Washington

We were running late in the morning, which meant saying goodbye to Freya was a bit rushed. It's probably for the best because if we had more time I would have been a blubbering mess and made it too big a deal and hard for Freya to adjust. I still drove away incredibly sad, and so did Allan. We're going to miss her.

The trip was pretty smooth and we hit minimal amounts of traffic. However, because we left later than planned, it meant that we were running late to get to the Maker's Mark distillery. I sent them a message about halfway through the 5-hour drive (which always ends up being more with Allan’s stops) and asked to change to 3pm. Fortunately, it was just fine 😄.

When we pulled off the highway, we didn't expect to be driving on such small roads for as long as we did, and with limited to no cell phone service, we hoped that the road signs would eventually lead us there. We finally arrived just in time with about 5 minutes to spare.

Our tour guide, Logan, was excellent. You could tell how passionate he was about Maker's. He explained that he was a local lad who’d worked his way up from a waiter in the restaurant, and, with his promotions and being over 21, he was now able to lead tours.

Part of the distillery was closed for cleaning and maintenance, but we still learned a lot about the bourbon. We got to see some limited edition barrels and Logan took us around the grounds. We also learned that the distillery has a lot of farm land and they are very sustainable and self-sufficient. For example, any honey that goes into their products, is made from bees onsite.

We tasted a few different bourbons at the end of the tour and they were all so good. Along with the original we also had the 46, and a couple of special ones like the burnt marshmallow and cask strength. The marshmallow was nice and subtle with a sweet and toasty taste that was made by changing some of the wood in the barrel. Different wood can produce different flavors. Allan asked what makes a Barbour a bourbon, comparing it to Scotch. We learned about the ABC of bourbon.

At the end of the tour we finished at the gift shop (of course). You can buy bottles to dip yourself, which was really cool. Allan and I bought a small bottle of original and I dipped it. We don't plan on opening, but keeping it as a memento to remember the wedding. When we mentioned we were recently married, Logan found us a couple of Maker’s Mark Ambassador badges and gave us a special certificate, which was a nice touch.

After Maker's, we stopped briefly at a couple of Abraham Lincoln sites. We stopped at where he lived as a child and saw replicas of the log cabins he would have lived in. We also stopped at the national park where his birthplace is with the cabin. It was inside a big monument, so we couldn't really see it, even with Allan climbing the side to see through a small window.

We only stopped again for dinner. We finally made it to a Cracker Barrel. We ordered some classics: cornbread, chicken ‘n’ dumplings, meatloaf, fried chicken, and baked apples. I ordered the shepherds pie with hash brown topping. It was very good! While we waited for the food fo come I taught Allan how to play the triangle peg game. He was starting to get the hang of it before food came!

After dinner, it was a short drive to finish the day of the road trip. It was a really nice day, but I'm looking forward to beer and country music in Nashville.

Allan’s deal of the day: bottle-dipping experience at Maker’s Mark Distillery for the price of the alcohol - it felt like this was something it could have easily charge twice the price for.Read more