Relaxing in Kentucky

We've really grown to love Kentucky with so much to do and see.  So, it made sense to spend some time there to further explore.

We spent a day in and around Bardstown, the bourbon capital of the world.  So much to see around here.

Mammy's Kitchen is housed in the Old Stables building which was Bardstown's original livery stable.

It was a little cool for patio seating so we went inside.

The bar was hopping with lots of people focused on the TVs.

They claim to be the bourbon capital of the world.....

They aren't kidding - and this is only half of the bourbons they had on hand.

Next we decided to hit a few distilleries.  Jeptha Creed is one of our new favorites.

It's fun to wander around the "store" while we waited for our tasting to begin.

Unlike many of the distilleries, Jeptha Creed offers free tastings as long as you sign up in advance.

Hurry and get this started!

Jeptha Creed sits on 64 acres of farmland where they grow Bloody Butcher corn which is used in all of the products.  The company has a commitment to the ground to glass concept.  Whenever possible, they grow the ingredients that are used in their spirits.  If they don't produce it themselves, they get it from other farms in the area so they can support local agriculture.  The only item that is not local are the glass bottles, imported from Italy, which are beautiful.

Red corn used in all of the bourbon.

As we headed back to the RV park in Cave City, we decided to pull off the highway to check out a distillery we'd not been to before.

Boundary Oak was established in 2013.  They state that at the base of 100-year-old oak tree springs some of the purist limestone water found in the knobs of central Kentucky - they use this natural spring to distill the small batches of bourbon, amber, and moonshine.

It was a nice visit but we still enjoy the long history of the other distilleries in the area.  However, once we were there we realized we were near Fort Knox - what?  Is there really a Fort Knox?  Could we go on a tour?  So, of course, we headed that way.

Uh-oh, it's a military base.  Probably no tours available :-(

Fort Knox is a United States Army installation base which is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository (also known Fort Knox), which is used to house a large portion of the U.S. official gold reserves.  The base is named in honor of Henry Knox, Chief of Artillery in the Revolutionary War and the first U.S. Secretary of War.

The Bullion Depository is a fortified vault building adjacent to the Army Post.  It is operated by the Department of the Treasury and stores over half of the country's gold reserves.  It is protected by the U.S. Mint Police and is well known for its physical security.

The depository was built by the Treasury in 1936 on land transferred to it from Fort Knox.  Early shipments of gold totaling almost 13,000 metric tons were escorted by combat cars of the 1st US Cavalry Regiment to the depository.  It has, in the past, safeguarded other precious items, such as the original copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Darn, no tours available but we were able to get some photos as we drove through the area.  We were warned by the woman at Boundary Oak to not stop or we'd be quickly greeted by security.

We went back to the RV park to finish out our stay.  But a few interesting sights before we left.

In the parking lot of the grocery store.....

The birds were probably sad to see us go......and destroy their nest in progress.

We'll be back soon as we have an event to attend that we planned ONE YEAR ago.  If that isn't a tease, I don't know what is.