Congratulations, Gretchen and Jeremy!!

We are back in Minnesota, the skies are gray and the rain just doesn't seem to end, but...




the wedding must go on. So using the beautiful backyard of this lovely lake home with the quiet sound of the meandering creek for a background,











Mike gave his beautiful daughter away in marriage. By this time the rain had stopped, the chairs were dried off, and the wedding took place without a hitch.








The happy couple greeted their guests on the back deck of the house, then we all headed to the huge tent decked out for a great meal and a lot of fun.

The drizzle started again when everyone was seated and eating, but stopped by the time the dancing started. It was a gorgeous wedding and we all had a lot of fun!

We love you, Gretch and Jeremy!!




Among the guests were Uncle Martin (Mitch's mom's brother from Iowa) and Aunt Miriam, who always make it to the kid's important functions. We love you guys too!!!

Key Puzzles

Almost forgot this picture! We didn't just drink bourbon, visit horse parks, and eat on the Kentucky trip, we also spent some time trying to put together Rich's hand made key puzzles, so called because each puzzle he creates has a piece that looks like a key in it. He learned how to make these puzzles from his grandpa who made about 1500 puzzles during the depression days and would rent them for a penny a day, and his dad who expanded on the tradition. Rich now makes and sells his one of a kind puzzles that are great fun and a real challenge to put together. Check out his website at www.keypuzzles.com.

A nice sip...

Tuesday we visited the Four Roses Bottling Plant and saw the bottling process from the full barrels coming in to the empty barrels going out. But the inbetween part was the best. This barrel has had the bung removed and a whiskey thief inserted into the hole to assure smooth flowage over the trough. The brown you see is liquid gold (click on the picture) and our tour guide collected some of the unfiltered bourbon and we got to taste. A little 120 proof bourbon at 10:00 in the morning wasn't so bad!!


After lunch we visited Jim Beam Distillery, the largest distillery of bourbon in the U.S. This warehouse is like all the rest that dot the countryside, nine stories high with 50,000 to 70,000 53 gallon barrels stacked inside. Who drinks all that bourbon?







The warehouses are great to go into. They smell bourbony, are neither heated nor air conditioned, are dimly lit, and have marvelous history. Our tour guide said with a recliner and a large screen TV, this would be the ultimate "man cave." Just imagine!!




This is the end of our Sippin' trip--we're heading back to Minnesota for our niece's wedding. We left this morning with the sky streaked with lightning and plenty of rain--good timing. It was a great trip, thanks to Ellen and Art for the great planning. We enjoyed the company of old friends and new, and we'll go back to Kentucky again someday.

We're still sippin'

Sunday morning began with a multicultural brunch--pancakes, scrambled eggs, matzoh brei (a Jewish pancake), bagels and lox, and fruit. It was a great way to start the day.

Just a little ways from the campground on the route we passed every time we went to town were the seven story distillery warehouses that seem to dot the landscape in this part of Kentucky. That's a lot of bourbon!








Sunday night we went to an outdoor ampitheater to watch the play Stephen Foster the Musical, the life of Stephen Foster told with his music. The costumes were fantastic.






Monday--another day, another distillery!! Maker's Mark was one of the prettiest distillery operations that we saw. All the buildings are black so the ugly black mold that grows because of the wafting booze vapors is difficult to see. And all the red shutters have a little bottle cut into them (click on the picture for a closeup).







The tour was excellent and Mitch even got to stick his finger in the fermenting sour mash to swizzle it around and taste the wheaty flavor that distinguishes Maker's Mark from other bourbons. If there's a funny flavor in eight years to Maker's Mark this could be why!

We are still sippin' and trippin'

We've moved to Bardstown, KY, a quaint historic town just south of Louisville (Loo a vul).

Our first stop was an afternoon at Churchill Downs.









We had a great buffet dinner and had the best seats in the house, Millionaire' Row right on the finish line. Of course, one has to bet a bit, and Mitch came out ahead on this $6 bet! He also won on the horse named Brother Dan!








Saturday was a busy day of sightseeing. We started off taking a carriage ride through historic Bardstown past the home of three generations of Jim Beam. There were some gorgeous early 1800s homes along the way.









We also visited the Proto Cathedral, the first Catholic Cathedral built west of the Allegheny Mountains.











In the evening we took the Old Kentucky train for a dinner ride through the countryside. We are having fun!

Still Sippin' and Trippin'

Our days are filled with the interesting facts that go along with visiting horse farms and distilleries.
We started at the Kentucky Horse Park and had a chance to see some of the famous retired horses and to see many breeds of horses ridden by riders in authentic costumes.






We not only visited Wild Turkey Distillery but had Jimmy Russel, master distiller, come to visit us the night before with great information and our own tasting party. I like Wild Turkey!!!










We had our own horse race one night and Don and Norma and we were the proud owners and trainers for Teacheriat (enhanced with some mane and tale hair extentions, a saddle and harness) ridden by Plum Pudding. Thanks, Addy, for letting Plum ride that big horse! She won two races and made us the big winners for the evening!







Our daily travels take us through the gorgeous green countryside with beautiful horse farms and endless fences.

We now know more about horse breeding than I need to know about, and have tasted bourbon before lunch!

Not bad!!!

Sippin', Trippin', and all Things Legal

We had a great birthday celebration for Jim (eating Mitch's ribs is always good), but we decided to leave Minnesota and its cold May for warmer weather and cheaper diesel. And here we are in Frankfort, Kentucky. Actually this is the beginning our our Monaco's in Motion Sippin' Caravan where we will spend the next 14 days exploring Kentucky's distilleries and horse parks.








The first night of the rally Mitch became head chef and prepared a meal for 30 and every food had bourbon in it. It was a great success.

You can follow our adventures by going to our MIM Sippin' Blog at: http://sippingtripping.blogspot.com/