Road Trip Diary: Kentucky Bourbon Trail

[mrmojo1111]

My wife and I have just embarked on a much needed kid-free five-day road trip. We will be driving the Z from Springfield, Illinois to Louisville, Kentucky via St. Louis today. From there, we will tour the Kentucky Bourbon Trail before making a final stop at the NCM in BG. Should be plenty of photo-ops for the Z. Already got some nice shots in front of the Gateway Arch (thanks to scottfab for the suggestion). Stay tuned for pics and updates in this homage to Jim Voter's epic and wonderful Alaskan adventure thread.

[mrmojo1111]

The first leg of the trip has been largely uneventful. 350 miles from home to East St. Louis to Louisville. The car ran great and my wife Anna even commented on how comfortable it was, if perhaps just a little lid for her taste. We stayed nice and cool despite external temps of up to 100! Hit a torrential downpour in Southern Indiana going through the hills that made me remark, wait, how do I turn on the wipers!

[QB93Z]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. You are traveling through some beautiful country. On every road trip a little rain must fall.

Have a safe trip and have fun!

Jim

[mrmojo1111]

First stop was at the Malcom W. Martin Memorial Park on the "riverfront" in East St. Louis (roll 'em up kids). Very nice park in the middle of an industrial area, but it provided a great view of the Gateway Arch. Westward Ho!

[mrmojo1111]

Welcome to Indiana! This was shortly before the deluge. Notice how clean and sparkly the car still looks!

[mrmojo1111]

We finally arrived at our destination for the evening, the Inn at Woodhaven in Louisville. Here is our "room", the charming Rose Cottage with 25' vaulted ceiling and cupola. What a great place to stay! we both wish we were going to be here longer. After checking in, met up with some friends for dinner on the riverfront.

[RedSled]

Jealous. Looks like a nice trip so far.

[LancePearson]

Really nice trip. Good photos. Enjoy. You look like a great couple and have a nice car.

[ghlkal]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing the images with us. Nice looking Z and great shots.

wait, how do I turn on the wipers!

LOL

East St. Louis (roll 'em up kids)

Yup :eek:

[mrmojo1111]

Busy days on the Bourbon Trail have left little time for posting. Rained off and on all day yesterday and the car is filthy! Spent the evening tasting "exquisite" borbouns hand selected for me by the Colonel at the Kentucky Borboun House in Bardstown. Anna loved her mint julep as well!

[ZZZZZR1]

Nick

Wow lots of pictures and info from your trip!

Thanks for posting

:cheers:

David

[rkreigh]

hey nick this is news letter material.

what a great pic in front of the arch! My family is from Columbia MS and that brings me back.

last time I was there I just bought my TT Z06 in Denver CO and did the
ir@n @$$ ride across the country. stopped at the budweiser plant and the blue angels were flying over the arch

that inn looks great and the Ms. looks very pleased.

it's nice to include our significant others in the "obsession" as my wife calls it.

happy wife = happy life

great pics, and thanks for sharing the experience. like to visit that Inn someday on one of the BG trips

time for the "booze cruise" as we call it hitting the KY bourbon and Jack Daniels plants

I'm now a huge fan of Makers Mark which is the KY derby booze

good stuff. I don't really drink much at all anymore but I do need to take it up again !!

[mrmojo1111]

Sorry for the lag time in posting, but we have been having a blast! To pick up where we left off...

Day 2 saw us in Louisville, at the Inn at Woodhaven. After an amazing breakfast featuring french toast with caramel bourbon sauce, we were off to explore! We checked out Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, the Big Four foot bridge over the Ohio River, and the Louisville Slugger museum.

[mrmojo1111]

The Inn at Woodhaven, a great place to stay in Louisville!

[mrmojo1111]

Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. Barbaro and ZR-1, both Kentucky thoroughbreds.

[mrmojo1111]

Louisville has a nice riverfront area. Here is the Big Four footbridge from Louisville, to Indiana, across the Ohio river.

[mrmojo1111]

No trip to Louisville would be complete without a stop at the origin of so many MLB homers, Louisville Slugger.

[mrmojo1111]

By the way, I need to credit my wonderful wife, Anna on all of these pictures. These are the highlights from hundreds of shots she has been taking along the way. She has a very artistic eye, and a talent with the camera that I will never match.

[mrmojo1111]

So much more to see and do in Louisville, but we had to be on our way to catch the Bourbon Trail at the Woodford Reserve distillery, near Versailles, KY. Our trip took us through the rain along I-64, and then onto some amazing country roads, through the hills, over limestone streams that are the source for so much amazing bourbon, and along the stacked stone walls that seem ubiquitous in the Kentucky countryside. Distilling at the rural Woodford County site dates back to the late 1700's, and the buildings that house the current distillery operations were erected in the early 1800's, making this site well worthy of its designation as a National Historic Landmark.

[mrmojo1111]

The beautiful and historic Woodford reserve distillery. Their standard bourbon is quite smooth and tasty, but I opted for a bottle of their "double oaked" bourbon, which is aged in two stages in two separate rounds of new charred oak barrels.

[mrmojo1111]

After leaving the distillery, we drove the truly sublime Clifton Road to Versailles, for a night's stay at the Storybook Inn. Words cannot express how impressed we were with this B&B. The mansion itself has been expertly restored to include all modern conveniences without detracting at all from its historical charm. Our accommodations in the "Somewhere In Time" suite were spectacular! Elise, the innkeeper, was wonderful, and very hospitable, and her breakfast was delicious. I would recommend this B&B highly if you are ever in the Lexington area. We lamented the fact that we had only one night here, but we will certainly be returning in the future.

[mrmojo1111]

Won't last long!

[QB93Z]

Nick, you are making me think Lyndi and I will need to make a detour on our next trip. Great pictures!

Jim

[ghlkal]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing these with us ... we like seeing ZR-1's in interesting places :cheers:

[mrmojo1111]

Will finish this up when I have time to format the lay of the pictures. Thanks for the comments!

[ZR-1 Franz]

Great pictures! Thank you for sharing.:cheers: :flag: