Kentucky

9/28/14 
Home of the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Since there was no race we toured the distilleries.  The first one we visited was Wild Turkey.  This is a third generation family run business and the Great Grandson was our tour guide. After a one hour tour through the different stages of distilling we were introduced to the variations of flavors and different alcohol (proof) in their bourbon line.  

Four Roses

This doesn't look or taste anything like beer but it is part of the process.

The second bourbon manufacture we visited was Four Roses. This distillery was built in 1910 and features a spanish motif, this is a very unusual look for Kentucky. This tour was a very in-depth  tour with a most entertaining guild.  We then did a tasting of their variety of flavors and proofs.

They both made a great impression. 

After the tours we drove an hour away form our camp sight to visit BJ and Rick, our friends from de la Bahia.  We had a nice visit and on the way out these sweet deer were roaming around  their golfing community.  

From here we are heading north towards New York State.  

The wonderful trip of a life time is almost over :~ ( 

Saint Louis, Missouri

St. Louis - The "Archway to the West" is truly beautiful and such a wonder when you see how it was built. 

 It is 630 feet up in the air and appears differently with the changes in the day light. We were in an RV Park just across the Mississippi River from it so we could see it from there in all light. 
Some interesting satistics,
The Seattle Space needle is 605', 
Washington Monument is 555' 5 1/8", 
Statue of Liberty 305' 
and The Kennedy Space Center Fl is 184' high.

We went to the top in a 5 passenger pod.  It is cozy and it runs up an elevator shaft from each side of the arch.  You go to the top and then go up some stairs to the view area on top.  There are some window where you can see the city from all directions. 

There is also a movie that shows the building of the arch that is very interesting.  I was amazed that no lives were lost building the Arch because of the complexity of this project.  

Guess where we are now?

 Is  this "B" for Bert ???

We took a tour of Anheuser - Busch. Bert wasn't the DD for this tour.   

                     This mosaic is finished with oyster shells! 

Our last stop before leaving St Louis was at the Broadway Oyster Bar. This is another one of those "Red Neck Bars" but this one has good food.  John and Kay had stumbled upon it five years ago when they were visiting the Arch and it was worthy of a second visit.      

Branson, Missouri

Branson is a country music mecca.  We arrived there on Monday, 22nd  afternoon and left Thursday, 25th AM. We saw 7 shows during that time frame and still had a little time to sleep.  
It was awesome, each show was great and very different than the other.  
Bert had his acting debut while we were there.  He was chosen from the audience to perform and "boy did he".  We thought he did so well we bought a copy of the show!  

They didn't try to recruit him after the show so guess we will continue to live on the same fixed income.  

If you look close you can see he has a mask on that is being controlled by the funny dressed guy behind him.

Off to St Louis today.   

Pikes Peak

Our Visit to Pikes Peak was via a Train on the cog railroad.  It took us up the 8 mile track with a 25 % grade.  The Summit is 14,115 feet above sea level.  We were advised to sip water on the way up to ease the affects of the altitude extreme.  We did that but were still shocked at dizziness and shortness of breath we experienced.  We were on the mountain about an hour and the effects lasted about half of that time for us.  It was incredible the distance you can see from up there. 

 We were up with the clouds and it was said that John kissed an angel named Kay while he was up there.

The temperature change from bottom to top was 30 degrees different. 

There are no trees after 10,700 to 11,600 feet above sea level depending on the angle of the sun to the slop.  

The tree-line is where the trees stop thriving do to the permafrost.   The permafrost prevents the roots from growing deep enough for the necessary structural support.

The leafs are beginning to change.

The train runs year around and during the winter it has a snow blower that runs ahead of it.  Often it take dynamite to break up the drifts before it can even be moved. They continue to the top unless it becomes impassable. 

Denver Colorado

We visited Denver Colorado area and one of the happiest sights was the Coors Production Plant. A good time was had by all except Bert.  He was the DD of the RV for the remaining 5 plus hours so he was drinking soda.   Off to Pikes Peak….

 The testing and chemists labs.  These are the different bottles used over the years of production.  

The Arches National Park

Water and ice, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery we saw at this National Park.  The colors and the massive size are outstanding.   

How about that blue sky...

Salt Lake City

Next stop was Salt Lake City - In the morning we toured the city on a climate controlled bus.  It is a very beautiful city, the mormons have a very strong influence throughout the city.  Temple Square is 35 Acres large, in the center of down town.  It is adorned with beautiful flowers everywhere, marble buildings, water fountains and the gorgeous Salt Lake Temple.  The center has a reflection pool that has a fountain that goes into a program about every 30 minutes.  It is much like the one in front of Caesars Palaces  in Vegas without music.  Before the fountains turns on one can take a picture from the edge and get the reflection of the temple in the calm water.  

The pool was completely level and ran evenly over the free edge on all sides.  

This is a favorite place for a Kodak Moment and one that is used most often by brides and photographers.  You can sure see why. 

We missed the Tabernacle Choir rehearsal and broadcast which is open to the public but we did go to an Organ Recital on Temple Square.  It was very beautiful.  All pictures had to be taken before the start of the recital.   

This is the Capital Building . In side and out. This is not used much more than ours is.  We were there on a Monday and none of the offices were being used.  The statistics of the marble and pillars in this Capital Building were astounding.  

Our lunch was at "The Lion House" this was once the residence of Brigham Young. The State symbol is the Bee Hive and this was Brigham Young's request because he wanted everyone working and his interpretation was to be " Busy As A Bee."  

The afternoon tour was to Great Salt Lake and the Kennecott Copper Mine. The first stop was the Great Salt Lake. It is exactly that.  The lake is very low right now and the salt is plentiful around the area. This took us in a 14 passenger van, and travels up steep mountain roads to an elevation of 9 thousand feet.

Most of the route we took on the way up was a bumpy dirt road.  The warning said, if steep mountain roads or heights make you nervous then this tour may not be for you.  

We did go to the top edge of the mountain which shows the open-pit and the operations of the mine. They take gold, silver and copper from this mine. We could only see the mine from the top of the mountain because they had a major land slide in April, 2013 which made it unsafe for visitors.   

Crossing the Desert

The drive across Nevada and into Utah was some nice scenery and we stopped at the rest area for lunch so I took some pictures. 

No place for us with flip flops on.

Local Bar Meyers Flat

Thought we would take in some local culture! John wanted us to all experience a little Red Neck.

This is on the side wall, yep it is Dusty...

Ready for those cool winter nights.

Check out this door to the booze storage. 

Cute little dog is right at home here!  They were a pretty friendly group but we only had time for a quick beer then we were out of there. LOL….