Musings 
No Comments 
You might just be going down to Kentucky for the Bourbon trail, but there’s so much more that the area offers. There are some great bars, food and of course the horse tracks. No trip to Kentucky is complete without seeing at least one race and experiencing what Lexington and the surrounding area have to offer.
Musings No Comments 
If you’re looking for some delicious food to go along with the home-brewed beer at Country Boy Brewing, then look no further than their parking lot. A variety of food trucks stop there to feed the drunk masses, however our visit allowed us to taste delicious food from Fork in the Road. There you will find traditional fare with a twist and a good dose of butter. There’s nothing better than a hearty meal to go along with that Jalapeño Smoked Porter or Peanut Butter Stout. You just need to travel to Lexington, Kentucky.
Musings No Comments If you happen to be in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, you should definitely stop to have lunch at Lakeside Restaurant. There might not be a lake next to it (at least none that I saw) but it was delicious.
We came upon this restaurant after visiting Four Roses distillery and before we made our way to Wild Turkey. We had never heard of the place prior to coming there and found it, surprisingly enough, by GPS. I cannot thank Jill’s Australian-accented GPS enough for that find.
It’s unsurprising that when we arrived the restaurant was fairly empty. It was around 2pm so most of the people had most likely had lunch and were on their way to bigger and better things. The emptiness didn’t necessarily deter me, but the decor definitely made me think that I might regret stopping in. I’m glad I was wrong.
There’s something exciting about being at a horse track early in the morning. The stadium is completely empty, a light fog covers the ground while the horses practice on the dirt track. In a matter of hours, the stadium will be packed and the sound of thundering hooves and cheering will fill the area. But in the morning, the quiet stillness lends an air of anticipation. Some jockeys are practicing while others bathe their horses in the cold morning air.
Kentucky is Bourbon country. There are a ton of bourbon distilleries in the area. So much, in fact, that there are more bourbon barrels than there are people in the state. Some of the biggest names come from here. Why? Well it’s all thanks to the limestone water, hot summers and cold winters. The conditions are perfect for the creation of some of the best bourbon in the world. The Bourbon Trail will bring you to 7 different distilleries in the area, but there are a lot more. We were able to hit 6 of the 7 in two days. We could’ve made the 7 but we had no idea a new distillery had been added to the trail, so we didn’t get to schedule it in. Maybe next year.
One warehouse can store up to 20,000 barrels of Bourbon
I had a lot of people ask me why I was going down to Kentucky. In fact, I was starting to wonder that myself. Did I really want to go to a bunch of Bourbon distilleries in the course of two days. I had just learned that I didn’t get Columbus Day off so sadly we had to make the trip back on Sunday (a ten hour drive). I felt bad because I couldn’t drive so my friend, Jill, had to drive all the way down and back both days. That’s a lot of driving. For some reason, my travel never goes according to plan.
Sights No Comments 
You wouldn’t think that New York City would be so full of different types of flowers, but at every turn I’m amazed at how much plant life there is. Around my apartment almost every restaurant have some form of potted plants and there’s even a small community garden. Nature and urban landscapes can co-exist as evidenced by this beautiful garden of flower vines twining through the bars of a window. Just noticing these small things have made me slow down on my walk home and try to discover the hidden beauty all around me. It’s not all pavement and celebrities around NYC you know!
Musings No Comments 
People always ask me how I can get by on packing so little. I’ve always been a light packer and on trips where I take a plane, I have a fear of checking my bags. I’ve heard too many horror stories of people’s luggage getting shipped elsewhere that I’ve decided to never check on luggage if I can help it. It’s also really easy to pack light as long as you’re going simply for pleasure. Here is my top 10 ways to pack light for a trip.
Musings No Comments When I was younger my family and I would take road trips almost every summer to different places. Some years we couldn’t really go to far so we’d visit places like Lake Placid or Ithaca. Other years we’d go to Washington DC or Boston. I can barely remember most of these places, the unfortunate thing about growing up. But there are some memories that will never leave me.
Washington D.C.
I remember visiting the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. What I remember most, though, is my brother getting sick off of bad ham that he put into this ramen and then getting food sick. We later went out to eat sushi and, although he was sick, he still ate it. And of course promptly emptied the contents of his stomach. The other thing I remember? Our motel was right next to the train tracks. I went again during my 8th grade trip, but nothing nearly as memorable happened.
“Ou est rue de…de…” Of all the places to visit, I just had to choose Paris. I couldn’t choose Spain where at least I could speak a little, oh no. Well, the plane tickets were cheap and I couldn’t really pass up my first experience traveling abroad and by myself. Still, it wasn’t a good way to start off. I couldn’t speak the language, I couldn’t even pronounce the name of the street my hostel was on. I wrote it down and handed it to the cashier at the bakery. She looked at me like I was from another planet. I pointed at what I wrote and shook my head and shrugged…a gesture that I hoped would translate to “I don’t know where it is.” She also shook her head. I was on my own.
There I was, 19, lost in Paris on a winter night. It was starting to get too cold. A vision of me frozen to death on the streets of Paris flashed through my mind. This was it. The end of my short life. And then…somehow I found where I was supposed to go. I swear I had walked up and down the street 5 times, but somehow that sixth time I saw the street sign. I was saved.
