Hey there Monday

Good morning friends. Hope you had a fun summery weekend. Here's how ours looked...

It looked full. It looked like a lot of miles on the car. It looked like bluegrass and bourbon. It looked like young love and old friends. It looked joyful. It looked like taking the long way home. 

It looked like summer. 

We were up bright and early Wednesday morning to make our way west and then north to Cincinnati via Kentucky. Friends we've known for more than two decades had a daughter getting married and we were headed there to celebrate her big day on Friday evening. 

Daughter2 and the bride have been friends since second grade and we parents have been friends that long too. Daughter2 was in the wedding so she and her hubs were there too which was fun.

But first! Kentucky. Friends we met while living in the UK who now live in Texas have a lake house about an hour from Cincy, so that was our first stop. We arrived mid-afternoon and hung out on their porch, had a wonderful dinner together, played cards, and caught up on all the things. 

We discovered we were all doing The Bible Recap this year so we listened together on Thursday morning which was special. Then we made our way in the general direction of Cincy in two cars so they could head home after our excursion and we could go on to the hotel. 

We had lunch in the General Store in a little town called Glencoe. There's not a lot in this area, but they served the owner's grandmother's chicken salad recipe and the guys had pizza which they said was really good too. From there we went just a few miles down the road to  Sparta for a tour of a small family owned distillery (The Neeley Family Distillery)

When in bourbon country...

The tour was interesting. We've been on the Bourbon Trail a couple of times before and have done a lot of the big distilleries, but this one was definitely different. You start with a video giving you the story behind the family and it's a little bit like the Hatfields and McCoys. They started as moonshiners but are making bourbon the legal way now. 

After the tour we said our goodbyes and hubs and I went on to Ohio to check in to the hotel. The groom's family hosted a welcome party at a fun brewery and everyone was invited to attend. They had a taco bar and the groom's parents made a sweet and funny speech in honor of the soon-to-be marrieds. A fun night for all. 

Coincidentally the wedding reception was in a venue just a few blocks from where Daughter1 and her hubs lived the year they were in Cincy, so we had to do a drive by of their old house. We sent a picture and she was happy to see the rope swing was still swinging. 

We went to breakfast at a place called Wild Eggs before driving in to the city to a section known as Over- the-Rhine. We walked through Findley Market, browsing the stalls, then headed back to our side of town so I could get my hair done. I always book an appointment to have my hair washed and dried when we travel to out of town weddings. 

It was a hot day and I needed the professionals to help battle the humidity and smooth it all out. 

The newlyweds were married in the bride's church and I love a church wedding. We rode a shuttle with the rest of the guests out to the church and the ceremony was lovely. If you were a June bride you were given a white rose as you entered the church and I thought that was a really sweet gesture. 

When we came out of the church they had a coffee bar set up for guests to enjoy while waiting on photos and the shuttle ride back to the reception venue. 

You could have regular coffee, cold brew, or an iced honey latte which is what I opted for. Yummy! 

The hydrangeas were beautiful here...

The reception was in a park (Ault Park for any locals reading) and it was a beautiful spacious venue. Everything was lovely. 

There were stations, seafood-beef-and mac and cheese, then assorted desserts rather than a wedding cake. Hubs and I wanted to plant ourselves beside the crab claws but we resisted. I didn't try the mac and cheese, but the seafood and beef were both really good. 

My favorite thing about a wedding reception is the father-daughter dance, and this one did not disappoint. I feel like the months and days leading up to the wedding are more about the mom, but the day of is where the dad's emotions really hit hard. 

My forever wedding date...

We were up and on the road with a cup of coffee to-go from the hotel lobby, because we knew the ride home was going to be a long one. There were big storms across the south on Wednesday night and sadly there was a rock slide on I-40 right around the Tennessee-NC border, aka our route home. It was already still a mess from Helene, but they've been working hard to get all lanes up, open,  and repaired, and now another setback. The road is closed again for another two weeks, which meant we had to take the long(er) way around to get home. 

We didn't run into any other snafus, just a much longer drive mile wise. We stopped for Mexican food close to home, then pulled in to the driveway to be greeted by Little Miss and her momma who were dropping off the little brown dog. They'd kept him at their house while we were away and while he was a good boy, nothing makes him happier than seeing his favorite person, the hubs. 

Sunday we declared a day of rest. Hubs back has been a problem for a couple of days and my ankle continues to be a problem (seeing the ortho on Thursday to hopefully figure it out) plus we were absolutely pooped. June has been chock-a-block full of all kinds of everything and we needed a day. Maybe more than a day, but we're starting with a day. 

We sat on the lower patio, I blogged, read, and relaxed, and hubs periodically asked how I was enjoying my vacation lol. We don't have any road trips on tap for July, although one may pop up, but mostly we plan to stick close to home, take the boat out, swim, and refill our tanks so to speak. 

And that was the weekend. How was yours? What did you get up to? 

 

I'm linking today with Holly and Sarah for their regular Hello Monday blog hop. Drop over and add your own weekend recap and see what others are saying too. Hope your summer is off to a great start! Or winter if you're reading from Down Under...I know there are a few here : )