The Mountains Are Calling... Part 6

Part 5 will be really sad if you don't read it!

Posing on the Knoxville Riverwalk,

with the Tennessee River and Neyland Stadium

We were up and moving at a decent hour on Thursday morning, which allowed us to log just a bit more time on the cabin's porch before we left it for good.  Packing was all finished up, we loaded the car and waved goodbye to the cabin, and it time to head northward for us!  On our way out of town, we stopped at our land one more time, so we could see it again, without being stuck under a golf umbrella due to the excessive rain.

Again, the overgrown plot is ours

Chris takes pictures of the important things,

like the utility stems

Our space goes all the way back to the big trees,

and there's a small creek down there

After making a quick stop at a local Goodwill to donate several items we wouldn't be taking home with us, it was into downtown Knoxville proper.  We found a parking garage to stash the rental car, then headed first to Nothing Too Fancy, a local t-shirt shop, so Chris could find a cool Tennessee souvenir.  With that accomplished (it was a really neat store, would highly recommend), we strolled down to the river to eat lunch at Calhoun's, a local barbeque spot.  Calhoun's is a chain (albeit a local one), so we already knew that while the BBQ would be better elsewhere, the location would likely make up for it.

Not a bad lunchtime view!

The food was fine, if unremarkable, but it was lovely to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather.  Before too long, we settled the bill, then hiked back up the small hill to the parking garage and headed out, with a few hours still to go in our drive.

Buildings in downtown Knoxville

The drive was fairly uneventful, and we made a quick pitstop at the Kentucky Welcome Station for a bathroom/driver change break.

Back in Kentucky!

Until this point, we'd been on the 75, but around Lexington, we took a left and hopped on the 64 toward Louisville, our destination for the next few days.  As I mentioned in the first blog of this series, this is bourbon country; while many distilleries are in Louisville proper, others have locations along this stretch of the 64.  Since we had some time, we figured a stop at one seemed like a great idea (not for tasting, necessarily, but just for a good pit stop/shopping opportunity).

I've heard of these guys!

Although we didn't end up with bourbon from Woodford Reserve (it was pretty much all the same stuff you can buy at home, which means it didn't pass the "do I need to haul it across the country in my suitcase" test), we still bought a sticker, a spice rub, and a pack of bourbon balls (nommmmm - they didn't last very long...).  It was also an absolutely gorgeous drive, and we enjoyed looking at the massive farms and beautiful horses.

Horse sculpture at Woodford Reserve

By this point, we were getting close to Louisville and our lodging for the night, but we still had one more stop to make, just on the outside of the city.  I hadn't told Chris about this part of the trip, but as we drew closer, I allowed him to guess where our next location might be.  I let him know that it was kind of an odd one, and it was tied to someone we'd learned about earlier in the trip.  After just one or two wrong guesses, he went, "uhhhh, we're seeing Colonel Sanders' grave?"  When I went "yup!" he was pretty surprised, but also proud of himself.  

The Colonel is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery (as is Muhammed Ali, by the way), and since it's a public cemetery, you can drive right up and say hello to him.  We did so, in as respectful a way as possible.

The internet legend is that people leave ketchup

packets on his grave,

and we brought these all the way from Corbin,

when we ate lunch at the first KFC,

earlier in the trip.

It was closing time, though,

and we didn't want to leave a mess for the caretakers,

so after this picture, we picked them up

and took them with us.

Wow!  He passed away a week

before my first birthday.

I'm sure that doesn't mean anything...

From the cemetery, it took just another 15 minutes to reach our lodging for the next two nights, the Hancock House.  The House was kind of hybrid hotel/Airbnb experience, in that our room had a dishwasher, full fridge, small stove, and the like, but you also didn't have to take out the trash when you checked out (we did anyway, but we had a whole Publix cake box to toss, so...).  Although it was a bit more "well loved" than the pictures suggested (the toilet seat was cracked and the bathroom door didn't shut all the way, for example), it was still a great find - a reasonable price and awesome location, right in the middle of the NULU (New, Urban Louisville or something like that) neighborhood.

Each room was named after an herb/spice.

Ours was the dill room.

Well, we are kind of a big dill.  ;)

After moving in all of our various and assorted suitcases, bags, and food options, we changed into our evening wandering clothes and headed out the door to see what we could find.  We figured a cocktail (preferably a bourbon one) was in the cards, so after doing some research, we headed to Gertie's Whiskey Bar.  Our drinks were awesome, and the vibe was nice and chill.

We thought there was a cocktail bar at Angel's Envy,

but either we were mistaken or it wasn't open this day.

Noms!

One of the many shelves of brown liquor at Gertie's.

When I started researching our Louisville part of the trip, I was somewhat surprised to learn that the city is right across the Ohio River from a whole another state, Indiana - specifically, the city of Jeffersonville.  Once I also found out that you could walk across the river on the Big Four pedestrian bridge, I figured it was something we absolutely had to do.  We figured strolling across after our cocktail, with an aim to have dinner in Indiana, was a solid plan.

Starting our stroll at the foot of the bridge.

It's an old railroad bridge,

and it's solely for pedestrian traffic.

A neat bike rack sculpture on the Kentucky side

There's a long, curving ramp up to the bridge

before you make it to this part

With the Louisville skyline behind me

As we finished the 1 mile stroll, stepping down onto Indiana soil, we found our dinner destination just outside the Big Four Station park, Parlour, a gourmet pizza spot with a great taplist.  We enjoyed our bruschetta and pizza, and we had several offerings of awesome brews we can't always get in Arizona (Chris: "LOOK AT ALL THE THREE FLOYDS!").

Having eaten (and drunk) our fill, we started our wander back toward Kentucky, pausing to take pictures of the sunset and evening lights.

Getting ready to leave Indiana

The start of sunset,

including several of the other bridges

across the Ohio

Sunset further along,

as well as the lights on the pedestrian walkway

up to the bridge

Bye, Indiana!

The Big Four Bridge,

all lit up!

Pretty tuckered after our day in the car and evening meandering, it was back to the Hancock House and into bed for us.

On the next blog, we hit the streets of downtown Louisville and drink some brown spirits!

Later!

Amy