So as predicted, we slept in. But only a little.  Sascha can’t seem to make it past 6:30 to go out.  It’s not because she needs to go to the bathroom.  She is wasting daylight if she is not out there guarding her yard from the much dreaded squirrel population.  As soon as it is good and daylight, she has to go out and sit in the yard.

I got up at 6:30 with Sascha.  Rich was left to sleep in a bit.  I got the paper and sat down to read in peace and quiet.  I made it through the whole thing before anyone else stirred.  After Rich made it through the paper, we showered and packed the car.  Rick helped get most of the stuff out there so I could pack.  Don’t think he was trying to get rid of us, do you?

No, he was hungry and invited himself to breakfast with us at Island.  We went out and eat a very nice meal.  That should hold us for a while.  But we couldn’t start just yet.  Rich forgot his Bourbon Trail passports and really wanted them for the stops in Kentucky.  We finally got underway.

Getting out of Chicago wasn’t too bad.  Traffic was relatively light with only the big trucks taking the road.  We hit I-65 in good time.  Then we got to Indianapolis.  The downtown route was shut down for construction.  This meant we had to take the loop around.  The traffic moved fine for a while, but was stop and go around the bottom half of the circle.  Finally, we managed to get back on 65 and head south again.

A few weeks back, I had to go back home to Southern Indiana and I stayed with my friend, Kay, and her husband, Don. I had forgotten my jacket while I was there.  I decided that I really wanted it on the trip.  We made a slight detour to go out to her house to get it.  We didn’t stay long.  Don was showing Rich around the place while Kay and I talked for a bit.  Pretty soon, we were back on the road and headed to downtown Louisville.

A couple of years ago, we had stayed downtown for a trip to visit the Bourbon Trail.  We had stopped by the Marriott to get a drink at Blu and hang out for a while.  I thought it was a very cool hotel.  I really liked the location.  This was our stop for the night.  We were 2 blocks from Fourth Street and just down from Bluegrass Brewing Company.

We went by BBC for dinner.  We started off with pretzel sticks and beer cheese.  It was so good.  From there, Rich had hot brown while I had a fish sandwich.  Both were excellent.  I had the Dark Star Porter.  Rich started off with the Double IPA.  But his second choice was better.  They had a Bourbon Barrel Stout that was out of this world.  Now, I don’t like bourbon that much and I loved this beer.  I wished I had gotten that one.

After dinner, we walked down to the Jockey Silks Bourbon Bar at the Galt House for a drink.  We were trying to catch Jeanne. Now Jeanne was the nice bartender who had started us off on the Urban Bourbon Trail a couple of years ago.  She had explained a lot of information to us and we appreciated the help.  Unfortunately, Jeanne was no longer there.  We had the signature drink for the bar though.  This was the Jockey’s Dream.  It was a fruit punch made with bourbon.  I loved it, but Rich wasn’t too thrilled with the sweetness.

We completed our drinks and walked out to the Belvidere to enjoy the river and the sunset.  Both were beautiful for the evening.  The Belvidere is the platform with gardens and fountains that overlooks the river.  We watched a very large barge of sand and gravel make its way up river toward Cincy.  At one point, a boat had stopped in the shipping lane to fish.  The barge was blowing and blowing its horn for the smaller vessel to move.  He finally did.  Bet that was a shock to almost get run down by a barge at twilight.  There is a reason why they mark those lanes with the buoys.

Then we walked down to Main Street and over to Fourth Street.  Festivities were already under way.  There was a band playing, people dancing, people wondering around, and just a general nightlife.  We walked down to the Maker’s Mark Bar.  Rich had experienced a Manhattan there two years ago.  He was wanting to try it again.  We settled in at the bar and Rich ordered his drink.  We noticed that some of the bottles were signed.  I just had to ask why.  Nicole, our bartender, said that when someone famous came in, they always tried to get a bottle signed.  There were sports people, music stars, and movie star types.  Pretty cool.

Rich finished his Manhattan and we moved on out to the street.  The evening was warm and we wandered slowly back up to Jefferson Street.  When we got almost to the entrance of Fourth Street, a young guy came running out of nowhere to Rich yelling, “Cool shirt, man!”  He and Rich were wearing Hawaiian shirts.  I guess his friends were giving him a hard time for his style.  He just had to appreciate someone else’s similar style.

We wandered back to the hotel.  But before going upstairs, we had to stop by Blu.  Unfortunately, neither one of us had room for more alcohol.  So it was beddy bye time.  We went up and got ready for bed.  We found out that the internet connection was going to cost us $15.00.  No way.  I got out the hot spot and we had internet for nothing.  I still didn’t get my blog written that night though.