I found out a few months ago that I was going to Nashville for work. I rushed back to my desk, consulted Google, and saw that I would only be a few hours away from Loretto, Kentucky. I cleared it with my boss and was able to fly out a few days early to hit a few places that I had been looking to see. I was stoked.
The trip started early with me waking up at 3:30 AM on April 29th to catch my 6 AM flight. I made it to the airport and it was an easy flight into Nashville. I landed, got my rental car, and started driving north. The drive to Lebanon, Kentucky took a little longer than I had expected, but was very scenic and beautiful. I was not too familiar with the geography and sites and it was great to see so many cool things along the way. I got to my hotel and dropped my stuff off.
I thought that I was going to be in a generally urban area. I was wrong. By the time that I had gotten my stuff settled, it was 6 PM local time and I'd been up for 12 hours. I wanted to pass some time and get something to eat so I hit Google Maps to see what was around. The answer was nothing. I ended up driving 35 miles to the nearest big town, got some food, checked out small local market, and saw the movie Keanu. I headed back to the hotel and crashed out relatively early after a long day.
I got up early and headed to the Makers Mark Distillery. I've been waiting years to get there and was incredibly excited. I was able to get checked in as an Ambassador and then tour the grounds. It was interesting to see how my favorite beverage gets made and the history of the company. The tour wrapped up with a tasting of 4 types, 1 of which I've never had before. I headed to the gift shop and started to place my order. Sadly, you can only purchase 3 liters per person per day. I planned on bringing back some as gifts and was sad that I was so limited. I purchased the 3 bottles that I wanted and dipped them in the wax myself. I was pretty excited to have a bottle of Makers 46 Cask Strength. It is a new product that will not be available outside of the distillery for 2 years. It is so new that they don't even have labels for it yet. I confirmed that I could return the next day and purchase more at noon before heading back to Nashville.
I had a change of plans due to the weather. I planned on touring other distilleries but it was raining a lot. Most of the tours have an outdoor component and I didn't want to deal with it. I decided to drive north to Louisville and tour the Louisville Slugger factory. The drive up was fantastic despite an accident that had me parked on the freeway for a bit. I got into town, parked the rental, and headed to the factory.
The factory was really cool to see. I was lucky enough to see the professional bats being crafted including some of the Yankees having their bats made. The factory was also making the bats for the Yankees Bat Day promotion. It was really cool to see the bats being made and know that some of my friends and family would be receiving them. I took it all in and enjoyed walking around the building for a bit longer. I grabbed some food across the street and then plotted what to do next.
I've never been to Indiana, so I drove across the Ohio River and around Indiana for an hour. I called it quits and drove southwest to Fort Knox. I was able to get into the base and go to the General Patton Museum. There was much more there than I expected and I was able to learn a lot more about a historic military leader than I had ever known. They closed around 5 so I headed out, took a few pictures of the bullion depository as I drove past, and then headed back to the hotel. I called it a generally early night and packed everything for my departure.
On Sunday, I got up and headed to the Makers gift shop. When I arrived, there were 200 people in line. It turns out that they were releasing the Kentucky Derby bottles that day. Time was short and I was nervous that I would not be able to stay long enough to get in and buy my last bottles. Luckily, Makers was on point and I was able to get in after a 35 minute wait. I was able to get 2 of the limited bottles and the signed Founders bottle before heading on my way. I threw them in the car and made the 2.5 hour drive back to Nashville. I dropped my stuff at the hotel and then returned my rental.
The next few days were all spent on work. The highlight was going to a private show at the Grand Ole Opry House and see Darius Rucker perform a country show. The hotel was great and I enjoyed my time working at the Gaylord Opryland.
The last day in Nashville was uneventful. I got up and got everything wrapped up and headed to the airport to check my luggage. I got it all dropped off and then headed to downtown Nashville to get something to eat. I passed the Johnny Cash museum and went in to check it out. It was alright, but not exactly what I thought it would be. I finished up there and then headed over to grab some BBQ across the street. I ate, checked out the George Jones museum and then headed back to the airport. The flight was on time and I was able to get back to Phoenix without issues.
The trip was great and I've very thankful that I got to see all that I did. I'm hopeful that I will get to spend more time there in the future.