TN Vacation

Matthew and I spent the last two weeks on vacation at my parents' house near Jamestown, TN.  We had been planning a trip out west (Matthew saved up extra time off) but that just wasn't going to work this year so we decided to spend the time hiking, horseback riding, and golfing with my family instead.  My parents spent the winter in their "new" retirement house and we stayed with them there instead of at the cabin.  Although the house needs a lot of work, it was much more spacious than the cabin!

 

The weather was beautiful most days and my mom and I, along with a few friends, got in a lot of riding.

 

Matthew golfed with my dad several days and we spent one of the rainy days (it turned out to be just a little drizzle, not the all-day rain we thought it would be) touring a whiskey distillery.  We drove up to Kentucky planning on going to one distillery but saw a sign for Maker's Mark on the way and ended up there instead.  The tour started outside and took us through several buildings and the entire process, from mash to bottle.

 

Here is one of the giant mash tubs.  It is made of cypress (100+ years old) and is two stories tall.  The room smelled like bread from all of the yeast in these tubs and they even let us stick our fingers in the mash and taste it!

 

Maker's Mark only has this one facility and many things are still done by hand, including cutting the labels and dipping the tops of the bottles in wax.  A lot of the bottling process is done by machine though and here Matthew and I are standing by the bottles as they are filled.

 

The tour ended with a tasting, of course!

 

We tasted four different bourbons.  The first, called White Lightning, was 130 proof whiskey straight from the distilling process, no aging.  The second sample, traditional Maker's Mark had been aged 5-7 years in charred oak barrels.  The third was "over-mature" and had been aged more than 7 years, making it undesirable (although Matthew actually liked this one best!).  The fourth is Maker's Mark's new product Maker's 46.  It is made the same as the traditionsl but has extra pieces of charred oak inside the barrels to give it more flavor.

 

We learned how to properly taste each sample by looking at it, smelling it, and then swooshing it around over our tongues before swallowing.  My favorite was the traditional, I found it to be sweeter and have less burn than the other samples.

When we finished sampling, we headed to the store where my parents each bought a bottle and got to dip it into the wax themselves.

 

After visiting the distillery we decided to stop at a local winery that we had passed earlier in the day.  I did not participate in the tasting, but here is everyone else enjoying a sample of local wine.  The lady on the right is the owner and gave a great tour of their small operation.

 

The day after the rain, we got about an inch of snow!  Mom and I did not ride this day but did get a ride in every day for the rest of our visit.  We totaled about 100 miles for the two weeks.

 

Matthew joined us for two of the rides.  Here we are on one of our favorite trails.

 

Mow and I in a creek.

 

My mom is still riding her now 31-year-old horse and he really is a trooper!

 

Here's Matthew and I at one of the overlooks we rode to.

 

Aside from a few short walks, we only got one real hike in during the trip.  Here we are along the Big South Fork River.

 

Many of the spring flowers had started to bloom along the river including this Virginia bluebell.

 

We also found several morel mushrooms both hiking and horseback riding.  They made a tasty treat!

 

We had Easter dinner at my parents' house with some of our riding friends and ate rabbit pot pie (a favorite of our friends) with carrot cake for dessert.

 

The two weeks went by too quickly and before we knew it we had to pack up to come back home.  In addition to all four horses, we brought our cat Bagheera with us since she is on a special weight loss diet.  When we started packing to go home she wanted to make sure that we didn't forget her!