Bourbon in Kentucky....

Over the 4th of July, the bestie  & I decided to go up to Kentucky to visit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and make our buddy Chris go along. (Or, as we usually call him, Metcalf) We stopped in Bowling Green, naturally - for a night at Dolphie's so we could get some karaoke in. Dolphie usually doesn't have karaoke on Wednesdays, but they did for the 3rd! And as luck would have it - they weren't very busy, so Rita & I ended up singing a lot!

We were red, white & Kentucky blue!

Metcalf decided to sing "Imagine" for the very last song of the night and showed up at the bar with  microphones for Rita & I, throwing us off, so we all headed up to the stage to sing it with Scotty --- and I grabbed my phone to snap a pic and this is what happened. (Rita had had 8 screwdrivers at this point, and has no memory of me taking this hahaha)

Thursday, we headed up to Lexington. The plan was to hit as many of the distillieries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail as possible. Those plans got a LITTLE derailed when flooding started as a result of all the ridiculous rain! But, we still at least made it to two of them!

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is probably one of the coolest ideas they've ever had. You can pick up a "passport" in the distillery, and it's got each one listed - and each one you stop at gets stamped. Once you visit each distillery, you can send the passport  in and they'll send you a Bourbon Trail t-shirt. We were en route to Lexington when we saw a sign that said "Heaven Hill Distillery, Kentucky Bourbon Trail", so we immediately stopped and made it our first visit!

The Heaven Hill Distillery was probably the best o f the ones we went to - the tour included stops at each of the historic displays, and explaining the history of Bourbon.  Afterwards, we went to the gift shop & they took us to a little "bar" type area where there were samples of Bourbon for each of us.

Not much of a sample, but trust me, it was MORE than enough if you're not a big bourbon drinker!

And in typical Nicole fashion - after all this, I tripped in the gift shop and knocked an entire display over. Seriously. The lady at the counter came running back and said, "How many taste testings have you been to!?", laughing. Worst timing ever to trip! And thankfully --- it was NOT bottles of liquor, so nothing broke! Whew. I definitely didn't live that one down the rest of the trip.

We always stay at the same place in Lexington - the Hyatt, because it's attached to Rupp Arena (Go Big Blue!), and it's convenient. It also was where P's Kentucky Music Hall of Fame induction was held! Last time we went, we somehow overlooked the Starbucks that was literally right behind the hotel, and walked over a mile to get to UK Campus to go to the Starbucks inside (we didn't actually know it was far, we were told it was "just a few buildings away!). This time - we remembered the one behind us!  But, as luck would have it - it rained. And rained. And rained. The entire time we were there practically! So walking out to the Starbucks wasn't the most appealing idea in the world - but we were desperate for Starbucks! This is where the hotel skywalks come in handy - one of them connects to the Hilton, which is right next to the Starbucks! So, we made it down --- and as we went to cross the street to the shop, it began a torrential downpour, and we were utterly and completely SOAKED. Apparently, we just can't have a walk to Starbucks without entertainment in Lexington.

Fortunately, the fireworks weren't a TOTAL washout. We watched them from afar though, and watched them from a local pub we went to for dinner. The hotel driver forgot to come back and get us, and of course it started raining again on the way back so we walked back to the hotel in the rain, singing at the top of our lungs. You're welcome Lexington.

Speaking of the pub we went to -- if you're ever in Lexington and want the best pizza ever, Two Keys Tavern is your place! Biggest pizza ever, seriously.

That is ONE PIECE on Metcalf's plate!

We used Friday for checking out the distillery in Lexington, which is also apparently the home of Kentucky Ale. We learned more about the Ale than we did the Bourbon there - except the odd thing was they couldn't sell us the Beer there, we had to go to the liquor store. We thought the Stout Kentucky Ale would be good, because it had coffee in it, but we were totally wrong. That was seriously wretched beer.  I'm not really a beer girl as it is, but I can occasionally tolerate it, or a specific specialty beer I can usually enjoy (the Chocolate Beer at the Pharmacy in Nashville is divine!), but not this one! Gross.

We decided to cap off the weekend by heading back to Bowling Green on Saturday for another night of karaoke --- which was so dead that Scotty said "Well I guess this is the Rita and Nicole show tonight!" No one else was signing up, so in the first 90 minutes, we'd each done about 10 songs -- by the end of the night, we were running out of stuff to sing!

One of the best 4th's ever, that's for sure. A road trip with two great friends --- filled with Loretta Lynn & George Jones singalongs, Kentucky & some bourbon!

A little more picspam:

Sky walkin it in Lexington!

Oh, we squeezed in a visit to UK --- and even though it was raining, I had to get a pic at my Alma Mater! Hooray for being able to say that now! 

This mural is at the top of the escalator at the Hilton & I fell in love with it. Only in Kentucky do they have the most amazing horse murals. (Is it Derby time yet? I'm ready!)

Road trippin'....

One of the first things at the Heaven Hill Distillery! 

My stamped passport -- with some great memories!