Wild Turkey Distillery – Wandering Dawgs

We’re not traveling as much in our fifth wheel anymore so I thought it would be fun to relive some of our most memorable days from previous RV trips.

On this day eleven years ago, November 7, 2008, we were camped at the Kentucky Horse Park, a beautiful state park in Lexington, Kentucky. What a contrast from the week before when we were camped awning to awning in a large parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida to attend the Georgia/Florida college football game. After traveling through Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, we traded the crowded parking lot for a large campsite in a quiet natural setting. We were in Lexington to attend the Georgia/Kentucky SEC football game at Commonwealth Stadium at the University of Kentucky.

20081106Kentucky-Horse-Park-(2) — Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, Kentucky

The game wasn’t until Saturday so as always we wanted to explore the area. It was raining when we woke up that day so what would be better than taking a drive along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and touring a distillery. As we drove along the fall colors were gorgeous and we passed some beautiful horse farms.

20081107Kentucky-(18) — Bridges over the Kentucky River at the Wild Turkey Distillery

We stopped at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg for a tour. It was our first distillery tour and very interesting. There were about 22 warehouses filled with barrels of whiskey ageing in the charred barrels. Each barrel is only used once and after they are used the barrels are shipped to distilleries in Ireland to be used to age Irish whiskey. Little did we know that one day we would be touring the Jameson Distillery and see Wild Turkey barrels there!.

20081107Kentucky-(1) — Wild Turkey Distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky

20081107Kentucky-(15) — Ageing barrels at Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky

After we returned to the campground I walked by this old barn in the park as I was taking my afternoon walk.

20081107Kentucky-(28) — Barn at Kentucky Horse Park

We attended the football game on Saturday, and on Sunday we enjoyed touring the museums and seeing the horses up close at the Kentucky Horse Park.

State 15:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is the Bluegrass State –

Kentucky

Kentucky became the 15th state on June 1, 1792 and the capital is Frankfort.

When I think of the Bluegrass state I think of horses, bourbon, and Colonel Sanders famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. We never got a chance to visit the original Kentucky Fried Chicken but we did get to experience horses and bourbon and a whole lot more.

Late one fall we set up camp at the Kentucky Horse Park State Park near Lexington. Seeing these magnificent horses was the highlight of our visit to the area.

One very overcast day we left the horse park for a scenic drive by many beautiful horse farms and a tour of the Wild Turkey Distillery located right beside the Kentucky River.

Bridge over Kentucky River at the Wild Turkey Distillery

Wild Turkey Bourbon is aged these barrels

Until we visited the Elk and Bison Prairie in the Land Between the Lakes I never knew that bison once roamed in this area of the United States.

The Land Between the Lakes has been a perfect stop over for us several times in our wandering. It doesn’t get much better than camping near a body of water and Canal Campground in the Land Between the Lakes is one of our favorite Corps of Engineers park.

Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal COE — Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal Corps of Engineers Campground

Located in central Kentucky, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system known in the world. There are many options for guided tours of the cave. Above ground the scenery is beautiful with hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.