As we considered our way home for the holidays, we decided we wanted to explore one last state on our route back to the east coast. Since I have recently discovered an appreciation for whiskey, heading to Kentucky felt like a no-brainer.
When we were researching the state, looking for places to go, we came across a few towns we’d heard of and some we hadn’t. One of the places we hadn’t heard of was Lost River Cave - though the name did ring a bell. Our favorite band, Murder By Death has a song called Lost River. We reached out to the band and found that the cave had actually inspired the name of the song, so we knew we had to head to Bowling Green and check it out.
Bowling Green also happens to be home to the National Corvette Museum. My father happens to be a lifelong Corvette fan, having owned two of his own, so we thought it would be a good place to stop and look for some gifts. While we were there, Craig hopped in a racing simulator built into and around a real Corvette! Turns out he may not be cut out for racing, but it was a lot of fun! Looks like we’ll both be sticking to Mario Kart in the future. After leaving the museum, we decided to take a stroll around the Bowling Green downtown. There wasn’t a ton to do downtown, but it was a charming square with some very beautiful old storefronts. It was a nice place to stretch the dogs’ legs and get some fresh air, ourselves.
The next morning we headed to Lost River Cave, which featured a greenway on its premises. The greenway was the perfect place for a quick morning run and a walk for the dogs. We were able to snag some discounted tickets to the first tour of the day (the late tours are also discounted), which proved to be fortunate as it seemed there was a large group of elementary students starting their tours right behind us. The tour began above ground with a stroll along the greenway and some funny anecdotes about the grounds. There were many stories about the “bottomless” Blue Hole, believed to be 437 feet deep! It was measured by placing a weighted rope down into the hole, and measuring where the rope hit the ground. Just as they were celebrating their “deepest, shortest river” world-record, someone else came along with a long stick, plopped it straight down, and realized the hole was a little more like 16 feet deep. The hole connects to an underground river, which had swept the measuring rope along the length of the Blue Hole…400 feet.
After touring the area above-ground, we headed to the entrance of the cave, which at one time served as a nightclub. The nightclub was known to be the coolest place in town - even before the proliferation of air conditioning. The flowing waters and the cave itself provided dancers and revelers with refreshingly cool air. After the nightclub closed, the site fell into disrepair and was even used by many locals as a dump. When preservation and cleanup efforts commenced, there were tons of trash, appliances and even vehicles removed. The tour brought us through the caves on a small boat where the tour guide regaled us with stories about the cave’s history and its geological features. Overall, the tour was informative and entertaining, but perhaps not a must-see experience. It certainly was an interesting tour for us attendees though, upon entering the cave by boat, we were immediately met with a low ceiling we all had to duck into the boat to avoid!
Seeing as we were now in Kentucky, the mecca of Bourbon, it only made sense for us to prioritize visiting some Bourbon distilleries. Kentucky is the producer of 95% of the world’s bourbon. It turns out that Bardstown, Kentucky produces 35% of that! As we planned our bourbon attack, it quickly became clear we did not plan far enough out to make our way onto any distillery tours. All 3 places we checked were fully booked at least a week out - so if you make your way to Bardstown, make sure to plan in advance if you’re looking for a tour. But honestly, we were both just excited to learn more about bourbon flavors and what makes for a good one.
We found an interesting campground at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, which put us just a few miles from some of the finest distilleries. Our first stop the next morning was Barton 1792 Distillery, whose origins and history were as enchanting as its spirits. Established in 1879, it remains open as the oldest fully-operating distillery in Bardstown. At one point, a fire tore through their facility, leaving only one original wall standing. The distillery was later purchased by Oscar Getz, Chicago businessman, distributor, and whiskey memorabilia collector, who rebranded it as Barton Distillery and took the business to new heights. This was by far our best bourbon tasting. We were given a delightful tour of 3 different bourbons to really be able to taste the difference in formulation and aging. We sampled Zackariah Harris, which was younger and had more sweet vanilla notes, and finished with their small batch Barton 1792, which was drier and more smoky. It was really interesting being able to taste the variations possible in the same type of spirit. To top it all off, we finished with a sampling of Zackariah Harris bourbon eggnog, paired with a chocolate bourbon ball. What a great start to our day of bourbon!
Our next stop was Bardstown Bourbon, which we both immediately classified as the Apple Store of Bourbon. With an extremely sleek and modern look, an expensive and clean looking gift shop, and rather pricey tasting flights, we opted for a single drink to give the place a fair try. It was a solid bourbon, but we both felt a little overwhelmed by the place. Our last stop was Heaven Hill Experience, where I tried my first Manhattan and we learned a new method for sampling bourbon. We split a tasting flight, where our bartender informed us that the best way to truly taste the flavor profile of the bourbon is to sip the spirit, then add a few drops of the provided distilled water and give it another sip. It was kind of mindblowing what a difference the addition of the distilled water made to opening up the flavors of the bourbon!
Since we were both pleasantly full of bourbon, it was a perfect time to explore the adorable Bardstown downtown and the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. It was a really well done museum, overflowing with whiskey memorabilia and a massive collection of whiskey bottles throughout history. Each display was also extremely well crafted, with comprehensive displays of the whiskey making and selling process. For a free museum, I was pretty blown away by how nicely it was all put together and displayed, and by what a rich history they had on hand.
We continued our journey through the state, next heading north to Louisville. With no available places to stay overnight in Kentucky, we ended up having to cross the Ohio River and spend our nights in Indiana. Since cities aren’t our favorite places to visit, we headed to Louisville with one big destination in mind - Pizza Lupo, the pizzeria and eatery owned by members of our favorite band Murder By Death. But we had a whole day to spend in the city before our dinner plans, so Craig found a pretty cool antique shop called Fleur De Flea for some morning shopping. They’re pet-friendly, and even mix up cocktails on the weekends for you to sip while you shop!! I love the treasure hunting element of thrifting and antiquing, and love searching through the booths looking for a unique find, so this was a great way to spend our morning. Shopping isn’t as enjoyable for the pups, so our next stop was the waterfront and the Big Four Bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge itself isn’t pet-friendly, but the waterfront offered a ton of trails for us to enjoy the views and get our pups some fresh air and a walk. There was still a bit more time to kill, so we meandered around historic Old Louisville, admiring the beautiful old mansions and private courtyards, lined with gorgeous old homes.
It was finally time for dinner, and we were both excited to finally get to try their wood fired pizzas. We opted for a plain margherita, so we could enjoy the flavors of a well-crafted crust that was perfectly cooked by a fire. It was absolutely delicious, but the real star was the side of calabrian ranch. While I’m not typically a “ranch and pizza” kind of girl, I really wanted to try this delightful sounding dipping sauce, and I’m extremely glad I did. If Murder By Death ever reads this blog, I beg of you to bottle that and sell it at shows so I can consume more of it!
Full of pizza and good beer and happy for it, we headed back across the river for another night in Indiana. The next morning, I squeezed in a lovely foggy morning run along the Ohio River. By the end, the fog had rolled back perfectly, framing and highlighting the Louisville skyline across the river.
We hit the road and continued eastward through Kentucky, toward Red River Gorge. It was early November, and fall was still clinging to the trees, and we had a perfect day for a hike along Auxier Ridge, where we got to detour to Courthouse Rock and make our way up to the stunning Double Arch for cool rocky features and lovely views. There’s something about hiking in east coast mountains that will always be my favorite, and I was so happy to get to return to that while there was still some fall to enjoy. We continued east, to the border of Kentucky & Virginia, where we scaled the high point of Kentucky - Black Mountain. We parked next to the bullet-riddled “Welcome To Virginia” sign, and made our way up a small gravel road to an FAA radar dome. We continued past the dome onto a small dirt road that led to the official summit and the USGS marker, confirming our summit. While we both love a challenging hike that leads to victory and views, it’s been a funny journey for us, bagging these easy and occasionally comically small state high peaks.
Our last stop in Kentucky was also our first stop in Virginia - Breaks Interstate Park. One of only two parks in the country that operate jointly between two states as a single state park, this beauty was nestled around the Russell Fork River and is sometimes referred to as the “Grand Canyon of the South”. The titular canyon, Breaks Canyon, is five miles long and was formed through millions of years of erosion from the flowing of the Russell Fork River. We headed out for a single day of exploring, but quickly realized there were more views than we could see in one day and ended up returning for another hike. Our first day was primarily spent on the Breaks Interstate Trail, a looping trail we found on All Trails that nicely connected a few main trails throughout the park. We started out on the Prospectors Loop, taking a short detour to our first canyon overlook at the Tower Tunnel vista. Our journey then took us along the Overlook Trail, which began with views showing off the state line divisions between Kentucky and Virginia. We connected a bit on the Geological Trail, which would have been an interesting historical lesson, if we could have found the document that corresponded to the many markers along the trail. It was a short connection until we were back on the Overlook Trail and making our way back to Charlotte. It was an abnormally warm day for the middle of November, but it was a nice challenging hike, replete with gorgeous views and interesting facts. We opted for one last quick stop for the day at The Towers, which displayed the “Grand Canyon of the South” in all its glory. The Towers was a formation of harder rock that survived the surrounding erosion, allowing the Russell Fork River to easily move through the softer shale and carve the canyon below.
We had wanted to squeeze in one more hike on the Camp Branch Trail, but thanks to a slow bumpy road and shorter fall days, we decided it was better to return. And I was glad we did! It was a nice short trail, but the day was breezy and perfect. The leaves in the trails rained down around us with every gust, and we stopped for the most serene moments at a small waterfall, surrounded by leaves. At the end, the trail led us pretty straight down to the banks of the Russell Fork River, right at the foot of The Tower. It was a marvel seeing this completely different perspective after just seeing this exact same formation from above. The river was more vibrant and rushing, and you could really understand how what seemed like simply water from above could battle and defeat rock to form this canyon. It was an extraordinary sight, and a perfect way to depart Breaks Interstate Park.
We continued east, just getting into the first vibes of Appalachia, and the rolling mountains were a challenge for driving, but a stunning sight. As we continued into Virginia, we knew we’d see more of this natural beauty. But now it was time to enjoy the last of our Kentucky bourbon and say goodbye to this lovely state!
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