Run for the Roses!

After leaving tennessee, we were all fired up for the second half of our trip: the bluegrass state of kentucky.

day 3: friday, may 6
Our first stop was loretto, home of the famous red wax of maker's mark bourbon. The free distillery tour takes you to the bottling plant, the barrel warehouse where the bourbon ages (nice aroma!), and the fermenting room where the sour mash ferments. They even let you stick your finger in the vat for a taste. (See my maker's mark pics.) Although there are no bourbon samples, you do get some chocolates made with bourbon, and they are delicious. Afterwards, we just had time to check into our hotel, freshen up, and head for dinner at azalea. This restaurant was recommened to me by the manager of the english grill at the brown hotel. (I originally had a reservation there, but weeks later they told me the price fixe was $110, so I cancelled, but they set me up here.) This turned out to be another tremendous choice! I had some manhattans at the bar while we waited for a table. For dinner I had a spinach and walnut ravioli in a pesto cream sauce. Everything about this place was top notch, and the prices (in the teens) were very reasonable.

day 4: saturday, may 7
Derby day was finally here! But before we headed for churchill downs, we made it a point to head into downtown louisville and tour the louisville slugger museum and factory tour. It was a lot of fun to see some of the historic bats and to watch how they're made today. Everybody got a mini souvenir bat as part of the tour. If you're so inclined, you can even get your signature on a personalized bat while you wait.

But soon enough it was time to head for the main event: the kentucky derby. Since we had to buy tickets at the gate, of course we were going to be on the infield. This place was as crazy and even better than the preakness! I had a few mint juleps while we waited for the big race. I had closing argument to show (among other bets), which paid a nifty $65 on my $5 bet. (See my kentucky derby pics.) After the race we were pretty beat, so we just had a quick bite and settled in for the night.

day 5: sunday, may 8
Our first stop was the louisville cathedral for sunday mass (see my pic here). Then we headed east out of louisville to the capital of frankfurt. Once again I took some pics of the capitol, and then we headed across the river and up a hill to the cemetery where daniel boone is buried. From this vantage point, high above the river, you get a great view of the whole town.

Next we made a quick stop at mammoth cave national park, but the short (one hour) self-guided tour advertised on the website was not being offered, so we were out of luck. We walked a surface trail which led us to the old entrance to the cave (with a cool breeze blowing out like air conditioning!), but overall this was a disappointment. (See my around kentucky pics.)

Our last stop was fort knox. I knew that the famous gold depository is not open to the public (the guard told me that if we even so much as took a photo, we would be chased by security!), but we were here for the patton museum of cavalry and armor. If you want to see tanks, this is the place to go! There's also some good personal stuff on patton, and of course, the obligatory elvis display of his stint in the army. (See my fort knox pics.)

Then we hightailed it to the airport and back to philly and then home.