This year the Kentucky Derby wasn’t so much a Run for the Roses as a Swim for the Roses. It poured, drizzled and dripped all weekend. Broke the 100 year old record for the wettest Derby. Talk about your sloppy track!
One of the perks of living along the Bourbon Trail are all the festivals and events the distilleries sponsor.
What’s the Bourbon Trail? Well, it’s kind of a self-guided sightseeing tour. There’s two dozen distilleries scattered around central Kentucky and the idea is to visit all of them and sample their spirits. Not all in one day, mind you. Even true bourbon aficionados would be hard pressed to make it through that many tours in a single day!
Bardstown, Kentucky
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Old Bardstown Village is a recreated pioneer settlement located a few blocks below the downtown area. Historically this area was where wagons and horse teams staged before climbing the big cliff into town.
There’s about a dozen log cabins at Old Bardstown Village situated alongside a lively creek. The buildings are quiet and dark inside with a sprinkling of artifacts on display.
Septarian rocks from Morocco
We’re Rock Hounds. There’s no hiding it. One look around our house will confirm that – there’s piles of rocks everywhere.
The front door sports river stones from Vermont and Wyoming. The porch railings are festooned with crinoids and slate found on the farm. Limestone slabs line our flowerbeds. And every table in the house features a rock cluster; Icelandic lava, petrified wood, chunks of crystals, obsidian and amethyst. If I stick a hand in the pocket of any jacket there’ll be a pebble I’ve picked up somewhere.
So the Rock & Gem Show in Lexington was a perfect Sunday diversion for us.
Here in the Near South we have Nearly Winter. There’s hardly any snow and temperatures usually stay within a tolerable range. Our Springs are glorious, Autumns colorful, and Summers are blazing hot. But Winter is mostly just blah with its miserable grey skies and weather that never gets cold enough to break out Aunt Minnie’s old fur coat.
Boone Tavern
Berea, Kentucky
Interested in Arts & Crafts? Then Berea is the place to go. It’s a modern day artist colony, wrapped around the renowned Berea College of Arts. Artisans of every ilk are showcased here, and the shops on North Broadway offer goods from a wide spectrum of hand-crafted items.
Bardstown, Kentucky
The Craft Beer Fest is becoming our Fall tradition. Each October regional brewers come to show off their specialties. It’s an evening of beer sampling from a large menu of choices. Some craft beers are very good, others are weirdly experimental, and a few are downright awful.
Bullitt County Fairgrounds
Shepherdsville, Kentucky
Wanna see a good wreck? Head on over to a Demolition Derby. You’ll scream, you’ll laugh, you’ll have a smashing good time watching old beaters careen into each other for a couple of hours.
Penn’s Store
Gravel Switch, Kentucky
Penn’s Store has been operated by the same family in the same rustic building with the old creaky floors since 1850. It’s listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and hosts “Kentucky’s only internationally recognized outhouse race” – the Great Outhouse Blowout.
New Haven, Kentucky
In late summer, just before the calendar declares that it’s Autumn, New Haven hosts the Iron Horse Festival. What’s an iron horse? A locomotive!
New Haven is our closest town for groceries and gas, and has a tiny business district where a little street fair was set up. Even though the festival is called Iron Horse there’s nothing train-themed about the fair. New Haven does have a large depot and the Kentucky Railway Museum, and locomotive rides are held on weekends. But that’s where the Iron Horse connection ends.