Southbound

Well, it took longer than it used to, but after packing for ourselves, a toddler, an infant, and a dog, dropping them off at their respective home-away-from-homes, and giving lots of hugs and kisses, Jon and I hit the road last week. Southbound. Headed for the Bourbon Trail, and Music City. Ah, vacation, how I love thee.

We stopped our first night in Louisville, Kentucky in the heart of bourbon country. If you know my husband personally then you know he is really in to home brewing beer right now. We are talking massive quantities, styles, and even a few competitive awards. Jon never does anything halfway. Ever.

So, naturally, we stopped at several, three I believe, micro-brews in town to sample their beer flights and food. Jon meticulously analyzed each beer, while I mostly made bitter beer faces. Ok, that's not entirely true, there were actually several that I really liked.

(Photos are a mix of phone and DSLR shots.)

The next day we stopped at a couple of bourbon distileries on our way down to Nashville. I don't drink whiskey, but the history and behind the scenes tour was really neat. Well worth the time to see.

With all of the bourbon distilleries in this part of Kentucky, these massive black warehouses (used for aging barrels) are scattered everywhere. The world must drink a lot of Bourbon ya'll! 

I especially enjoyed the Maker's Mark tour. Compared to the massive Jim Beam plant, Maker's Mark is such a small, old-school, operation.

Original sales room, built at wagon height so customers could pull up and fill up!

Very active yeast on day one of the fermentation process.

Sure, stick your finger in there and taste it! Umm...ok...

The first floor of one of the storage buildings. Seriously amazing process, it was really interesting to hear all the details.

Hand dipping the bottles in their signature wax.

We left Maker's Mark behind and wound our way down country roads, through wooded hills, until we reached Nashville.

Nashville stole my heart. I adore this town. It's setting, nestled among rolling hills and the cumberland river, is beautiful, the people are friendly, and it seems to be this perfect mix of rich history, busy downtown, and hip urban areas. The music, the food, the history, the people...I'm smitten.

Forget Joe's Crab Shack, that little hotdog stand had the. best. hotdogs. eva!

Famous Tootsies lounge. Right behind the Ryman Auditorium, rich in history, and host to awesome live music! Live music is everywhere in this town. There is so much talent here!

Hatch Show Print, a poster shop that's been doing letterpress since 1879. One of it's biggest clients was the Grand Ole Opry. 

This guy tried to climb my leg, because I wasn't paying enough attention to him.

Greek food...Greek building...

These huge magnolia trees where everywhere. They were beautiful and many were over a hundred years old.

The Ryman Auditorium. The Mother Church of Country Music and the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.

On Saturday, Jon was at a work conference all day so I went and toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and the historic RCA Studio B. There is so much musical history in Nashville. It makes me wish I had a shred of musical talent. 

Until we meet again Nashville!

I had an awesome time getting away with Jon, but we were so happy to come back home to these two beauties!