Evan loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and as luck would have it, the real Thomas was visiting the Essex Steam Train in southeast CT on April 29th. Evan would get to ride Thomas, participate in a Thomas adventure, and we parents would get exposed to 4 million pieces of Thomas merchandise. Evan's classmate Shawn and his dad came, too.
We are now caught up on the blog. Let the next adventure begin!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Maker's Mark Distillery
After finishing up at the Corvette museum around lunch time, we had about 5 hours to kill before dinner. Bowling Green wasn't exactly a hotbed of activity, so we decided to visit one of Kentucky's famous bourbon distilleries. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is comprised of six distilleries, forming a "L" shape from Louisville to Lexington: Woodford Reserve, Four Roses, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill, and Maker's Mark. I have tried 3 of the 6, and Maker's Mark is by far the best tasting one I've had. Naturally, the Maker's Mark Distillery is the only one that is nowhere near a highway, but most of them didn't offer tours on Sunday anyway. The GPS estimated a 90-minute drive and 3:00 pm arrival time, a half-hour before the last tour of the day. We decided to skip lunch and hit the road towards Loretto, Ky, home of Maker's Mark.
It didn't take 90 minutes to get there, it took 110, and that was despite my complete ignorance of speed limits. The back roads to the distillery were long and windy, and I navigated them to my own limits of safe driving. We had actually passed the Heaven Hill distillery about 30 minutes earlier on these back roads. We arrived with only 15 minutes before the last tour started. Visitor's parking was easy to find, but I saw no signage directing us to the tour starting location. Knowing time was running out, I did come across a sign for the gift shop, and quickly headed there to get information about the tour.
The gift shop was nicely decorated with wood paneling and a bar. I saw what appeared to be a tour group gathered in the bar area. I figured this was the 2:30 tour wrapping up. I asked the girl at the register about where the last tour starts. She told me that the last tour of the day was finishing up right behind us. My mind raced, but I quickly put two and two together and understood what had happened. On the way from Bowling Green to Loretto, we had passed from the Central Time Zone back into the Eastern Time Zone, losing an entire hour. That explained why the GPS changed the estimated arrival time to 4:15 at some point during our trip.
Utterly disappointed, I couldn't be upset with either the distillery or myself. I spent enough time researching the distilleries online, yet I did not come across any indications that the time zone was Eastern. I would hope that such a message would have caught my attention. Unable to turn back time, we decided to look around the gift shop and see what was there.
My dad bought a bottle of whisky and hand-dipped it in the trademarked red sealing wax himself. While his bottle cooled, he went over to the bartender and shared our sob story regarding coming from Baltimore yet missing the tour. The bartender was sympathetic and offered us the samples the free tour would have entitled us to. That was a nice thing to do, and did ease the pain of having missed the tour a little, although if I could have seen the tour and skipped the samples, I wouldn't be disappointed in the least. We got our tokens commemorating the trip, and samples, too. It's unlikely I'll ever get back there, so I'll see what's available online to learn more. After 30 minutes, we headed back out to drive down to Bowling Green. I watched my cell phone throughout the trip. We entered the Central time zone ~10 miles from the Corvette museum.
It didn't take 90 minutes to get there, it took 110, and that was despite my complete ignorance of speed limits. The back roads to the distillery were long and windy, and I navigated them to my own limits of safe driving. We had actually passed the Heaven Hill distillery about 30 minutes earlier on these back roads. We arrived with only 15 minutes before the last tour started. Visitor's parking was easy to find, but I saw no signage directing us to the tour starting location. Knowing time was running out, I did come across a sign for the gift shop, and quickly headed there to get information about the tour.
The gift shop was nicely decorated with wood paneling and a bar. I saw what appeared to be a tour group gathered in the bar area. I figured this was the 2:30 tour wrapping up. I asked the girl at the register about where the last tour starts. She told me that the last tour of the day was finishing up right behind us. My mind raced, but I quickly put two and two together and understood what had happened. On the way from Bowling Green to Loretto, we had passed from the Central Time Zone back into the Eastern Time Zone, losing an entire hour. That explained why the GPS changed the estimated arrival time to 4:15 at some point during our trip.
Utterly disappointed, I couldn't be upset with either the distillery or myself. I spent enough time researching the distilleries online, yet I did not come across any indications that the time zone was Eastern. I would hope that such a message would have caught my attention. Unable to turn back time, we decided to look around the gift shop and see what was there.
My dad bought a bottle of whisky and hand-dipped it in the trademarked red sealing wax himself. While his bottle cooled, he went over to the bartender and shared our sob story regarding coming from Baltimore yet missing the tour. The bartender was sympathetic and offered us the samples the free tour would have entitled us to. That was a nice thing to do, and did ease the pain of having missed the tour a little, although if I could have seen the tour and skipped the samples, I wouldn't be disappointed in the least. We got our tokens commemorating the trip, and samples, too. It's unlikely I'll ever get back there, so I'll see what's available online to learn more. After 30 minutes, we headed back out to drive down to Bowling Green. I watched my cell phone throughout the trip. We entered the Central time zone ~10 miles from the Corvette museum.
Corvette Museum
Two days of Corvette enthusiasm were planned. First, the National Corvette Museum, and the following day, the GM Corvette Assembly Plant. No cameras were allowed in the plant, so I'll cover the first day only.
After waking up and heading to Waffle House for breakfast, we headed to the museum. One of the first ones there, we elected to take the audio tour, too, to get the full experience. iPod-like devices were given to us, and by the end, we were both masters at navigating them to find the right tracks for each display.
The museum lived up to expectations, and was certainly worth visiting. We even signed up for the monthly raffle, but neither of us won the 2012 red convertible they were giving away the next week.
After waking up and heading to Waffle House for breakfast, we headed to the museum. One of the first ones there, we elected to take the audio tour, too, to get the full experience. iPod-like devices were given to us, and by the end, we were both masters at navigating them to find the right tracks for each display.
The museum lived up to expectations, and was certainly worth visiting. We even signed up for the monthly raffle, but neither of us won the 2012 red convertible they were giving away the next week.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Trip to Nashville
We're almost caught up now, this is a mid-April 2012 excursion. My dad has had an affection for Corvettes for most of his life. What gift can a son give to a dad who has everything he needs? Accompanying him to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Our first stop was Nashville, TN, the self-proclaimed "Music City." I probably would have had a better appreciation for music in Chicago or even New Orleans...Nashville had music, but most of it appealed to neither of us. So, I had to search hard to find something interesting to do in Nashville. It had to be more interesting than what Bowling Green, Ky had to offer.
The flight to Nashville was uneventful, and we found a spot for lunch, McNamara's, a place we later heard was a funeral home that became an Irish restaurant a few years ago. They had Shepherd's Pie, but we had dinner in a few hours, so we ate lean.
Not far from the restaurant was Cooter's Garage, a Dukes of Hazzard "museum" owned by Ben Jones (Cooter) himself ("Hazzard County" was supposed to be in Georgia, so I'm not sure why this museum was in Nashville). It was a small storefront which held hundreds of photos and nostalgic pieces of Dukes of Hazzard merchandise. Entry was free, so I'm not sure how they made money. No one was ponying up $5 for a photo sitting in the General Lee, and coffee mugs and license plate holders can't bring in big bucks, either. For no admission fee, though, it was worth a few minutes to walk through and see what they had. The photos:
Our visit to explore what Nashville had to offer was far from over. The Lane Motor Museum was a privately-owned collection of restored European cars, the largest in the U.S. However, this wasn't a collection of rare Ferraris, Rolls Royces, or Porches. Most of these cars were unique or unheard of: Peugeot, Citroen, Volkswagen, Mercedes, yes. But Tatra? Simca? Crosley? I saw some cars I had never seen and will never see again.
After driving around downtown and the frustrating road closures, we ate dinner on the outskirts of the city before driving to Bowling Green.
Our first stop was Nashville, TN, the self-proclaimed "Music City." I probably would have had a better appreciation for music in Chicago or even New Orleans...Nashville had music, but most of it appealed to neither of us. So, I had to search hard to find something interesting to do in Nashville. It had to be more interesting than what Bowling Green, Ky had to offer.
The flight to Nashville was uneventful, and we found a spot for lunch, McNamara's, a place we later heard was a funeral home that became an Irish restaurant a few years ago. They had Shepherd's Pie, but we had dinner in a few hours, so we ate lean.
Not far from the restaurant was Cooter's Garage, a Dukes of Hazzard "museum" owned by Ben Jones (Cooter) himself ("Hazzard County" was supposed to be in Georgia, so I'm not sure why this museum was in Nashville). It was a small storefront which held hundreds of photos and nostalgic pieces of Dukes of Hazzard merchandise. Entry was free, so I'm not sure how they made money. No one was ponying up $5 for a photo sitting in the General Lee, and coffee mugs and license plate holders can't bring in big bucks, either. For no admission fee, though, it was worth a few minutes to walk through and see what they had. The photos:
Our visit to explore what Nashville had to offer was far from over. The Lane Motor Museum was a privately-owned collection of restored European cars, the largest in the U.S. However, this wasn't a collection of rare Ferraris, Rolls Royces, or Porches. Most of these cars were unique or unheard of: Peugeot, Citroen, Volkswagen, Mercedes, yes. But Tatra? Simca? Crosley? I saw some cars I had never seen and will never see again.
After driving around downtown and the frustrating road closures, we ate dinner on the outskirts of the city before driving to Bowling Green.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Easter 2012
Easter was in March this year, but it was 30 degrees warmer than last year. Evan participated in the town Easter Egg Hunt again, which was held indoors due to rain. That actually worked better than hunting for tiny pieces of candy buried in uncut grass.
The new event this year was Evan searching for dyed Easter eggs in the house. They were hidden in plain sight and he did better than the adults (Jenn and Kim). Our neighbor Nancy had brunch, so we stuffed our faces with some good food over there, and Evan received several more gifts. If only Christmas was as easy to prepare for...
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