Grandpa's Bridge, Bourbon, and Bats: My Time in Kentucky

Checking in from Mount Vernon, IL where I'm finally seeing blue skies. Why am I stopping in Mount Vernon you ask? Well I heard so much about it from my friend Cali Mike (you'll meet him in a few months) that I just had to see it for myself on the way to St. Louis. That's a story for another post though. Picking back up where I left off: 

After leaving Jeffersonville, IN on 5/3, I spent the next day and a half with my cousins (first-cousins-once-removed, second cousins, and third cousins) south of Louisville near Bardstown, the center of Kentucky Bourbon Country. I didn't realize it at the time, but my cousin Cheryl let me know that I had driven across a bridge (from IN to Louisville, over the Ohio River) that my grandfather helped design. Unfortunately I didn't grab a picture of the bridge as the weather was quite crummy, but I do plan to stop at the other bridges across the country that my grandfather helped design and take pictures of them.

(Some of) My Fun Kentucky Cousins: (left to right) Paul, Cheryl, yours truly, Brandon, Bella, Brynsley, Kelly, and Bri; Not pictured: Steven and Karen, who I also saw in KY

It was fun to reconnect with my Kentucky cousins, some of whom I hadn't seen in over 20 years. As I was quite young last time I saw them, I had limited memories of my time with them, but they distinctly recalled playing the alphabet game on a road trip where apparently I named a different type of beer for each letter (I'm sure my father was proud).

I spent most of Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday morning with Cheryl, a retired nurse, and her husband Paul, a former firefighter and EMT. Cheryl and Paul recently moved out to the country after decades in the greater Louisville area. They enjoy taking their camper across the country and are hoping to eventually take it to all of the contiguous 48 states. Later this year, they hope to take it up to Minnesota to visit one of Cheryl's sisters. While they typically don't like repeating destinations, they do plan to return to Jamaica Beach, TX, which has become a favorite due to the vibrant campsite community down there. I've since added Jamaica Beach to my itinerary. 

On Saturday night we watched the derby. Unfortunately all 3 horses I picked to place finished in the bottom 5 (good thing I didn't put any money on it). While I had considered buying a ticket to the derby, I ultimately opted not to due to price and poor weather. I felt vindicated in my decision when Paul shared that he had been in the infield for a number of Derbies as an EMT and said you can't see anything from the infield. 

On Sunday, Paul and Cheryl gave me a full tour of the must see attractions of Louisville in their sleek new travel minivan (which boasts 18 cupholders - more than 2 per seat!). We started at Churchill Downs (pro tip, admission at the Kentucky Derby museum is free the day after the Derby and all apparel is 50% off). 

RIP Barbaro

The museum is full of fun facts, simulations, and cool artifacts - definitely worth the stop. While there I won the Kentucky Derby (simulation) - check that off the bucket list. Some fun facts I learned included: 

- Secretariat had an extra muscle in his haunches and his heart was 2.5 times the size of a regular thoroughbred - no wonder he was so dominant!

- The checkered royal blue and white pattern the University of Kentucky uses its sports uniforms was adopted as an ode to the checkered blue and white uniform worn by Secretariat's jockey

Apparently I missed that Mystik Dan won the Derby last year?

Even on my starvation travel diet, I am still too heavy to be a jockey

My Trusty Steed Woody

On the way out of Churchill Downs, Paul spotted engine 4, which he said is famed for driving into a house and getting hit by a train (on separate occasions).

Cursed Engine 4 - Paul said he refused to ride this truck in his firefighting days

After learning about horseracing at Churchill Downs, Paul and Cheryl took me back out to Bardstown to learn about Kentucky's other great passion: Bourbon. We stopped at the Heaven Hill Distillery (makers of Heaven Hill, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Larceny, and a host of other bourbons). We didn't have time for a tasting or full tour, but we did walk through the museum portion of the distillery. Some things I learned included: 

- Bourbon was invented by an Anglican minister (Elijah Craig).

- Bourbon becomes bourbon (gets its color and smokey flavor) from the barrel charring process (apparently that's not just for show). The amount of time spent charring (40-70 seconds) determines the flavor profile of the bourbon.

- Where in a warehouse a cask sits determines how quickly it ages (higher up = hotter/dryer = faster aging).

- Heaven Hills got its name from a spelling mistake on the first sign they ordered - the owners were too cheap to pay $10 to correct it, so the name has remained

If Harriet breaks down, I may have to upgrade to one of these for the rest of the trip

Each one of these warehouses can hold up to 55,000 barrels of bourbon - there are dozens of these warehouse parks near Bardstown, with storehouses as far as the eye can see

Thinking I'll get these light fixtures in my next apartment

After bourbon in Bardstown, we returned to Paul & Cheryl's for a family get together. We played a game called Slap & Sip, where each player uses a sticky/stretchy/gummy hand toy to try to pull a coin towards them - the player who successfully pulls to coin off their edge of the table gets to determine what other player(s) must take a sip of their drink. Somewhat disconcertingly, Bella (4 years old) was the best at this game (relax folks, she was just drinking water). 

On Monday morning, Cheryl took me to Bernheim Forest - a nature preserve and art garden near Bardstown. Bernheim Forest is famed for the wooden giant sculptures of Thomas Dambo. 

Little Nis - The Smallest of the Wooden Giants

Big Mama

Getting Close with Little Elina

An installation meant to bring attention to the waste caused by fast fashion created by hanging out-of-style clothes from trees (is it just me or does hanging clothes from trees seem to be just as wasteful as throwing clothes out?)

This one is kinda cool - Fibonacci patterns on a sycamore 

This one was actually super dope

The Big Prairie

A lake - I don't know what else to say about this

I left Cheryl and Paul's on Monday afternoon to head to Mammoth Cave and luckily only got a sprinkling of rain on the way there. At Mammoth Cave, I did the self guided tour through the historical section and the guided tour through the Frozen Niagara section. The historical section was dry and full of massive caverns. Apparently multiple companies operated there at different times, growing mushrooms and extracting minerals for gunpowder. 

The Frozen Niagara section was more traditional cave (wet, stalactites/stalagmites). 

Crystal Lake

This was a lot cooler looking in real life than it looks in the picture

These bugs are actually crickets, not spiders - they just have really long legs

On the bus down to the cave entrance, Joe from Buffalo sat next to me as we were the only solo travelers on the tour. 

Joe from Buffalo - You can't see it well in the photo, but the pictures on the wall behind us are Yankees greats, which was fitting as Joe is a big Yankees fan

Joe works in banking in his hometown of Buffalo, NY. Every winter/spring he travels to a new city south of Buffalo to escape the winter weather for a few weeks. This year, he chose Louisville/Central KY. While he's really enjoyed the horse racing, museums, and minor league baseball, he's been bummed (as have I) with all the rain. Between work travel and pleasure trips, Joe's been to games at all but 3 major league stadiums and almost all spring training ballparks in Florida. 

After the tour, Joe and I grabbed dinner at Bucky Bee's to see how KY BBQ stacked up against other states (better than I expected), and Joe shared some thoughts that I thoughts that I think are worth sharing with all of you: 

- [Quotes paraphrased from Charlie Wilson's War]: "A boy in a poor village found a horse when he was 13 years old. People in the town commented how lucky he was, but the zen master in the town said wait and see. A year later, the boy fell off the horse and broke his leg, which crippled him for life. People commented how bad that was, but again the zen master said to wait and see. Three years later, a war broke out near the village. All the men of the village were conscripted to fight in it and were killed, but the boy was unable to go due to his crippled leg and thus survived the war." So often we are mistaken about what is good and bad in our lives. Good can come from things that seem bad and vice versa. We jump to conclusions so quickly, but the true nature and impact of an experience becomes clearer as more time passes. 

- The older you get, the less attached you become to material things. The sooner you can realize that you don't need stuff, the more free you will be to pursue to what will actually make you happy. 

After dinner with Joe, I headed out for Owensboro, KY on my first night drive of the trip. The first 30-40 minutes were pretty neat - winding roads around Mammoth Cave, with vistas that let me see the Kentucky hills in a different light - fog rising out the darkening valleys, cloaked in mystery as the light faded from the sky. Driving the highways after dark was also a somewhat peaceful experience - the highways lamp posts illuminating the near empty roads. 

On the drive, the song Spoonful by Barefoot Truth came on. The lyrics seemed like a fitting end to the day:

I don't know much about success, but I know how to measure it.

So take a look at your time and how you are spending it. 

Two cups of whatever makes you happy, good energy from up above

A spoonful of patience, a whole lot of humility,

Mix it up with all of your love.

Peace. - KevBot