The Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrels in Storage

Traveling without over planning supports flexibility.  This concept is described well by the character Rita from the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, when she wisely observed, "I just like to go with the flow. See where it leads me."

The fact that we try to remain fluid while traveling may come as a surprise to some of our friends and family because our jobs were to ensure projects were successfully planned and implemented as Project Managers.  It's in our DNA.

When we arrived in Ohio to visit family and start our road trip, Jenn's brother Brent noted that we should visit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  We hadn't planned on touring distilleries and tasting deliciously flavorful whiskeys, but heck, why not?!

While enjoying our drive down the historic Natchez Trace parkway towards Mississippi we texted Brent and asked if he and Bill (Jenn's stepdad) would like to meet us in Lexington?  Brent responded quickly and volunteered to work out all of the details.  

Brent planned an action-packed day of tours, including (in order) Four Roses, Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve and Town Branch.  We met Saturday and had an awesome time exploring the different distilleries while bonding over bourbon in the tasting rooms.  After we finished the last tour, it was off to dinner and later that evening we played cards, shared jokes, and enjoyed a few more lively libations until late in the evening.  It was a wonderful and memorable time!

The trip was fun and educational, and the scenery was beautiful.  We highly recommend the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, especially when shared with likeminded friends and family.

Natchez Trace Parkway

We are easing into our world travels with a warm-up trip in the continental US.  Ironically, our warm-up trip started with record cold weather in much of the Midwest, including Ohio where we traveled on January 2nd to see family and friends.  After a long weekend of enjoying the familiarities of home, we headed south to check the first item off of our bucket list, The Natchez Trace Parkway, an historic 444 mile route stretching from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez Mississippi.

Our road trip on the Trace was enjoyed at a relatively relaxed pace.  We stopped at a variety of sites such as:

• Jackson Falls
• Memorials (Meriwether Lewis and the War of 1812)
• Native American ceremonial mounds (Bear Creek, Pharr, and Emerald)
• Cypress Swamp (pictured above)

Along the way we witnessed a variety of wildlife including deer, turkeys, and hawks.  It was a beautiful, well organized, and well maintained route; we recommend it to anyone wanting to get off the highway and return to an unspoiled environment.

Cameron Area Wind Farm - Tehachapi Pass in Southern California

Road trips allow you to slow down and see sites you may have never noticed normally.  We loved seeing the Cameron Area Wind farm at Tehachapi Pass in Southern California.  It's the largest number of turbines we have seen.