in a fishbowl on his conference table in his office.  "We" have had him for about 3 years now.  He is a 'black' goldfish with bug eyes and his name is Rocky II.  (Don't ask about Rocky I - I will begin to cry).  So, anyway, Rocky II has a problem with his tail and fins so I was researching it on the internet and stumbled upon this blog called "CreativitytotheMax".

She said that if I want to get lots of hits on my blog that I should title my post - Butterfly Fish.  So I did!  We'll see if my hits go up!

Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.  We headed out for breakfast at our favorite breakfast place only to find that they had closed down.  The sign said that the owner had been transferred - strange.  Now we will miss them and they weren't even there that long.  But they did great eggs, bacon, biscuits and sausage gravy.  Kirby was really upset.  We didn't starve though as we found a new to us place...and it was no where as good.  Too bad.

The day was spent "doing stuff" around the house and then we prepared for our evening on the town.  I took this picture in front of Ray and Diane's house.  They insisted on driving us down and buying us a glass of wine before our dinner.  So off we went to Charleston Place.

It is really hard to get good pictures with a pocket camera in a dark room.  Especially when I forget to turn the flash on.  This was the 4th try.  Sorry Diane, my fault!  Then they delivered us to the door of Coast Seafood and Grill which was a good thing as by that time it was raining.  And it rained all through our delicious dinner and then stopped right when we were ready to walk the city!  The gods were certainly smiling on us!

We walked over to the Francis Marion Hotel for a wedding reception.  Isn't the bride lovely?  Great dress.  The reception was in the lobby of the hotel and I was just beginning to enjoy myself and was headed to the bar when Kirby reminded me that we didn't know the bride or the groom and we hadn't been invited.  I reluctantly departed.  I do love wedding receptions and I think we could have had a really good time - I mean it was exactly 12 years ago that we had our wedding reception!


After the wedding we just wandered the streets, sad that I had missed such a great party!  And just look at this party in the window!  Kirby didn't want to go to that party either!

I thought this window was fun!  It is all decorated in plastic grocery bags.  Clever and cheap.

Fortunately for me we stumbled upon a wine room - O'Hara & Flynn on Meeting Street.  We sat at the bar and had a lovely Shooting Star Zinfandel.

By then we were done but now had to get a taxi to take us home.  We wandered to a hotel which we knew would be a good waiting place and Kirby called Yellow Cab.  I had fifteen minutes to kill - so I took pictures - at night.  Oh, well, not good pictures but I had fun!