Hey Guys!! We made it to Kentucky!!

We spent a week in the Frankfort area at a cute little RV park called Elkhorn Campground. We didn’t get a pull-through, but that’s the only complaint I have about this campground. We scored a spot with some shade, the park was nicely kept up and the owners were super nice!

My favorite thing about this area is all of the horse farms! Love!! We didn’t get to visit any this time due to lack of time…but we’ve already decided (for various reasons) that Kentucky will be a regularly visited state once we’re done with the #50statetour!

We came to the Frankfort area to visit the State Capitol Building…and some distilleries that happen to be in the area.

The Kentucky SCB is one of the smaller ones we’ve been in. I love this staircase. Long clean lines made of marble…it just works for me. You can stand at one end of the building and see all the way to the other end. It’s that small. But look how gorgeous it is! Notice that you can see the staircase in both above pictures!

And Guys… the dome changes colors! What, what?!? Ohhh…be amazed!! I mean it. Be amazed. A color changing dome was a first for us…and y’all know how many of these SCBs we’ve been to. It’s a beautiful dome all on its own, but when you add the color change…it’s the cherry on top.

We did go into the House and Senate Chambers. They weren’t anything to write home about. Simple. Clean. Classic. Does the job.

We went to find Daniel Boone’s grave and stumbled upon this magnificent view of the SCB with the nearby river.

We did make it to Daniel Boone’s grave. It’s got a great view. We’ve heard a lot about Boone and his life this past year as we were heading down the East Coast. We heard about him in Texas… he had a pretty big role in our Country’s history.

We had planned on hitting a couple of distilleries while we were in the area…because you know, it is Bourbon Country. 😉 We found out right before we went to our first tour that there’s an entire Kentucky Bourbon Trail!! And, if you complete the whole tour you get a free shirt! Challenge excepted!!

One of my favorite parts of a distillery tour is getting to go into the rick house. I love the sight of all of those barrels neatly stacked up! It speaks to the little organizer OCD girl that I am. You can see them through the windows in the left picture above. We didn’t get to go into the rick houses on all of the tours, but we got to go in a few of them.

Did you know: All of the distilleries conduct experiments. Bourbon experiments. If you look closely, you can find a barrel or two of the experimental bourbon as you walk through the rick houses. In the above left picture, I wanted to show you how big the rick houses really are.

We learned something new at each distillery. They each have their own start up stories and histories. Every distillery has their own way of doing things and spin on the grains they use. We find that kind of thing interesting.

To be bourbon it has to be made of at least 51% corn. Each distillery has its own unique twist on what that other 49% is. Different grains grown in different areas under different circumstances. Even the water used is taken into consideration. It’s actually all very scientific.

All of the tours come with a tasting. All of the distilleries have their own take on this too. Woodford Reserve is our favorite distillery so far! We loved everything about it. Setting, tour, buildings we saw, and tasting!

Bourbon balls…supposedly, Rebecca Ruth is the inventor of the bourbon ball. She still has a store around so we went to check it out. The Rebecca Ruth store makes the candy for several surrounding distilleries. She’s certainly proud of her chocolates…they were super pricey for what you get. We got a box of mixed bourbon candies to try and honestly Guys, they were just ok for us. Especially after we tried some of the other candies around that she doesn’t make. When we tried the bourbon balls from Woodford Reserve, well…we realized how mediocre the other candies had been. The bourbon balls from Woodford Reserve weren’t just good…they were…eyes-roll-in-the-back-of-your-head good! Like…that-was-so-good-we-need-to-go-buy-the-biggest-box-they-have good! (And we did) We liked them. Just a little. ;-P

The boys weren’t left out of the tastings. They got different things at each. Apple juice, root beer, chocolates. They didn’t’ mind. Plus, all three of them area science nerds and they all loved the chemistry that goes into making the “perfect” bourbon.
We did get a few souvenirs. Just a few. I mean…who knows when we’ll be back in the area.

We saw some cute souvenirs we would have liked to have but didn’t get them since we don’t have a place to set them out. It’ll be an excuse to go back and visit again! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Frankfort area and look forward to visiting again!!

See y’all down the road!

#minieasternloop2017