Baby Dinosaur

We are raising (hatching) a baby dinosaur! How exciting. I just wanted to share him with you.

His name is Charlie and I will tell you more about him in a day or two when his is totally hatched.  Don't you just LOVE him?!

Another Perspective

Heather is also writing about our trip on her blog so check it out.  Just click on this link Catamaran Meerkat to go to her blog.  She has a whole different perspective and that is SO FUN!

Four Roses

What we were learning by this time in our tours of the bourbon distilleries in Kentucky was that in order to sample the bourbon, you had to go on a tour.  Now, why would they force us to tour if all we want to do is drink and in what way did it benefit them to have us tour first?  I still have not figured that out but tour we did!

Here we are arriving at the Four Roses Distillery  We had already visited the gift shop which is located in Bardstown, not realizing that it was just the gift shop, the offices and the warehouses.  So, on this day, we were going to tour the distillery - and then sample.

 First to the gift shop as we awaited the tour.  As usual we took pictures and looked at all the goodies that are for sale. And we didn't buy any because we had already been to the other Four Roses gift shop in town and spent our money and bought our goodies.

 The girls and the guys!  We really did have so much fun!

 Silly guys!  Kirby and Jim stored their stickers that were issued at each stop on the top of their hats.  Cute!

 And then it was OFF! on the tour.  The distillery had shut down for the summer to clean and service all the equipment so we could look at everything but nothing was in operation.

 Obviously it was a pretty loose tour!  But really pretty buildings.

 Kirby closely inspected all the equipment.

I took a lot of pictures are of the machinery and equipment.  Please don't ask me what they do as I can't remember.  But it was all very impressive!

 More touring.

And finally we go to go to the tasting room.  Wow, that took a long time!  Was it worth it?  Not really as Four Roses was the least of the bourbons.  But it was fun looking at all that cool stuff!

Wild Turkey

Our next stop on our Kenturky Bourbon Trail last month was the Wild Turkey Distillery. I believe the consensus of the group was that Wild Turkey was the best tasting room as it was small and personal. If I remember right the seven of us were the only people there and the tour guide was not only very informative and you could tell he loved his job, but he was cute!

The gift shop was small but we found some really cool things there - like a real turkey flying around the room!

Now, see, isn't he cute?

Just look how enthralled everyone looks. Really, they can't wait for him to serve the samples! Enough talk now!

There is Kirby, Heather, Jim, Ray and Mollie.  Lucy was taking pictures also.

The two ladies in red that day - Lucy and Mollie

We asked at the distillery for a suggestion for lunch and were really, really pleased that we had.  Talk of the Town was an old small house on the side of the highway that was packed with people.  There was good reason for that too - the food was fantastic!  We did not have a bad meal in Kentucky and we didn't find any grumpy people.  What a special place.  Too bad it gets cold and white in the winter.

This is one of our few group photos from our trip.

Back to Kentucky

Day four found us at the Wild Turkey Distillery where there was a Bucking Bronco for all to ride.

Heather went first and the Thing was pretty calm for her - thank God!

You can't tell but that thing was about to throw Jim off!

The Thing was calm at first and then it got carried away with me!!

This is Heather's picture and I stole it from her because I like it.  Thank you Heather for taking my silly picture!

Miss Mollie seemed to have the right amount of whatever it took to make the Thing happy.

Dental Care

Are you tired of Kentucky pictures?? Well I still have some to share but thought I would give you a little break. And what makes a better break than a dog that makes you smile. Jake needed his teeth brushed so I told him to get busy and start brushing! He did a pretty go job until he broke the brush handle in half!

Bourbon and More Bourbon

Did you know that the name Bourbon came from the name of the county in Kentucky where bourbon was first made?  And no other country in the whole world is allowed to make BOURBON!  The original bourbon was an accident!  The man was making his usual corn whiskey - or moonshine-  in the hills of Kentucky.  He had the perfect oak barrels to age it in but this time before he could get the barrels filled, they all caught on fire!  He was able to save them from total destruction and not being willing to throw out those expense oak barrels, he used them anyway - even though they were chard on the inside!  The result is what you know know today as Bourbon!  Pretty cool story, eh?  All bourbon barrels today are chard on the inside before they are used.  So, see, we did learn some useful (?) stuff on our vacation!

 Here we are sitting inside a large oak barrel!

 Lucy and Mollie - the ladies in red that day - heading out for some touring and tasting.

 And the guys minding us and doing this little thing so we could take their picture!  They were so good about it and took turns being the "Hear no, or the see no or the speak no" for the day.

 They really go all out at these distilleries to sell you on THEIR special bourbon.  But I do believe that the consensus was that the Woodford Reserve was the very best of the best bourbons and Wild Turkey was the most fun tasting room and Maker's Mark was the most interesting of all the distilleries.

 Now you must bear with me and my artsy fartsy stuff.  Loved the ceiling here!

 This is an exhibit of the bourbon at different stages of aging.

And then we were off into the horse country of Kentucky and was it ever beautiful.  Those horses have barns much, much nicer than my home.  And - this picture of the horses - please enlarge it and see what I saw when I downloaded my pictures......all the horses are Horses As...s!

Out the window of the car!  The country roads barely were wide enough for one car, let alone a car coming from the opposite direction!  We couldn't stop for pictures very easily.

Bardstown and Beam

Our first full day in Bardstown - Pure fun and adventure!  We HAD to explore the cemetery right across the street from our little cottage.

Located on the same grounds as the cemetery is this really, really old school house and now I can't remember the dates.  I thought I had a picture of the sign but I don't so maybe one of my good friends will leave a comment and give the dates.  Please??

The roof was just all moss. (enlarge to enjoy)  And no, I did not get a picture of a ghost!  Unless that is what I see in the window!  There were people out there with cameras trying to get pictures of ghosts.  Mine was in the house we stayed in.  Sweet.

I know this has been helped along with the dates, but it is still real and the dates are correct. Lt. John Fitch.

I sort of have an obsession with cemeteries I guess. I just love them.  Isn't this picture lovely?  With the vines growing all over the stones?  Gotta love it!

And then it was on to Jim Beam - our first distillery!  It was also the largest but it's tours weren't necessarily the best.

You would not believe the way the warehouses smelled!  It was devine!  And I don't even like bourbon.  It was just a nice sweet smell and I loved it!!  We all did!

Here is Heather at the Four Roses main offices.  We thought it was going to be the distillery but we were fooled.  But we did get to go to the gift shop!  ( I collected a bourbon glass and a shot glass at each distillery)

Lunch was at the Old Talbott Tavern and Inn.  The reviews weren't very good but it was in the right place at the right time so we decided to give it a try.  It was good!  Not wonderful but good and the place was full of history!

"Talbott Tavern is said to be the oldest western stagecoach stop in America as the westward expansion brought explorers from the east into Kentucky.


According to legend, figures straight from the history books sought lodging here during their travels; as a young boy Abraham Lincoln and his family stayed here, Gen. George Rogers Clark, Daniel Boone, and exiled French King Louis Phillipe and his entourage stayed here, even painting murals on the upstairs walls. There are noticeable bullet holes in the now faded paintings and Jesse James is said to be responsible for them."