Day 46-August 20, 2014-Bluegrass, Beasts, Bourbon, Baseball and Wine
At about 2:00AM it poured with thunder and lightning for about 20 minutes, then nothing. All day sunny and warm, about 88, until the baseball game, then another storm.
Started the day looking out the back window and watching two groups of Canada geese, one from the left and one on the pond looking like a battle would ensue. The pond group, with quite a few more than the left flank strutted up to meet the intruders. There was a bit of it’s mine, no, it’s mine then a few flew away and the rest meandered back to the pond. No drama in the goose world today.
Most of the rest of the day was spent driving through narrow country lanes in beautiful bluegrass country (courtesy of the GPS that took us the scenic route). In the spring the grass has little blue flowers that make the pastures look blue. Most of them were mowed or cultivated now but some that were left wild had a red hue to them probably because that’s their autumn color.
Drove about a half hour to Lawrenceburg to Wild Turkey Bourbon Distillery for a tour and a tasting. The tour was interesting but the tour guide spoke so fast it was difficult to comprehend everything he said. I must have soaked up some info though because I won the trivia contest on the van on the way back to the visitors center. And yes, we tried bourbon before lunch. I liked the honey bourbon they had chilled but I’m not a bourbon lover. There’s a Kentucky Bourbon Trail with about 8 distilleries. We visited two and Kentucky law will only let you taste two at each distillery, which I think is smart considering some people do all eight and then drive. The next distillery was Woodford in Versailles. It’s the smallest and the oldest (1797) in Kentucky. We didn’t do a tour here or sample any but we brought our lunch and ate it on their back porch. We then drove to Midway to Equus Run Vineyards, which was situated between two thoroughbred horse farms. Met a couple from Westchester County, NY here visiting his brother. Neither one of us really liked their wine.
Back to Lexington on route 1681 through horse farms with their beautiful plank fences, mostly black but some white. Lush green pastures, some tobacco and corn fields, big elegant stables, some resembling huge estates with cupolas and spires, some brightly colored. Some of the gates to the farms have intricate iron gates, some with gold embossed initials and designs. You can’t tell where one farm stops and the next starts. And the horses. Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds and Standardbreds, they’re all stately and beautiful, grazing and cavorting in the pastures. Every time we came over a hill the view was better and better. Over 50,000 foals are born every year in this area and they say there are more horses here than people.
Then on to baseball at Whitaker Bank Ballpark, the Lexington Legends, the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals vs. The Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) Shorebirds, the AAA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. It was grandparent’s night so the on-site restaurant, The Kentucky AleTap Room, had a special chicken dinner before the game. It poured as we ate and whether or not they would play was iffy but the game was only delayed 15 minutes and we had a great sunset because of the clouds. The woman in front of us knew our home town, her mother used to live on Miss Maggie Dr. in Homosassa and her brother lives in Crystal River, it’s a small world. Best of all the home team won 14-6.