Friday morning we picked up another car to start part 1 of our road trip. We drove out of Chicago, Illinois through Indiana and into Louisville, Kentucky (298 miles/480 kms). It rained pretty much most of the drive but if you ignore all the roadworks that were going on, there was some interesting/pretty scenery along the way.
We arrived in Louisville around 4.30pm and checked into our hotel. The hotel is decorated in a very old southern look and is in a really central position. We are right across the street from 4th Street Live which is the main entertainment area (lots of restaurants/bars/entertainment all in one place). We headed across for dinner and after checking a few places out decided on Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant and had a really nice meal (which actually included some vegetables - these have been few and far between on this trip!!). Just as we were finishing up a big storm rolled in (thankfully we didn’t take them up of the offer of eating outside!!). We made it back to the hotel without getting too wet though!
Today (Saturday) we headed out to the Makers Mark Distillery which was just under an hour and a half outside of Louisville in a town called Loretto. Again, once we got past the roadworks it was a really pretty drive out there. After the storm last night, a cold front came through and todays temperatures ranged from 4-13 degrees (and worse, it was a bit windy too so it was freezing!!!).
We got on the first tour of the day, and our tour guide, Herb, knew his stuff! We were taken on a tour which covered all the stages of the bourbon process, and he also gave information on the history of the family. We got to taste the mash (which was pretty gross), had a taste test of four different types of Maker’s Mark and Wade even dipped his own bottle at the end. All in all (even though I’m not a bourbon fan and it was ridiculously cold the whole time we were there) it was a really great tour and the grounds around the distillery were beautiful.
After leaving here, we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Jim Beam distillery which was on the way back (about half an hour out of Louisville). We didn’t end up doing a guided tour here but were able to walk around the grounds and check out some of the history. Again, the grounds here were really beautiful.
Next stop, was the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, where we did the guided tour. It was pretty interesting to see how they make the bats now compared with how they used to and crazy to think that they make about 1.8 million bats per year in this factory! While we were here we created our own personalised bat to include the details of the game we went to last week. However, it is bigger than we thought, and now we need to buy a new suitcase to be able to fit it in because it has to be checked baggage - woops (oh well - I guess that just means we do more shopping to fill the bag)!!
After this, we went for a bit of a wander along the main street, which was like a ghost town (I’m not sure if no one comes out on a Saturday or if no one comes out on a Saturday when it is freezing!!).
Tonight it was off to a pre-season basketball game at the KFC Yum! Centre between Miami Heat and New Orleans Pelicans. We were in the nosebleed section - literally in the back row - but you get what you pay for!! Following our trend, the team we were going for, Miami Heat, lost the game (that makes four from four!). The highlight of the game was Burnie - the Miami Heat's mascot!
Here are some pictures from the last few days:
Makers Mark Distillery Tour
Jim Beam Stillhouse
Louisville Slugger Museum
Babe Ruth's bat with notches for home runs
Streets of Louisville
Miami Heat v New Orleans Pelicans
Random Fish during break - ate a kid and then spat him out!
Burnie - Miami Heat Mascot!
Fourth Street Live!
Our Hotel
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