Vacation Day 1

Or: Drivapalooza.

We have returned to normal life now after 10 days and roughly 2200 miles of fun.

Friday we left work a little early and drove to just outside of Nashville, TN. The first leg of the trip was a whole lot of this:

We started seeing some hills just before dark, and after it got dark, The Man turned the brights on so I could see the rock walls rising up next to the road.

It was getting late, but we had a goal – The Man’s sister’s house outside of Nashville. Beds and a breakfast visit were waiting for us there. So we pushed through and finally made it in about 12:30 am. Little Man was a zombie. He swore he wouldn’t sleep alone in the little bed provided for him, but within five minutes of being tucked in and assured that Mommy was just on the other side of the wall, he was out cold.

After a lovely breakfast and a couple hours of visiting the next morning, we headed to our next stop: MB Roland Distillery in Pembroke, KY.

Paul has been a dear friend – like a brother to me, really – since our freshman year of high school. A little over two years ago, when his time in the Army was almost up, he told us what he wanted to do next: make whiskey. I wondered if he was hit in the head during training. It was the last thing I would have expected him to do. I happily admit my misgivings were totally off-base. They are doing incredibly well. The tours are professional and informative, he and his wife and staff obviously know their craft and have a passion for it, and the liquor speaks for itself. I’m not much of a drinker, but this stuff is GOOD. I wish I’d brought more of it back with me (luckily, they ship all over the country!).

That was the first day (half of one day and half of the next really, but close enough).