Playing in Bend

We have been playing, eating, drinking and touring in Bend the past few days and we are not done yet.  It has been so much fun that I am glad I take pictures as they are my diary.  We are getting ready to go out for another day so I am going to be brief here and mostly tell you about it with my pictures.

 We went Cider Tasting.  Just like wine tasting but it was hard cider.  There was apricot, cherry, apple, cinnamon pear and a pomegranate.  And a few more that I can't recall.  If that wasn't fun?!  It is much less sweet that regular cider that they sell in the grocery store as it is pure fruit and of course it was "Hard" cider meaning it was alcoholic.  Each couple ordered a flight which was six different ciders to sample.  I think the winner was the apricot.

When we went to the Brewfest our favorite ale was from 10 Barrel Brewing.  So yesterday we headed to the brewery/restaurant to have another glass of our favorite and a great lunch.  It was a gorgeous day so we all sat outside.  I sure was wishing we had brought Jake.  He would have loved it!

Then we found our way to Tumalo Falls which is a 97 foot waterfall just a few miles out of town.  The drive was lovely and the falls were just gorgeous!  I wish we had time to travel to lots and lots of Oregon waterfalls.  Maybe we can find one or two more before we leave.

I miss our hiking days when we would have taken the trail up to the falls and done some exploring.  But we can do this and see a lot of things and we can drink beer so we are good.

That left us a bit parched and I had read that there was a distillery in town so we set off in search of it.

So, Cheers, Everyone!!!  See you after the next adventure!

Montana to Idaho and Back To Henry's Lake State Park

We are beginning to wonder if we have over-stayed our welcome up here in God's Country.  We think maybe the God's are trying to tell us something!  Just look at that snow on the mountain viewed from our RV park in Ennis, MT.  We have had a couple of warmer days that have melted the snow but we might get more this weekend.  Burrrr.

We really enjoyed our short stay in Ennis.  Ennis RV Village was one of my all-time favorites and the town is very special.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from that stop.

Are we lucky or what?  Right there is town we spotted a Distillery open to the public with free samples.  I expected Bourbon but no, it was Moonshine!  When we lived in Mexico there was a company that flavored Tequila with everything.  This was very similar.  They had all different flavors of Moonshine.  We sampled a couple and then decided to have one of the cocktails that they prepare.  (too bad the cute copper mug wasn't included! They sell for $35 so I didn't take it home with me!)  We had fun visiting with other customers and with the serving lady who also guided fishing tours.

Hot Springs right there in the middle of no where!  Can you see the steam?

The Madison River

Ennis has statues of cool fish all around town.

They also have wild animals in town!

After a few days in Ennis we packed up and moved about 60 miles south back to Henry's Lake State Park.  This really is one of our most favorite places ever!  And this time we knew where we wanted to be located and were able to reserve it.

Just look how alone we are?  And I don't mind not having trees because I get the great big view.  The lake is right behind us and the views are incredible!

This is Henry's Lake viewed from right behind where we sit.

This is honest to God the way it looked when the sun set during the rain.  I did nothing to this picture!

We took a drive-about yesterday and just wandered around the area.

Bridge over the Madison River

I think this may have been a wonderful little settlement in it's day.  The house on the left has a sweet little stream running right behind it.

And just look what we found!

We will be staying here through the Labor Day weekend and then head to Idaho Falls for a shopping fix.  Hopefully we will have a bit of good weather over the weekend.  I want to get in more hiking as the trails here are so nice.

I know, too many pictures but what can I say?  I like taking them!

Kirby and Thermopolis, Wyoming

How many people get a town named after them?  And one that distills Bourbon at that?  We were visiting with friends Sharon and Jerry who live in Thermopolis, WY and they took us to Kirby.  Kirby really wanted to go to Kirby.

 Talk about a photo op!  We couldn't resist his one!

There is a famous bar/restaurant in Kirby as well as Wyoming Whiskey.  We had a great lunch at Butch's Place.  If you are ever near Kirby, you have to go to Butch's for a brew and a burger.  What a fun place.  Character, charm, good food and good service.  And now we have made some good memories there.

This is Sharon and Jerry along with Kirby.  Sharon and Kirby grew up together in Taft, CA a few years back and reconnected on Facebook.  (I love FB for just that type of thing!)  Since we were in their part of Wyoming, of of course we had to get together and share some good times.  They took us all around their charming community, the small town of Kirby, Wyoming Distillery and Hot Springs State Park.

Is this gorgeous or what?  And we wouldn't even have known about it if Sharon and Jerry hadn't taken us there.

And of course, following with tradition, we visited Wyoming Whiskey, had a great tour and did a bit of tasting.  It was so interesting to find a distillery in Kirby, Wyoming of all places.  The owners are actually cattle ranchers who had more property than they knew what to do with so decided to hire an experienced distiller from Kentucky and make their own whiskey.  Now they use the leftover mash (corn, barley and wheat) to feed their cattle.  Makes sense to me!

Bourbon and Bluegrass

Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Kentucky

We have begun the Bourbon Trail!  We visited Buffalo Trace Distillery and were able to sample two different bourbons and a really sweet creamy thing that was delicious!

When we visited Kentucky in 2011 and did the Bourbon Trail we took quite a few distillery tours.  We really don’t want to do that many tours this time and just want to sample.  You know, the YUM part of the trail!

After arriving at Buffalo Trace and wandering around a bit we finally found someone who was willing to let us sample without the tour.  I still don’t understand why they REALLY want us to tour before sampling.   But anyway, the sampling was a lot of fun with a really nice lady who managed the sampling bar.  (They gave out chocolate pecan candies made with bourbon too!) Kirby decided to take home a bottle of the nice bourbon – and he got a cool tee shirt too.  The distillery warehouse is a beautiful old brick building and I could see the oak barrels through the windows.  We would have considered a tour but, hey, it was Saturday and the place was packed.

From there we went to Woodford.  Buffalo Trace is not actually part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail but Woodford Reserve is.  We remembered it from three years ago when it was so crowded we opted for the tasting without the tour.  This time that was not an option.  You could buy yourself a beautiful bottle of the bourbon and wander around but unless you waited an hour or more for the tour and paid your $10 per person, you weren’t going to taste.  The whole public area was different and there were no longer nice rockers on the porch.  We didn’t want to wait for the tour or pay for it, so we just headed back to Georgetown.

We always try to feel like locals when we visit a place for more than a couple of days so after the two distilleries we went to a little spring fest at a local farm.  Now this was fun!  Great bluegrass music which is just about our favorite, some moist and juicy pulled pork for lunch and fresh veggies to take home with us.  Children were running around having fun, poking at the goat in the kennel and even pretending to sing with the band.  The sun was warm and I do believe I am falling in love with Kentucky!