Darlene Troyer

THE BEST VACATIONS 
ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T PLAN! 

The Carmel art show was over; my body was tired and sore and sporting some new black and blue marks from a weekend of struggles with the wind.  My car was packed and a 3 hour drive was ahead of me when my daughter in Kentucky teased me with the idea of spending a day or two with her.  It was also a 3 hrs. drive to her home in Kentucky, hmm, same distance and I could see my grandkids too.  Why not!  I called my hubby back home and informed him of the change and he thought it was a great idea too.  Now, the 3 hour drive headed south was the only thing between me and great big hugs that night!

I was talking to my granddaughter on the phone telling her how tired I was from the show and that I couldn’t wait to get home and get to bed as I walked into their house.  She was coming down the hallway with the phone in her hand talking away to me when she saw me standing there talking back to her, the look on her face was priceless!!!!  Then she cried and ran full force into me.  Next was my grandson, Noah, who came up for the lower level and the reaction was the same, more hugs.  It doesn’t get any better than that!   

Monday morning rolled around and I was moving slowly to say the least.  My daughter made me breakfast and we planned our day. We did some shopping and I found some great old pieces of jewelry for a new line of jewelry I’m working on.  We had BBQ chicken that night and made our plan of attack for the next day once the kids were off to school. 

Tuesday it was pouring down rain as we headed north to explore the Kentucky Bourbon trail and found ourselves in Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World.  

 Bardstown, KY was named the Most Beautiful Small Town in America by USA Today and it lived up to its reputation.  It is also mentioned in the book “1,000 Places to see before you die”.  Where to start, oh my! Armed with flyers and pamphlets from the tourism center we started to explore. 

We toured Heaven Hill Distilleries and sampled the bourbon; it wasn’t that bad considering I’m a wine drinker.  Our tour guide was terrific and I found it fascinating to learn about the history of Whiskey and Bourbon; it was really worth the trip!  

We were hungry after our tour at Heaven Hill and decided to have lunch at the old historic Kurtz Restaurant located across the road from "My Old Kentucky Home".  The food was great!  We started with butter bean soup, moved on to the homemade corn cakes, and enjoyed the best coleslaw I've ever had. Kelly had the mushroom burger and I had the chopped steak with grilled onions, yum yum!  Then we had coconut pie and bourbon bread pudding for dessert !    We were stuffed when we left!
  

 From there we toured an old cemetery, drove through the Jim Beam distillery and then headed back home to make dinner.  Instead of packing my bags to head home we planned another day trip for the two of us on Wednesday!

 

Wednesday once the kids were out the door and off to school we were off to tour the Abby of Gethsemani.  The Abby was founded in 1848 by Trappist Cistercians and is still home of Trappist Monks today.   The grounds were beautiful, the church was stark and fascinating and at the gift shop we found fruit cakes, fudge and cheese that were made by the monks there at the Abby.  We tried the smoky style cheese.  Not a wise choice unless you like Limburger; guess we should have bought the fruitcake!  

 

  

 

 We were only a few miles from Bardstown so decided to go back and explore some more.

As we came into town we stopped at the Basilica of St. Joseph Cathedral built in 1816; it was the first Catholic cathedral west of the Allegheny Mountains and was much larger than I expected for being built in that era.

 From the Cathedral we headed over to the famous Old Talbott Tavern for a much needed lunch.  This old stone building built in 1779 was once a major stopping spot on the stage coach route. It has had a long list of visitors including presidents, kings and outlaws too.  According to local lore the tavern is haunted and is the site of many ghost appearance including the notorious Jessie James. Again, lunch was great but dessert was better.  Our waiter was so nice and even offered to give us a key to tour through the guest rooms upstairs!

 

The Lincoln Room at the Old Talbott Inn

This room known as "The Lincoln Room",  is  where  Abraham Lincoln and his family stayed when they found themselves in the middle of a nasty land dispute over there property.

The walls were a rich green and the old oak bed was huge, no, we didn't sit on it but I was tempted to. 

There was a sitting room next to the bedroom complete with and old writing desk, fireplace and a modern day TV.

The bathroom was really tiny but it had an old claw foot bathtub that you could soak in for hours.

Oh, if these walls could talk the tails it would tell!

After our tour of the hotel rooms at the Talbott Inn we walked next door to check out the  the Old County Jail built in 1819.  It was used as a jail up till 1987!  

The jail has since been converted into a bed and breakfast and has 6 rooms guest rooms to choose from.  I'm not too sure I'd want to stay in an old damp jail house considering the colorful history it has from what we heard.  Can't imagine how many terrible things must of happened there back in the day.

Kelly and I took turns "hanging around" in the stocks outside the old jail house just to see what it must of felt like. I was sure we were gonna get stuck in them but thankfully that didn't happen!
We concluded this would have been a nasty way to spend ones day.  

The weather was just right today, not to hot, not too cold.  The leaves were changing color and the smell of fall was in the air.  We had had a great day together and head back home to make dinner.

My plans that night were to pack and head back home the next day. Those plans quickly changed as I was told, why don't you stay "one" more day! So I did!!!

Thursday Kelly and I got down to business and spent hours upgrading my website.  We hadn't had time to do this in ages and it was much needed for sure!  Can’t wait till we get the new pictures  of my jewelry added to the gallery!

Another day down and my plans to head home Friday were again, greeted with, why don't you stay till Saturday so you can spend some times with the kids. So I did!!!

Saturday the six of us head out to spend the day in the town of  Glendale.  We'd been told it was a great place to go antiquing and knowing I was looking for old jewelry for my new jewelry line  we shopped the many old antiques shops there and I did find several new pieces to work with.  Lunch at the Whistle Stop was good but not as good as we'd been told but I really did enjoy my roast beef with mashed taters and gravy.

We had a great time and Chris found and old metal air plane from a long ago carnival ride at one of the antique shops.

The day was almost over and on the way back to their house that evening we made a detour to a really nice pumpkin farm.   

We played in the maze, bought pumpkins, gourds and squash and took lots of pictures under the full moon that night.  

We loaded our pumpkins and headed back home and to enjoy ice cream sundaes for dinner!  

It was time for me to head back home (for real this time) so I packed my bags and got a good night’s sleep before I headed home the next day.  Sunday the skies were blue, the trees were starting to show some nice color and the weather was warm; it couldn’t have been a better day for my 6 hour drive home.

 

A couple of days turned into a week-long vacation filled with great memories.  It couldn’t have been better or more fun if I had planned it!  Kelly and I have not had the opportunity to spend one on one time or have a mother-daughter week and we enjoyed each and every moment of our time together! 

 I’m so glad I decided to stop by for a day or two, hehe.  

 So the next time opportunity knocks at your door embrace it and see what comes your way.  Thanks everyone for a fantastic week!!!