Day 4: Well, we didn’t want to rent a pig anyway!

Can anyone explain this sign we saw by the side of the road?

It’s always nice to start your day with some whiskey, but on the way to the distillery, we detoured through some spectacular Kentucky horse country, near Lexington.

Nuvi guided us down some single-track back roads to the Maker’s Mark Bourbon distillery. I’m not a big fan of bourbon (Eric is), but after taking the tour, I’m dying to try it. The highlight of the tour was the big vat of sour mash, where we were encouraged to stick our fingers in the “goop”. The girls liked that. The highlight for me was the chocolate we received at the end of the tour, which had some bourbon in the center, and a pecan on top. The distillery is in a beautiful setting, and it’s fascinating to think that only 80 people work for the entire company, including all of the corporate stuff.

We had our picnic lunch on the grounds of Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home. The cabin that is on the grounds now is not the original Lincoln cabin, but another one from that time period. It is deteriorating rapidly, so if you want to see it, you’d better hurry.

As the temperature soared into the high 90s, we hit the “basement” to cool off — the basement being 250 feet underground in Mammoth Cave.

The tour was about two hours along, and it was a lovely 60 degrees. We didn’t see all of the cave, considering that it is the longest in the world, with over 300 miles currently mapped. This was our first National Park visit on this trip. Ellie had no problem navigating all 300 steps down into the cave (and then back up).

We headed out of Kentucky in mid-afternoon, and got to Nashville around 5, after spending time trying to figure out how to change the clock on the radio when we changed time zones. Neither Eric nor I are big country music fans, but there was one site in Nashville that we knew Nora would love: The Parthenon.

Located in gorgeous Centennial Park, this is the only full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Nora, being obsessed with all things classical, was impressed, but sad that we couldn’t go inside, since the museum is closed on Mondays. She did have fun, though, looking at the friezes and telling us which gods were which, and what they represented. Weird kid.

Look, cheap gas!

Humbling quote of the day: coming out of the restaurant at dinner, I commented to Eric that we had to figure out where we were going to stay that night. Nora overheard, turned to Ellie, and said: “Cover your ears, they’re going to start bickering.”

Tonight we’re staying in Dickson, TN, and will head for Memphis in the morning. Elvis awaits.

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Day 3: A is for Appalachia, B is for Bluegrass

Our original plan was to take Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, but Eric’s mind was on bourbon. With the realization that Skyline Drive was possible to do in a long weekend from home, we remapped our travels and pointed the car towards Kentucky.

We knew in advance that it would be a l-o-n-g day of driving, and indeed it was. We headed out at first light.

Pennsylvania and Maryland flew by. West Virginia was longer. Much longer (though it was fun to belt out the chorus of John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Roads”. And it was frustrating to be on the highway and to not really see anything of the countryside passing by. So with the help of Nuvi, our trusty GPS, we jumped off the highway and onto the back roads. We chose an exit at random.

Though it extended our day’s drive by an hour, it was well worth it; it was an area definitely not much visited by tourists, and seemed to be a true slice of Appalachia.

Arrived at our hotel in Lexington, KY at about 9:30pm. Our review: fine, but musty smelly.

Embarrassing Yankee moment of the day: dinner at Shoney’s, somewhere in Kentucky. I ask the waitress for a spoon, and she delivers it promptly and politely, saying ‘there you go, ma’am’. Ellie asks, in a booming loud voice: “Why did she call you ‘maaayyyyaaum’?” We were too busy laughing when the waitress returned and asked if we needed anything else. She was scarcely out of earshot when Ellie piped up again: “Now she’s speaking English!”

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Day 2: Dogsitters and Itinerary Changes

We have the best friends in the world, that not only act as travel consultant/companions, but kindly offered to watch our dog, Livy.  So Saturday consisted of dropping Livy off at their comfortable and welcoming home in Connecticut.  We had a lovely visit while we were there, and were glad to get some travel tips for Memphis.  We also talked through our itinerary, and decided to make a change.  Thanks, Bob and Myra!   (is that enough fawning, guys?)

While we were in Connecticut, the girls spent the day at Grandma’s pool.

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