The Trip Before This Trip

It has been a little nuttier than normal here this summer in terms of people coming and going and when I say people that includes us. We have had a lot of company, but we've also been company. Which is more fun? Hmmm...

I have another post or two about our trip to Washington, and while it might make sense to finish that up I feel like switching gears so strap in.

Let's bring everyone up to speed...hubs took a two week course all day/every day in mid-July and the day after that wrapped up Daughter2's future in-laws came to the lake for a visit. Also to handle some wedding details, but mostly just to visit. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful for the loving parents who raised our soon-to-be son-in-law. We're all just a little bit excited for spring to roll around, but first! Kentucky-

The day after our guests left we drove to Kentucky to spend a few days with friends who have a lake house there. Yes, we left our lake house and went to their lake house, but that's what friends do.

Lake living y'all. Go get you some.

Anyway these friends only live part time at the lake and that part time is summer so that's when we needed to visit. Plus there was bourbon.

I don't particularly care for bourbon, but hubs is a fan and I like a road trip, seeing old friends,  and learning new things so win win.

We had a pretty day of driving through some lovely countryside and arrived at their house late afternoon. We used to eat Indian food together back when we all lived in the UK, so the Mr. had prepared for us the most delicious curry which made us feel a teensy bit nostalgic for English village life.

We had picture perfect weather and struck out for our first stop on the 'Bourbon Trail' the next morning. I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't think I realized how enormous these operations are.

We started at Wild Turkey where we hopped on a little bus for a tour of their operating facilities. So interesting! Plus, our tour guide was a retired Marine Corps Drill Sergeant who had not lost his voice and was a lot of fun.

Once the tour ended we were returned to the visitors center for a tasting and some shopping and a photograph of this famous bridge that people bungee off of 'for fun'. Pass the bourbon please.

The company that runs it is appropriately named Vertigo. This bridge is 240 feet above the Kentucky River and the highest bridge in North America you can 'legally' jump from. I guess there are people illegally jumping from higher bridges?

Let's get back on the Bourbon Trail.

We had lunch at a cute little place in the town of Lawrenceburg called Heavens To Betsy, then drove out to Woodford Reserve. We rode through some really pretty countryside, past several horse farms, and then onto the gorgeous property that is Woodford.

Again we hopped on a little bus for their tour and while there was some overlap in the information each tour also taught us a little something new too. I enjoyed seeing the bottling in action here-

There are restrictions as to how much they can serve you in a tasting and I was more about the chocolate anyway, but still it was such an interesting day. Of course the weather was perfection which always helps.

We had dinner at the lake house and afterward the guys went fishing. Hubs caught a nice sized fish which was the perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

We were up and at 'em early the next morning for Day 2 on the trail...next stop-Buffalo Trace.

This was my favorite because they are doing a lot of renovations and we got something like a backlot tour here and saw some different things.

Buffalo Trace is the oldest continually operating Distillery in America, and even remained open for 'medicinal' purposes during Prohibition.

After the tour there was the tasting and the shopping and then on to lunch. We ate at a tiny spot in Frankfort called Rick's White Light Diner which has been featured on the show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

The food is Cajun and delicious and we sat in the little courtyard outside to eat our lunch. Rick came out towards the end of our meal and talked with us for a long while which was interesting. Then it was back to the lake where we girls floated while the guys went and shot clay pigeons or skeet or some such thing.

We were on the road bright and early Thursday morning and got home in time to do a little laundry, unpack our suitcases then repack our suitcases, and head to the airport really really early Friday morning for our flight to Seattle.

As summer rolls along I'm thankful for family and friends who come to us, for friends who say hey, come to us. For blue skies, sunshine, rolling hills, tall trees, lake life, city life, new experiences, old friends, planes, boats and automobiles, and the hubs by my side who makes me laugh and lets me nap when he senses I might teeter from all the things.

It has been a crazy beautiful busy summer and we're not done yet.

Strike a Pose

One of the reasons I wanted to try the February photo challenge was so I'd have practice time with my new camera. Naturally I've put some rules in place for myself, one being that I want the pictures to have meaning. In other words, I don't want to take a picture just for the sake of taking a picture, but is that the point of a photo challenge? Or is the point to try to interpret the prompt in some sort of creative way?

How's that for a peek inside my head?

Today's prompt is- '10 am' and I have to say this was hard. I considered not taking a picture but the rules say take a picture a day and I always follow the rules so I took a picture.

At 10 am hubs and I were eating breakfast at our local diner. Here's what you see as you walk through the door-

No I did not have cake for breakfast.

Photographically speaking it is not a great picture.

Is that even a real word/phrase?

I took this picture with my old camera, the one that fits in my purse. It felt too awkward (even for me) to pull out my camera with the big lens. This photo was taken at approximately 10 am so it does meet the requirements of today's prompt, and I need to get back to the Superbowl now so there you have it.

Who watched the halftime show?

Who thinks Madonna has not so much as looked at a piece of cake in the last fifteen years?

We're about the same age.

Technically she's even a couple of years older than me.

Rest assured I have seen my share of cake.

Watching her cartwheel across the stage kinda makes me wish I hadn't.

Sweet Summertime

I feel a little bit like a slacker blogger because I didn't post something sweet and meaningful in honor of Father's Day yesterday. If you read here you know my husband has been traveling to excess and we try to catch up, run errands, and have fun on the weekends so I tend not to blog on those days. My daughter1 did write something sweet on her blog so click here if you'd like to read what she had to say about her dad.

I'm so grateful to be in the parenting boat with my hubs. He is an excellent father who works hard in every way, who lives with a houseful of women and mostly understands us and the rest of the time pretends like he does, who can offer a less emotional perspective when its needed (and with three women in the house that is often the case) and, most importantly, he can make us all laugh. Even when we don't want to. Maybe especially when we don't want to and that is a gift. He has been a completely devoted dad from day one...he has changed diapers, styled little girls hair, buckled shoes, read stories, played games, sung lullabies (maybe mixed in with a little rock n' roll), danced across the kitchen with little toes atop his shoes, written special notes and letters, chaperoned field trips, encouraged, praised, advised, texted, listened and loved his daughters from the moment they took their first breath. Plus we all know who puts the fun in family fun at our house. All his girls are blessed.

We had a fairly low key weekend...travel and time zones have to catch up with a person sometime. Saturday afternoon we took a drive to a nearby winery located about 30 miles from here in the pretty New York countryside. We had a tasting and then ate lunch in their outdoor cafe. They have live music on the weekends so we listened to music and enjoyed our beautiful surroundings. The winery sits in an apple/pear orchard and you can also pick fruit in season.

This little corner of NY State is so pretty. There are lots of sod farms and onion farms up here and the dirt is dark black and looks so rich and healthy.

We meandered back thru the cute town which just happens to be where daughter2 was born almost 20 years ago and we reminisced about our drive to the hospital behind a John Deere that was moving very slowly and the hubs being annoyed that I'd waited a little long to say, 'time to go to the hospital'. He was more than a little concerned he was going to have to deliver the baby on the side of the road himself. He didn't. I'm sure daughter2 doesn't remember the hospital but I'm pretty certain the nurses remember her...such a beautiful baby who did not want to be out of my arms for a single second. She may have let everyone know it too.

Sunday was another low key day...we went out to breakfast to celebrate Father's Day (and also because I love to go out to breakfast). If you're not from the northeast you may not be familiar with the institution known as 'the diner' but NJ is kind of king of the Diner States. I know other parts of the country have diners but the best are found in the NJ/NY area. Its true...if you're in that part of the country you must eat in a diner at least once. Sunday we had breakfast in one that is actually semi-famous...it has been voted one of the 5 best in the state of NJ and that's no small thing since I'm guessing there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 3257 diners in The Garden State. Okay, maybe an exaggeration but not by much. This particular diner was started by a Greek family as are most of the best diners I think, and its still family run.

A good diner has a menu that is no less than 10 pages long. Seriously. You can have omelets, a club sandwich, a turkey dinner, really good Greek and Italian food, a lobster feast, a big fat piece of homemade pie...you name it and its most likely on the menu at a good diner. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack, dessert...whatever...it's all good. And you can get anything you want anytime of day at most diners. The place we ate yesterday was featured on the Food Network Program Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives back in November and the host, Guy with the crazy hair, gave it rave reviews. Their blueberry pancakes did not disappoint Sunday morning. Later we watched some golf, some World Cup, and we went to see the movie Killers with Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. It was cute and rest assured, that whole 30 day shred thing has definitely paid off for Ashton Kutcher. Just sayin'.

Happy First Day of Summer!