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09/08/05 - Central Kentucky (Photos - All KY, TN, & AR photos) But first, the rolling hills, tobacco farms, sweet bourbon and cool caves of Kentucky |
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After our full day of touring Lexington, we were ready to get back on the road this morning, as we'd planned. We purposely left our itinerary open today so we could see central Kentucky at our leisure, getting as far as we could get, but in no real hurry and with no set stopping point. Heading generally southbound, we followed a couple of Kentucky's scenic byways (conveniently marked on our tourist map), enjoying the gently rolling, green hills with their white painted fences, the landscape dotted occasionally with pungent tobacco fields, peacefully grazing horses and stately brick mansions with their dry stacked stone walls bracketing the long, winding driveways.
We stopped off at Maker's Mark Bourbon Distillery in the tiny town of Loretto, KY, where we took the interesting and informative (and free!) half-hour tour of the oldest continuously operating distillery in history. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. A quick stop for lunch was made at McDonald's in the tiny town (yes, another one) of Hodgenville, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. There is a huge bronze statue of Honest Abe in the middle of town and his portrait even graces the wall at McDonald's. They're clingin' to this claim to fame (understandably enough)! We decided to skip the tours of his boyhood home and the home where he was born.
Our final stop of the day was a very impromptu visit to Mammoth Cave National Park. We wanted to make use, one more time, of our National Parks Pass that expires in December, so we thought we'd give it a whirl. (As it turns out, this national park is free!) When we arrived, it was late in the day, so we didn't have time to take a guided tour, but we did take a short hike that enters the cave, which allows visitors a view of the first section of the cave. Now, Scott and I are hardly spelunking enthusiasts (sorry Mark S.!), but this was really cool. It left us vowing to visit again sometime when we'd have time to take one or more of the various tours offered by the park as well as by private enterprises outside the park. This one was definitely a pleasant surprise - you gotta check it out! Another hour and a half more and we made it to the west side of Nashville, where we decided to stop for the night at a pleasant Nashville-area Best Western prior to the 7pm central time start of the season premiere of The O.C. We'll finish the short trip (3 hrs?) to Memphis in the morning. |
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