Staycation - Day 6

Better late than never, right.....

Today we went to Marathon Village and checked out Antique Archeology, Bang Candy Company, Garage Coffee Company and a tour of Corsair Distillery.  

Marathon Village is a cool old building which was once an automobile production facility - you can read about the history and transformation here.  It's a pretty cool building - with a  pretty cool story.  Here are some pictures of the outside.  The original logo:

 The oil can sits atop the building - it's become a landmark.

 this is what the oil can looks like from the back of Corsair distillery.

Antique Archeology is the Nashville location of Mike Rowe - American Pickers.

Corsair Distillery is the polar opposite of Jack Daniels.  Corsair is a small brew company who experiments with different grains and flavorings, both spirits and beer.  They do a Quinoa Whiskey, a Triple Smoke - which is definitely a fan favorite! - and many other seasonal flavors.  The tour takes you through the processing area, the bottling area and the barrel room, most of which are in the same large room.

Included in the tour is a stop in the tasting room so you can try out some of their unique flavors.

Then last night we went to City Winery (no photos or videos allowed, so these are not actually from last night) to see Holly Williams.  She is the granddaughter of the great Hank Williams, daughter of Hank Jr., or Bocephus, as he is commonly referred to.  The opening act was a 10 year old powerhouse of a little girl from East Tennessee name Emi Sunshine.  Her website is here.  Definitely check her out.  And Holly Williams with her band.

She played a variety of music from her albums, and a couple of extra songs.  She is a true storytelling songwriter.  My favorite, favorite, favorite Holly Williams song is Waiting on June.   It's a song about her mothers' parents, who she was close to while growing up.  Every word is true, and it is full of emotion for her.   She did play it last night - and it was wonderful.  Here's the YouTube version.

Enjoy!!

Staycation - Day 5

Jack Daniels Distillery - the tasting tour.  

We went to Lynchburg today for the tour, and they had a tasting tour available, so of course we took that.  It adds tastings of three Jack Daniels varieties during the tour.


If you've never been - it's pretty interesting.

They start by bringing you to the Rickyard 

 and talking about the wood they burn which turns it into charcoal.  That charcoal is used in the distilling process. Here, the maple is stacked, allowing it to be 'seasoned' before burning.

We then walked by the Fire Brigade - there was only one truck there today, but he said they have a second one - it was just out doing promotional stuff today.

 Then we saw the spring where all the water to make the whiskey comes from.  It's the same place they've been getting the water from for more than 140 years.

Then we saw the grain mill, where the actual process of making whiskey begins.  

Followed by the Still House

 and the Mellowing Room

Then we went into the bottling house.  This is the amount of whiskey you get if you purchase a barrell of whiskey

 It is about 53 gallons of whiskey.  Wow! 

Then we went into this little house for the tasting.  We tasted Gentlemen Jack, Black Label and Single Barrel.  Gentlemen Jack was the definite winner in my book!

Then is was onto the Barrel House.  It used to have a really strong aroma of whiskey as soon as you walked int.  Disappointingly, the barrel house didn't smell like that at all today.  There are only 200 barrels of whiskey aging today.  I don't know where the rest are, but they are going to transform that area into tasting rooms.  

Then it was back to the Visitors Center.

Af the distillery we went down the street to the town of Lynchburg.

Or rather, the Historic District in Lynchburg.  It's not so much a District as a Town Square.  There is one building - which I believe houses municipal offices in the center

and the shops and restaurants all around the outside.  We ate lunch at the BBQ Caboose

and wandered through the Jack Daniels Company Store for some trinkets.

Staycation - Day 4

The guys went golfing and the girls went shopping.  Window shopping on 12th South.  Mostly window shopping, but we did find a few things to bring home.

Apple Bourbon Jelly.   The Nashville Jam Company rocks - you cannot buy better jelly.  We've been looking for the apple bourbon flavor for a while and haven't been able to find it.  I swear I heard the angels sing when I spotted that on the shelf at White's Mercantile! 

And who could resist these chocolate bars:

 Mmm, Hot Fudge - chocolate outer layer with chocolate ganache inside.  

Pig's N Taters - bacon and potato chips in a chocolate bar.

PB&J Sandwich - second best to a fluffernutter, right?  

And then I found this cute little coin purse.  Adorable isn't it?  It had me at coffee.......

 After that, a quick luck at Calypso Cafe, a stop at The Produce Place and then home to sit outside and relax.  All in all, another great day!

Staycation - Day 3

Cheekwood!

Unfortunately we missed Cheekwood in Bloom, but it was still pretty.

They currently have a 'stickwork' exhibit by Patrick Dougherty entitled Little Bitty Pretty One.  It is amazing to think this is man-made.   It is a wood structure, built to fit into the landscape.  The saplings are interwoven intricately into these buildings.  And the buildings are connected.  There are no rough edges, except at the top.  It's amazing.

 As always, I remembered to look up and found this amazing sight.

There's a time-lapse video of the construction here.

And then there's the ponds and the waterfalls

The pottery outside the house

and the lights inside.  From the older wall-lights

to the more recent  fiber optic 'chandelier' hanging over the stairs, they're all beautiful.

We walked around outside to the trains

and the thatched roof house.

The roof is amazing.  It actually looks like straws.

And of course the treehouse.  I love the treehouse.

Even though it was overcast, there was no rain and we made it another great day!

Staycation - Day 2

Today was marathon Saturday!  Laura and I were up and out early  We parked at LP Field and walked over the pedestrian bridge to get to the start line.

Just us and 30,000 other runners......

We were in corral 37 - so there was no need to hurry.  We watched the first runners leave the start line

And then waited near the start line - enjoying the sights and sounds of Broadway along the way!  This girl brought her service dog

And Elvis was here!!!

It didn't take too long before we were at the start line

Because this is the Music City Marathon, there was live music all along the way.  Bands were set up everywhere and in every way imaginable.  There were bands on stages, on the ground, on the steps of buildings - adapting to whatever environment they were in.  They cheered on the participants and all looked to be having a great time.

We were even treated to the band at the 'Musica' statue (or what we refer to at the Penis de Milo) twice - because the course twists and turns through the city.

Somewhere along the way we saw this couple, dressed to the nines and having a champagne brunch   by the side of the road.  So cute.  They come out every year to cheer on the runners and are happy to have their picture taken with you.  So, of course we did!

The first few miles were fairly easy.  In fact when we got to the 5K point, it seemed like just another easy walk

And then the distance got real..... and I started documenting then mile signs.  You can see the variation in neighborhoods and crowds as we went along.

And then we saw it, Mile 13.  Almost there!!!

We did it!  We finished strong!!!

Here's what the finisher medal looks like

All in all - it was a great day.  We're both a little sore, but nothing that won't heal in the next day or two.  Would I do it again?  I don't think so.  Once is enough for me.  I'll stick to shorter walks!!