Hows my little Laborer?

woo!what a weekend!

In honor of Labor Day Laura and I headed (even more) south. and what an adventure it was. First off let me say that my impression of the south has been shattered, smashed and slid down into a nice little pile farther south than Kentucky, because Kentucky is the shit. Hills, Horses, Tobacco, Wine, and Whiskey...its really hard to beat. Don't get me wrong I love me my Minnesota but Kentucky has quite a bit to offer, for example look at a map of it and notice the neat little ribbon of National Forest by the name of Daniel Boone, hot.

Well onto what happened (this will probably be long) We headed down to a nice chuck of the Daniel Boone National Forest called the Red River Gorge, and what a beautiful place it was. Cliffs, and stream(s, I assume) and hills and NO MOSQUITOES! But lots of daddy long legs.

Our Adventure began with a Bang by planning on driving down arriving at night hiking into the park setting up our shit and falling asleep. Of course We missed two exits couldn't find the campground and nearly hit a tree down over the road. So we manged to find our way out of the park and sleep in the Stratus. Just as we were falling asleep we get a nice little surprise, "This is the Police!" it was one guy I'm sure his name was Ned and was looking for some people to chat with, we told him our plight made no attempt to be cordial (ok maybe a small one) and fell asleep laughing. Apparently where we chose to park is a hot spot for after hours drinks and shenanigans, not that night luckily.


At the ass crack of dawn i pulled myself out of the trunk and threw my pack there we began our day with a long hike in the warm air around an arch and some other pretty views we camped. A while later on a hike we ran into a guy who really helped me re-appreciate the little things in life by saying Come on! you have to take advantage of a rope tied to a tree. advantage I took, and swung around a bit over some water, I felt sweet.



After an awesome dinner some excellent smores and some more reading we slept.
This is for Scott, nice tunnel eh?
Sunday We hiked out of the wild to meet our old friend shower and our better friend distillation of sugar into alcohol! We were driving back to Louisville for the night and without much of a plan we decided to take some tours. After getting shot down at 4 different places for being closed on a sunday (bitches) we ran into someone who pointed us to the Maker's Mark Distillery where we toured and learned and sampled and all sorts of fun things. Did you know that in order for a Burbon to be considered and Straight Bourbon it must be Made in the USA Aged in a Charred White Oak Cask for no less than two years? I didn't before Sunday...there are other rules too, but who cares. I love me some Maker's Mark.

That night we headed into town and ran into an Ironman triathlon, which was pretty cool. (for those who don't know thats a 2+mile swim, 100+ mile bike with a Marathon(26+ miles of running) to top it off) Seeing people come in and finish the race after fourteen hours was incredible, especially while drinking some excellent beer eating gigantic deep fried mushrooms on a warm summer night. We also found a book, by accident but on a similar premise to Geocaching...it was neat, so we grabbed it.

Monday brought us to the Jim Beam Distillery and their scrumptious little bourbon chocolates and more knowledge of bourbon. We saw some awesome moldy buildings and trees, and even a church nestled in with the Barrel Houses. Turns out Jim Beam is the largest bourbon maker in the World and they have 70 of these gigantic nine story barrel houses around the area...which is crazy. If you happen to be at all a fan of fine Ultra-Premium Whiskeys I would suggest trying Booker's on ice, ohhh so tasty. If you find yourself in Kentucky Head over to the Maker's Mark Distillery for a tour instead of Jim Beam, they actually show you the process and where things take place, it's not much farther out of the way.


After it was all said and done I can say we had quite the grand adventure and plan on going to the Red River Gorge again, more prepared and equipped with a rope and some other key items. Hope life is good with all. Its good here.