Unbridled Spirit(s)

Bob and I were excited to go to Blue Grass country this week, but when we got here, the grass was all brown. We were told it has been a very dry year in Kentucky. There wasn’t much green anywhere. We were also surprised to find that most of the barns and fences in this area are painted black. The barns are historically black to aid in warming and drying tobacco. Many of the fences are treated with creosote to discourage horses from rubbing and biting the fences. That look is very different from the rest of the country.

We spent our time in the Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville areas that are known as bourbon and horse country. Frankfort is the state capital and we enjoyed visiting Daniel Boone’s grave. We also went to a unique Vietnam Memorial with a giant sundial that points to the names of those who were killed on the anniversary date of their death.

I don’t like bourbon and neither does Bob, but we were interested in seeing how it was made, so we toured Woodford Reserve, a small batch bourbon distillery. They produce high quality bourbon and we did our tasting at 11am. What a way to start the day. Then we did a tasting at the Wild Turkey distillery where we discovered a bourbon liqueur named American Honey. Maybe bourbon isn’t so bad after all. One interesting thing we learned is that the USA is the only place in the world that is allowed to produce bourbon and 90% is made right in this area. Whiskey is made in lots of places, but there are strict regulations on bourbon. Bourbon has to be 51% corn based. Other ingredients include rye and malted barley.

After the bourbon stops, we went to the Abbey of Gesthemany, an old Trappist monastery. The famous Catholic mystic and writer Thomas Merton lived here for 27 years. The monks have seven prayer sessions each day starting at 3:15am! We spent some time in the chapel, but the monks were not at their prayer stations. I guess they were off making cheese and fruitcakes at that time.

This part of Kentucky is known for their horse farms and they are everywhere and very beautiful. We spent a day at the Kentucky Horse Park which houses the International Horse Museum and the American Saddlebred Museum. It was also the site of the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Bob had actually watched some of it on TV. We met some champion horses and saw a wonderful breed performance. A high point for us in horse country was watching five races at Churchill Downs in Louisville. It was great to sit in the stands and see the horses thunder by. One jockey was having a very good day and won 3 of the races we saw.

Kentucky also has some unusual foods that we had to try. Bourbon candy was not as good as I expected. You really couldn’t taste the bourbon. We also had burgoo stew which is a thick mutton vegetable soup. I really liked Kentucky Old Brown, which is a baked open faced sandwich with turkey, ham and tomato, smothered in cheese sauce and topped with bacon. Bob tried the barbequed mutton and I had the Kentucky ribs – both were delicious. It’s a good thing we didn’t try all the pies or I would be having even more trouble zipping my jeans.

Next we’re heading south to Tennessee and then on to North Carolina.