Happy Trails and Delicious Pies

October 5, 2014

Jason and I began our first full day in Kentucky sleeping in. A day without an alarm is the most glorious of all. Eventually we began hearing "Housekeeping!" from neighboring hotel rooms, indicating the early hours were gone and housekeeping service was starting. Realizing we had only an hour left for our free hotel breakfast, we quickly dressed and made our way to the hotel lobby. The lobby was packed (most likely from hungry wedding guests) and the smell of eggs and waffles floated in the air.

Jason and I grabbed our breakfast and found a small corner to sit down at. Here are pictures:

 My eggs and cheese. Also potatoes.

 Jason's eggs, biscuit, and gravy. Also yogurt.

Our chocolate pastry for a breakfast dessert. Also delicious!

After breakfast we returned to our room to actually get ready for the day (a.k.a shower). We ran into the housekeeping lady who asked if we wanted the room cleaned. We said we okay and she very kindly gave us clean towels. We showered and then make a budget for our trip. I meant to budget before leaving but ran out of time. After budgeting, we went to Bardstown's square. We walked over to their welcome center to find it closed. So, we decided to walk about a bit and look at the local shops. Not much was open for a Sunday.

After browsing Bardstown's square, we found a small restaurant for lunch to eat at called Mammy's. We walked in to find the place packed. A man asked us our names and told us "it's about 20 minutes, but it's worth the wait." We said sure and waited outside with a small grouping of people. While waiting we listened to a man from Canada tell other tourists of good places to eat and see in Bardstown. Shorty after this, a woman came bursting out of the doors of Mammy's saying, "If I tell her to do it, she's not going to! And, if I tell her not to, she's going to do it!" She then spend the next five minutes yelling at her friends about this frustrating girl, informing them all of the horrible ways in which she rebels against her. Jason and I had a hard time not laughing really loudly. It probably wasn't a funny situation, but the way she was telling the story and yelling at her friends was just hilarious at the time.

In less time than he originally estimated, the man who took down our name came outside and yelled "Brown!" We followed him inside where he sat us at a small booth. Here is a picture:

In two minutes time, our drink orders were taken and we were informed it might be up to 30 minutes before our orders would be started due to the number of customer's eating. Jason and I went ahead and gave them our order and waited. If this many people are eating here, we would like to see what the fuss is about. In just 15 or 20 minutes our food arrived. This is what the fuss was about:

 My Bourbon BBQ Burger. . . apparently what they're known for. It was delicious!

Jason's Kentucky Hot Brown. Jason is normally deterred from trying Hot Browns due to the look of Chick-Fil-a's greasy brown glob. However, Jason gave Kentucky's a shot and it was a winner!

After eating, we decided to go to the Hotel and plan our day. Below is a picture of the Welcome Center of Bardstown. It's beautiful!

Once at the Hotel we looked up which Distilleries are on the Bourbon Trail. We learned if we visit all of them and have them stamp a "Bourbon Passport," we could receive a free shirt. So, of course, that's the plan. Only one said it was open on a Sunday--Heaven Hill Distillery. We decided to go. In roughly 15 minutes time we arrived. Here are pictures:

It was far more beautiful of a place than any picture can show. Once inside, we purchased two tasting tour tickets (say that three times fast). Only a few minutes past before our tasting tour guide arrived and began giving us the history of Heaven Hill. Apparently a Mr. Heavenhill was born on this land, which was original Native American land.... let's not discuss how all of this was originally Native American land. He wanted to start his own distillery and went to the Shapira brothers for an investment. He didn't do so well and eventually these brothers bought Heaven hill out. They then hired Jacob Beam, of the Beam Family, who became their master distiller. Apparently, they are on their third generation of Beam master distillers. Pretty amazing.

After learning the history of the Heaven Hill Distillery, we were taken to a small--and I mean small--tasting room for the bourbon. There were four premium bourbons we were allowed to try. We can't remember much about the names but one was around $230. Also the highest proof was 128 or 126, not exactly sure. Very strong. They had us try each sampling by itself, the again with a small drop water. This apparently brings out the flavors in the bourbon. Two of the bourbons were wheat based and the other two were Rye based. They also had crackers for us to eat in between each tasting in order to "clear our palate." We also were given fancy chocolates at the end and were allowed to keep our classes from the tasting. Here is a picture of us with our glasses:

 Once finished with the tasting, we went to the gift shop and browsed. They also had more information about the bourbon. Jason found an aroma dispenser, which puffed out air that had the scent of different ages of bourbon. Here is a picture:

Also, we found a teeny tiny collection of barrels. I told Jason he looked like a giant next to them. This was his response:

We left without purchasing anything else and then headed back toward the hotel. On the way back, we decided to stop at Bardstown's Cemetery. We only took one picture because it wasn't as beautiful as other Cemeteries we've visited:

We took this picture because the headstone is a barrel. After walking through the cemetery, we headed back toward our car. Realizing we were a little tired, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for a diet soda. We then returned to our hotel and planned for dinner. We picked Rebecca's Pepperoni Grill. Luckily Rebecca's was literally right across the street. We got in our car not knowing this, put the directions in the GPS, and then went straight across the road. Haha!

We walked in, were seated, and placed our orders. We watched as the other customers watched some form of sportsball. We also listened as a nearby couple talked. Jason made a shocked face and then hinted at me to listen to this nearby couple. The next thing we hear, "He keeps calling me butt-cheek." Apparently wherever she works there is guy that calls all managers "butt-cheek." Pretty funny. Anyway, here are pictures of us with our food:

 Jason and his Feta and Artichoke.

Me with my Meatball and Garlic.

Followed by our shared Kentucky Derby pie. 

Dinner was wonderful! We made the long drive back to the hotel for the night. Two random side notes:

Firstly, look at these socks I bought!

I know, amazingly cute!

Secondly, we found a vending machine which had animal crackers in them by our room. We decided to purchase them and split the bag. Jason kept grabbing penguins without meaning to. We also kept finding horses, except all of them had the same two legs missing. Just a weird thing we thought was funny. Welcome to Kentucky! :^)