Bourbon, Craft, the Opry, and Elvis

We headed to Bardstown, KY after speaking with another Airstream owner

while we were at the factory.  It's on the Bourbon Trail and has been named 

one of the most scenic towns in America.

The old court house sits at the head of downtown.  It's a pretty impressive sight.  

We found there was lots to see in the area.

We pulled into the campground and found this gathering in the a tent.

It turned out to be a very friendly group that meets a couple times a year to

play music together.  Mostly dulcimers but also ukeleles, guitars, banjo, base, and some

instruments that left me lost.

They played some in the afternoon, took a dinner break, and played for

another three hours in the evening under strings of lights in the tent.  

Everyone asked if we "played."  I'm sure that if we had comb and waxed paper 

we would have been welcome to join in the fun. 

I'm putting a video here that I took and uploaded to YouTube.

Does it work????

Since Bardstown is on the Bourbon Trail and all the distilleries offer tours,

we had to visit one.  We chose Barton right in Bardstown.  We've been told

that all distilleries are different and all bourbons taste different.  Since neither 

of us are bourbon drinkers...we were well satisfied with one tour.

It was much more interesting than expected.

Very friendly Visitor Center selling bourbon or bourbon flavored items,

books on bourbon, glasses to drink bourbon from,  coasters to stand bourbon on,

clothing to wear while serving bourbon.  And best of all, the aroma of bourbon

was everywhere.  The longer we were there the better the air tasted.

Our tour took us through this building and we learned a whole lot about

the intricacy of distilling spirits.  It's much more complicated than wine

and the results less predictable.

The grinders used to mill the corn, rye, and barley.

The 50 foot tall still

Outdoor tanks

That black building is a storage warehouse for aging bourbon.

There are many of these buildings on the property.

This is what they look like inside.  The racks are built first and then the building

is constructed around them for flexibility.  A tornado may take the building, 

but the racks will remain.

Our guide was awesome.  

He even included personal information.

Our last stop was bottling.  Barton bottles for other companies.  Today it was

flavored vodka and brandy.  It's a 24/7 operation and certainly a good source 

of income for Barton.

There's automated palleting and trucks being loaded at the dock

as the pallets of cases come off the machinery.

The last stop on the tour was the tasting bar.  We were taught how to sip

bourbon, tasted two kinds they distill, identified the flavors, and finished

with a bourbon bon bon.  

A good time was had by all!

We followed up our tour with lunch at the

1779 Talbot Tavern.

A tavern was a place that had rooms and a restaurant.

An old photo of the tavern in the hotel lobby.

The dining room

We stopped at a site that was Lincoln's childhood home.

It had a cabin that was like the one the family lived in.

Next stop was the Lincoln Museum in Hodgeville.

A very nice series of scenes from Abe's life.

Then to Lincoln's birthplace.

I found this place very interesting.

The state built this huge monument to house the cabin the family lived in when

Abe was born.  The National Park Service manages it now.

Inside the monument is the cabin.

One problem:  in 2004 carbon dating proved that it is too new

to have been Abe's birthplace.  The rangers have to tell visitors

that it is "like" the one they thought it was...

We found another train museum.

This one, like most, is scrapping for cash and manned by volunteers.

Ed had a ball speaking with those working there.

My friend Mary Lee told us about a couple of her favorite Kentucky locations.

We headed to Berea, the craft capitol of Kentucky.

It's the home of Berea College, a school with a very interesting story.

All the students at Berea have demonstrated "need" and attend
tuition free.  The requirement is 10 hours of labor per week.  Jobs
range from landscape maintainence to food service to craft manufacture.

The crafts are beautiful!  Many are created by Appalachian artists.

A discussion of the name Appalachian:
In the "middle south" there are two pronunciations.
To the East - Appalachian as in latch
To the West - Appalachian as in late

The campus is beautiful.  All red brick and inviting.

We visited the craft workshops.

Here they make fine furniture.  The students are taught the trade on the job

and have to apply for available positions.

This is the weaving studio.  They weave placemats, blankets, and rugs.
The catalog and local shops sell the products.

The broom workshop.  This is one of most popular and affordable
items sold by the college.

Berea was fun.  It satisfied my crafty side.

We've been in Kentucky for awhile and are now on our way into Tennessee.

A few thoughts on Grass:
Kentucky is the most mowed place I have ever been.  It seems that here mowing has
been elevated to an art form.  People have huge properties, all covered in grass, and
all mowed.  Sometimes in rows, crisscrossed, boxes, waves.  The patterns are endless.
If I was going to live in Kentucky and was seeking a new career, I would go into grass.
It requires seeds, weed controllers, machinery from hand pushed to massive tractor drawn,
disposal of cuttings, and problem solving when it doesn't grow as desired.
 I could sell equipment, provide labor to mow, repair, replace,
replenish, and/or just scratch my head and think.
The possibilities are endless.
The first thing I noticed in Tennessee was that they aren't quite as fussy about their grass
though they do have a lot of it.
My business will have to be in Kentucky...

First stop in Nashville
We bought tickets to the Friday night show.
We're goin' to the Grand Ole Opry!!
And, Eddy strums away...

Ed knew about the Lane Auto Museum and wanted to go there first.
It's a collection of mostly foreign and unusual cars.  Peeked my interest too.
These are a few of my favorites.

The 1948 Davis Divan.

The auto of a woman's dreams.  Goes in either direction.  It's made of the fronts
and engines of two cars.  There was only one made.

A 1958 Tatra.  Really sharp.  I think Ed photographed every car there
multiple times...

A few minis.

1946 Hewson Rocket.  Satisfied my Aluminitus.

We asked a few people at the Lane where the locals go for lunch.
And we went there.

Down home Southern.  Smothered meatloaf with dressing, fried green tomatoes with
a strong hint of lemon, marinated tomatoes, cornbread, and bread pudding for dessert.
Ed loved every bite of this one.

Nashville is the capitol of Tennessee.
That made it easy to continue our photographing of state capitols.
Tennessee's capitol building is Greek Revival - no dome and no rotunda.  It was dark
inside but very beautiful.   We visited the Governor's Office.  It, too is very beautiful.

It was 9/11 so all flags were at half mast.  Always a sobering sight.

The weather has been dreary, muggy, hot, and rainy.

We're still having a great time!!

The place to be in Nashville is 2nd and Broadway.  It's several blocks of restaurants, bars,

tacky shops, western wear and boot stores, and country music blasting.

This place is three floors of all of the above.

It all ends at the water.

The paddle boat just lazed along the river.

I saw this sign in an antique store.  So tempting...

I got all dolled up in my cowboy boots and bolla for the Grand Ole Opry on Friday night.

They have shows 3 nights a week - all different, all 2 hours long.

It's been broadcast on the radio since 1925.  It's on Sirius Radio now.

Each artist performs a couple of songs and there's complete variety.

A very frail 81 year old Roy Clark got all the respect he so deserves.

He can still handle that guitar.

Lee Greenwood sang "I'm Proud to be an American" and

we all stood up and sang along with him.

Great entertainment and I'd do again in a heartbeat!!

And on to Memphis where we headed down to Beale Street.

It's shorter than Nashville's Broadway and just as tacky.

But, here it's all about the blues.  Same look, different music.

The buildings are all old, This one left the drinking fountains of the era of

segregation.  It was part of an old drug store exhibit upstairs.  Not our country's finest moment.

I felt the shame spread over me just looking at it.

Something I thought we'd never do was tour Graceland.  But we did, and

we enjoyed it waaaaay more than we thought we would.

Elvis was only 22 when he bought this house.

The living room and music room

The dining room

Kitchen

Pool Room

(Note:  It get tackier as you progress through)

The jungle room

Complete with shag carpet on the floor and ceiling...

There are huge displays of all the gold and platinum records... 

T 

...and other awards Elvis won.

It's pretty impressive and drives home his impact.

(It didn't improve his taste.)

The burial sites, meditation site and fountains are beside the pool.

It's the resting place of Elvis, his parents, and grandmother.

We did see the car collection which Ed pronounced as nothing exceptional.

This pink Caddy was his mom's favorite.

We learned that Elvis was a very generous man, had enormous musical impact, was

a cash cow for way to many people, had the self doubts we all suffer, and that

Pricilla was the brains of the family.

It's all American commercialism at its finest and its worst. 

We stayed in the campground behind the Heartbreak Hotel and met some

really interesting people.  Great fun!!!

Our presence was requested in New Orleans to spend time with our little Rowan.

We stopped in Vicksburg so Ed could make a quick revisit to the Cairo Museum

on the battlefield.

And we're on the road again!