Gone Fishin’ Hikin’, Ham, and Bourbon-in’

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It’s that time of year: when Mr. EW and I celebrate St. Pattys, his birthday, our anniversary, and my birthday (and, this year, our friend Catie’s birthday, too).

We’ll be doing it, for the next 5 days or so, in KY’s Red River Gorge — sandstone like you’d expect to find in the Southwest, but with rhododendrons growing everywhere instead of saguaros.

Then we’ll be heading on a Bourbon and ham pilgrimage. We’re not Bourbon drinkers, so include your advice in comments!

Thing is, while Red River Gorge is beautiful, it also is one of the places in the US that still has godawful Intertoobz and wireless connectivity. Blame Mitch McConnell for screwing his constituents, I guess.

So I’ll probably be mostly absent from these parts until Wednesday and only somewhat present until whenever we decide to return home to Beer Mecca from Bourbon Mecca.

Sadlly, bmaz (and Jim and Rayne) will have to make do with whatever leftovers are in the likker cabinet until I can stock it with Bourbon again. I’m sure he’ll make do!

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19 replies
  1. jerryy says:

    Not sure if I should do this (you kids old enough?)

    http://kybourbontrail.com/map/

    http://rrgtoday.com/maps.html

    You are headed to a beautiful area, you may need an extra week. Also you are close to an area with lots of old time (antique) covered bridges if you like that sort of scenery. And caves.

    And close to the horse farms (Lexington has a national horse museum and research farm).

    Just east of where you will be is the Country Music highway with stops for the home towns of a whole lot of coutnry music singers born in Kentucky.

    You are close to Booneboro, (Daniel Boone’s place)
    Just south of you is Berea, an arts and crafts town.

    In a few weeks if you get through all of that I can describe Western Kentucky.

  2. emptywheel says:

    @jerryy: There’s not wired internet in the cabin. And my phone doesn’t tether properly unless I get like 10 bars.

    So I’ll be offline.

    One of the hikes we’ll prolly do goes by an old Boone cabin. It is gorgeous–we were there maybe 5 years ago.

    And yes, we’re planning on the Bourbon trail (in limited form–which parts should we see?), followed by hunting down ham in W KY. So what should we see there?

  3. jerryy says:

    @emptywheel: Owensboro when you get to more Western climes. Lots and lots of barbeque (and something called burgoo). You are a little early for it, but if you hang around:

    http://www.bbqfest.com/

    The town is open year ’round.

    Also, it is a bit far from where you are, but the Maker’s Mark distillery is one very beautiful place. And close to all of the touristy stuff centered around President Lincoln’s birthplace.

    If you get more south, Cumberland Falls area is fantastic. Mammoth Cave is sotuh of there.

    While you are in RRG, if you find a ranger, have them point you towards Star Gap Arch. I think it is the second best of the Arches that you do not need climbing experience to get to.

  4. jerryy says:

    The formatting is a bit odd in that message so I will try to edit here: Mammotth Cave is south of Owensboro, Cumberland Falls is south of where you will be.

  5. jerryy says:

    @emptywheel: It is early, but make sure you give him a tick treatment. It is just on the edge of tick season. but the cold weather should keep them in check. (Sadly, Lyme disease has made its way down from the northeast).

  6. rosalind says:

    amusing myself with the thought of some poor DOJ peon ordered to put together the mother of all document dumps for while EW is away.

  7. Peterr says:

    @rosalind: Yes, but if that peon is smart, she/he will tell the boss “You know, she’s crafty enough to simply PRETEND to go on vacation, just to bait us into dumping this. Maybe we ought to hold back, and not give her the satisfaction.”

  8. bmaz says:

    @jerryy: Yup, my mother’s side of my family was from Murray Kentucky; already told her about the Bourbon Trail. Recommended stops at Buffalo Trace and Beam.

  9. scribe says:

    @jerryy: Have fun. Just be advised that the active ingredient in properly-made burgoo is squirrel.

    Not that it’s bad – not by any stretch of the imagination.

  10. jerryy says:

    @bmaz: I am surprised Murray State has not put one of their usually great, but always under-rated by the critics, squads in the NCAA tournament to knock off several top seeds this year. It is amazing how a small school as they are does so well in so many areas, but I think it is because of the good people that live in that area.

  11. jerryy says:

    @scribe: Now you know the top masters never give out the burgoo recipe, preferring to instead sow disinformation to keep the competition scrambling. Those cooks are pretty serious about winning. :^)

  12. P J Evans says:

    @jerryy:
    Heck, I know it has squirrel in it. I dunno if it was eaten much in the area my grandfather was from – that was northwest of Morehead.

  13. jerryy says:

    @P J Evans: Morehead, another fine college town. It seems to be a dish that is spreading thoughout the region by way of the barbeque festivals that are popping up in the various places.

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