This week is the week leading up to my birthday which means I had to keep my ass in check for training since I would be traveling. It’s all about planning.
Flash back to my almost century ride a few weeks ago. I met a group of people whom I rode with on the back end of the ride (see week 35.18-1 for this story). I instantly connected with one of the guys- Michael Sorsen who happens to be a coach for Team in Training (http://www.lls.org/gateway). He has a few organized rides that he leads for the cause so I decided to join him on Wednesday. I had a 3 hour ride that I was supposed to do this weekend but I would be in Louisville so I just switched the days. It was a great ride and nice to ride with other people.
I also want to mention that after my tri on Sunday, I managed to ran Monday, swam Tuesday, biked Wednesday, and ran Thursday so I put in the work this week. I took Friday off for the drive but Saturday I did a spin class (the next best option) and a 2 mile brick. Sunday I ran. So even while on vacation training happens. Though I think it gets annoying for traveling partners.
LOUISVILLE-
It was dark when we arrived to Louisville and what is the first thing I see? THE OHIO FUCKING RIVER! The water had this eeriness about it from the reflections of the bridge. My first thought was- “holy fuck I have to swim in THAT!?! I’m not going to survive.” This was a hard realization. I normally go in with the thinking of ignorance is bliss. If I didn’t know how scary that river is I would just deal with it when I walked up to the start line. Now I know how scary it is so I have that moment I realized what I was going to be swimming in over and over in my head. Every time I swim I see it. It’s not awesome. Let’s just hope it wears off.
Saturday we had only 3 things planned- working out, Jim Beam Stillhouse tasting room, and the music festival ForeCastle. We didn’t know this 4 day festival was going on when we were looking at things for to do that weekend so naturally we bought day passes. So let’s start in order.
—-Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse: This was not their distillery. This was their tasting room down town which was walking distance from our hotel. This tasting costs $12 per person. What you get is a 5 flight tasting, a presentation of the different drinks and the history of Jim Beam. It was a good experience and probably one of our favorites but I would love to do the distillery the next time. Below is their Urban StillHouse Select which can only be purchased (so they said) at their locations in KY. Naturally I had to purchase this. But I will say I used to stick my nose in the air to Jim Beam’s white label because I have seen so many bad experiences from friends. I actually liked Jim Beam’s line of bourbon they gave us.
—–ForeCastle: This was something that we did not anticipate when we were looking for a weekend somewhere. This is a 3 day music festival and they have some pretty good acts but HOLY FUCKING COW it was teenager central. There was nothing but a bunch of kids everywhere. Since this is my birthday and I’m turning a year that much closer to 40 than it is 30, this fact made me feel so fucking old! It didn’t help that I wanted to leave early and go to bed at 9:30 not waking up until 9am the next morning. Nothing like showing age when you go to be super early on vacation! LOL
You can’t tell how young the kids are on purpose 😉
Sunday was our distillary “tour” day. We had 2 on the agenda then meeting up with some good friends. After breakfast I did an hour run before we had to go to Bulliet’s tour.
—-Bulleit: This was a really good tour and probably the favorite of all the tours. Lots of history, really good tasting and a very friendly staff. Their tasting was great and I highly recommend this at $14 per person. The grounds are beautiful as well so take pictures.
—–Copper & Kings (Butchertown): This was a very cool experience. This was a Brandy and Gin distillery. They play music to have the beat or bass mix the barrel contents instead of rolling the barrels to mix them. Really cool cause they change the play list daily. Their stills were named and beautiful. It was more expensive but I loved everything I tried. I even bought Gin and I don’t like Gin it was that good. Very different than the bourbon we had been tasting.
Monday on our way out, we had one more distillery that we wanted to hit up before heading back home….Evan Williams.
—-Evan Williams: I will say this wasn’t necessarily my favorite distillery but I did appreciate their set up. There was a guide but you watched video re-enactments of how everything came to be. As you walk through their tour you get to travel through time which was really cool. Their tasting was a flight of 4. They have a solid product but I feel like their selection was limited. None of it was bad but nothing really wowed me either.
Places to eat- Granite we weren’t there very long but we did hit a couple of good places. I want to give a shout out to the 2 that I think are worth talking about. Butchertown Pizza hall has some pretty damn good food. We stopped for appetizers which were great but man their pizza looked fucking amazing- https://www.butchertownpizzahall.com/.
The next place I want to mention is Butchertown Grocery- https://butchertowngrocery.com/. Only gnocchi! I would have to say that was one of the best dishes I’ve had in a while. Don’t get me wrong, all of our dishes were amazing but I’ve never had gnocchi like that and we had it as an appetizer. It is a little on the pricy side but well worth it! Sorry not pictures of the food. We ate it so fast!
It was a great birthday weekend. Compliments to my traveling partner JD for making it a good weekend and putting up with any and all of my shenanigans.
katie palmer moore 