I wasn’t expecting to be
so charmed by Kentucky. Don’t get me wrong: I grew up in the South; I
know how gorgeous its various nooks and crannies can be. But we randomly picked Bardstown
as our weekend base merely because of its proximity to all the
distilleries. So the fact that it was so pretty was just an added bonus.
Some
background about Bardstown: The town was founded way back in 1780. Many
of its homes hail from the 18th and 19th centuries (old by American
standards). There are 11,000 people, a handful of well-known
distilleries such as Heaven Hill in town and Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark
on the outskirts, and more than a dozen B&Bs. It’s touted as “the
Bourbon Capital of the World.” In fact, did you know there are more
barrels aging in Kentucky than there are people? News to me.
It has a famed tavern that was built in 1779 and is still operational. Take my advice and don’t eat
there. Don’t get me wrong, the Old Kentucky Hot Brown was perfectly
fine, but the other dishes were just meh and the service took forever.
If you’re dining out in town, head across the street to circa. instead if you want a nice meal or to Rincon for cheap Mexican and monster margaritas.
Then,
once you’re done, you can go to the tavern for live music and a
respectable beer and bourbon selection. Just vacate before 11:30pm, our
innkeeper warned us, as the late-night crowd is a bit rowdy (and
violent, too, from what I hear).
While we’re on the subject of things not to do, don’t be sucked in by the Around the Town Carriage experience. We paid $20 each(!),
and it lasted less than 20 minutes; our driver was very eager to return
to his NASCAR and not so keen on telling us about the actual town.
That’s if we could actually hear a word that he said. Which we couldn’t.
Luckily, Wikipedia’s just as—if not more—reliable.
There’s
an old-timey soda fountain on the corner by the courthouse. I really
wanted to try it—you’re shocked given my affinity for sweets, I know—but
everything was boarded up for Memorial Day weekend. Someone test it out
and let me know how it is, OK? I’m sure it would meet my standards.
One
of the best things about road trips is the unexpected. We did no
research, zero planning beyond scanning Yelp once we actually arrived
into town, and wound up having a blast.
And it was just as interesting and fulfilling an experience as those we’ve spent months plotting.
post are taken from here
CIAO♥♥
