The Kentucky Bucket List

So I find it funny that I am sitting on the couch after a fabulous day and what I turn on is the Bucket List…and while bored during commercials, because I typically dvr everything and am able to fast forward through everything, I decided to go to Kentucky.com and I see this about a bucket list. So I’ve decided that I would write about the Kentucky Bucket List and see how many I have done and I hope that in the next few days I can start my own bucket list.

So here we go…50 must do things in Kentucky…I’d say I have maybe done 15 of them…let’s see how many I have really done…

1. Visit Mammoth Cave. Our state's only national park, it makes you realize that Kentucky's stunning beauty isn't just on the surface.
I have done this one about four times when I was in middle school and loved it. It is quiet a site to see, I agree that this is a must do and I think I should go back…anyone game?

2. Dip a bourbon bottle into that famous red wax at Maker's Mark in Loretto. The brand is known worldwide, and so is the bottle's dripping red wax. Dip your own on the distillery tour.
Well I have dipped a bourbon bottle into the famous red wax but it wasn’t done in Loretto…It was pretty fun and I enjoyed it specially when it wasn’t my money that I spent. ☺ So perhaps I should go to Loretto, tour the facilities and dip another bottle.

3. Take a sip at all the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail. It's the essence of sophistication and American's only native spirit, and 95 percent of it is produced here.
Oo I definitely haven’t done this, but when thinking about a really unique birthday gift for someone I really thought about doing this as the gift,. So perhaps the gif idea will pop back up for that person. But I have sipped bourbon just hasn’t experience going to every distillery to tour. Its definitely worth doing.

4. Watch Harlan County U.S.A. Barbara Kopple's Oscar-winning 1976 documentary about the "Bloody Harlan" coal miner strikes of the early '70s shows just how dangerous that job used to be (and still is).
Haven’t done this one, but honestly doesn’t sound that great to me, but perhaps I will give it a try.

5. Read the works of Wendell Berry. The Henry County environmentalist, ruralist, activist and writer is considered one of the nation's greatest minds.
Love Wendell Berry, its good stuff…wish he loved UK. ☺

6. Visit the Harland Sanders Café and Museum in Corbin. It's where the Colonel first served his fried chicken with "11 herbs and spices" and birthed an internationally fried chicken recipe.
Ooo I didn’t know this at all…its going to have to be a road trip for me…I love me some “11 herbs and spices”

7. Own a piece of work by a Kentucky craftsman. We are known as an epicenter for folk art. Berea is a good place to start your search for the perfect piece.
I have never been to Berea for folk art, but I sure do have some folk art! I am learning to like it…I hope that others will too.

8. Read Louisville native Hunter S. Thompson's seminal article "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved," which details the hullabaloo surrounding the 1970 race and marked the legendary writer's first foray into gonzo journalism.
Ooo this sounds good and I do have a Joseph Beth gift card....but I am not a big reader but we will see.

9. Spend a silent day at the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown. Shed your worldly worries (and your smartphone) at this Trappist monastery, where tranquility reigns.
Gosh I need some of this right now…tranquility sounds amazing right now.

10. Talk to Freddie Farm Bureau at the Kentucky State Fair. The giant talking doll outside the entrance to the August fair's main hall has entranced kids for decades.
Yes I have done this…I wasn’t a fan of this, but I guess its cool to say I did it.

11. Walk over Natural Bridge, near Slade. If it's hot, you'll sweat like a pig getting up there, but once you do, the view is so spectacular, you'll be cool as a cucumber.
I actually have never been to Natural Bridge, but hoping to get there this summer, whose going with me?

12. Ogle the natural beauty at Red River Gorge. Pick pretty much any spot, and it will be stunning.
Red River Gorge is quiet stunning not sure if I have been to Ogle…but next time I am there I will check it out…anyone want to do this with me?

13. Take a hike at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. The Shakers thought they had found an earthly Utopia when they settled near Harrodsburg in the 19th century. After walking the miles and miles of trails through meadows, woods and along creeks, you'll understand why.
Love Shaker Village!! It has some of the best food every and so much fun!

14. Visit Fort Knox. You can't go inside the gold depository, where 5,000 tons of gold are stored, and you can't take your picture at the gate, as we previously reported. But you can drive by the depository on your way to the Gen. George Patton Museum.
I have done this…its pretty cool just to say you’ve been to Fort Knox, I think.

15. Grab a country ham sandwich at one of the many filling stations in rural Kentucky.
Does Frankfort count as rural? If so I did this like every day in high school.

16. Listen to the trickle of the Sinking Spring at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, near Hodgenville. Illinois claims him, but this is where one of America's greatest leaders was born, and that underground spring is where he probably took his first drink of water.
This sounds great, this may be on my bucket list too.

17. Visit the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington. It's America's first site restored to honor a first lady. Get to know the real Mary, not the crazy woman that history has portrayed her to be.
Love this house, is such a great facility full of fabulous history of a wonderful women.

18. Measure your stride against that of the great (giant) horse Man o' War at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
I haven’t done this but would love too…and a little confused on where this even is…anyone know where in the Horse Park?

19. Bring roses to Funny Cide, the only Kentucky Derby winner who is readily accessible, at the Kentucky Horse Park.
I didn’t even know this…will need to do this…so many things I don’t know about this place I have lived at for 24 years…slacker!

20. Eat a hot Brown at Louisville's Brown Hotel, the place where the delicious open-faced, heart-attack-on-a-plate sandwich got its name, but stay at the nearby Seelbach Hotel, the 1905 gem that is the backdrop for Tom and Daisy's wedding in The Great Gatsby.
Not a big fan of hot browns, but maybe if I go there whoever I am with can get it and let me try it. I do hear great things about it, but just not for me.

21. Attend one of the multitudes of bluegrass festivals across the state. We invented this kind of music, so we ought to listen to it once in a while.
Bluegrass festivals are pretty sweet, specially now that I like them. Might need to check one of those out soon.

22. Visit the state Capitol building in Frankfort. We have one of the nation's most beautiful capitols, and we might not always be proud of what goes on inside there, but we can at least appreciate the Frank Mills Andrews-designed architecture.
Love the Capitol…I have about a bazillion pictures in front of it being from Frankfort and all it was a big deal!

23. Read Harriette Arnow's The Dollmaker. The story of its Appalachian heroine, Gertie Nevels, is unforgettable. Just be sure to have plenty of tissues on hand.
Guess I will have to use my Joseph Beth gift card for this too.

24. Visit Cane Ridge Meeting House outside Paris. It was built in 1791 and is thought to be the largest one-room log building in the country. It also was the site of a major revival in 1801 that is considered the climax of the Western Great Revival.
I love me some log houses so I better get to getting on this one too.

25. Tour the Corvette Museum and Corvette plant in Bowling Green. It's the only place in the world where the classic sports cars are produced.
This is pretty cool I just wish I had enough money to buy one! ☺

26. Visit the Toyota plant in Georgetown while in an automotive frame of mind. It's the birthplace of the world's No. 1 car, the Camry, and the plant's arrival in the mid-1980s was a boon for Kentucky's economy.
This is also pretty cool. You learn a lot of things about this place. I did 2 studies on this place in college…good stuff.

27. Eat a tomato still warm from the sun while standing in the garden where it was grown. Consider any slight grittiness a condiment.
I have done this and its pretty awesome but I stick to the cherry tomatoes.

28. Attend the Garrard County Tobacco Cutting Contest. The event, held in late summer, might be the best way to see a dying cultural tradition: the harvesting of the tobacco crop. This year will be its 30th anniversary.
Ooo this sounds fun…I have always been interested in the tobacco industry.

29. Find a fence row and pick some blackberries. There are few summertime treats more satisfying than a blackberry cobbler made with fruit you picked yourself. Just keep an eye out for snakes.
This is fun too specially when you know someone with them right in their backyard…you can have a spontaneous dessert.

30. Eat a slice or two — or three — of historic "transparent" pie at Magee's Bakery in Maysville.
I will have to give this a try…I do love me some Magee’s Bakery here in good ole Lexington. I also loved the one in Frankfort good place to stop by when wander around downtown.

31. Have a taste of the state's regional sodas. May we recommend Ale-8-One, created in Winchester; and Ski, the highly caffeinated lemon-orange soda once bottled in Greensburg?
I have had me some Ale-8-One its one of my guilty pleasures. I will have to look into Ski…I have never heard that, is that bad?

32. Attend the Fancy Farm Picnic in Graves County. There are literally tons of barbecue being served on the first Saturday of each August, but the picnic is most famous for the political speaking, which traditionally kicks off Kentucky's fall campaigns. Every candidate running for statewide office will speak before the always-rowdy crowd.
Ooo I am not into politics but I sure will give it a try for some BBQ! Who wants to go?

33. Watch the sun rise from Pinnacle Overlook at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, where Kentucky meets Tennessee and Virginia. The gap, a rare natural break in the ancient Appalachian Mountains, provided a pathway in the 1700s for settlers led by Daniel Boone and other pioneers.
I will have to take a look at this, I’ve been to the Gap but not to this location I don’t think. I need to start working on my places to see in Kentucky.

34. Watch the sun set over the Mississippi River at Columbus-Belmont State Park in Hickman County. During the Civil War, Confederates built fortifications along the bluff in an unsuccessful attempt to keep Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Union forces from moving South.
Welp another place to add on to the list of places to see. I probably should get the car gassed up and start out on my way.

35. Visit the Tri-Cities area — Cumberland, Benham and Lynch — for a look into the storied past of the underground coal industry. Lynch and Benham were developed as coal towns in the early decades of the 20th century and remained so into the 1960s. Portal 31, in Lynch, is an exhibition coal mine, and Benham is home to a mining museum with photos and artifacts.
Same goes for this one…man I am slacking.

36. Read All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. The three-time Pulitzer Prize winner was a native of Guthrie, in Western Kentucky, and his most famous work is an American classic.
Yet another book I must read…good thing I don’t got school anymore.

37. Take your picture by the signs that mark some of Kentucky's more oddly named places. A few suggestions: Black Gnat in Taylor County, Monkey's Eyebrow in Ballard County, Rabbit Hash in Boone County, and Peasticks in Bath County.
Ooo this sounds fun, I bet if you lived in these places they were always on like scavenger hunts.

38. Visit Letcher County's Lilley Cornett Woods, one of the largest protected tracts of old-growth forest in Kentucky. You'll see what the state would have looked like before people, bulldozers, strip malls, etc.
Oooo I would love to do this too…so maybe my next vacation should be about Kentucky…why travel so far away when there is so much I haven’t even seen?

39. Memorize all the verses to our state song, My Old Kentucky Home, and sing it at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, the place that supposedly inspired the song. While you're there, see The Stephen Foster Story. The outdoor musical has been running for more than 50 years.
Well this one might be impossible I don’t even really know the song that well unless someone is singing it with me and in reality I don’t sing…

40. Take a self-guided West Kentucky barbecue tour: Moonlite in Owensboro, Starnes in Paducah, and pork barbecue pits about every 20 miles in the far western Jackson Purchase area.
Like I said I could get me some BBQ so this could be a good adventure…oo man this is inspiring some adventures and some gift ideas, glad I am reading this.

41. Put your name on a bat at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. Located in downtown Louisville, the museum includes a guided factory tour, and you can see a traveling exhibit, Norman Rockwell: Sports, featuring sports-themed art through Aug. 14.
Love this place it never gets old to me. I love that we make the bats!

42. Drink moonshine.
Yuck!

43. Ride a horse.
This is fun…maybe I should get back into riding horses.

44. Go hiking or rafting in gorgeous Breaks Interstate Park, which sits on the state line between Kentucky and the state it used to be a part of, Virginia.
Oooo rafting…will have to put this on my list as well.

45. Stay in Wigwam Village in Cave City. The collection of 15 concrete tepees, a remnant of the mid-20th century heyday of the roadside motel, this is probably one of the unique hostelries in the world.
Oo this sounds like fun I do want to do some kind of camping and tepees sound like a good way to do it.

46. Explore Kentucky's Amish and Mennonite communities. Allen County is known for its rich Mennonite culture and businesses.
I am not sure what Mennonite communities are…but I am a little intrigued by Amish people.

47. Get out on Lake Cumberland, to ski, fish or just tie up in a quiet cove. It's the largest manmade reservoir east of the Mississippi River.
This is a blast everyone should do this I also recommend Dale Hollow.

48. Drive Eastern Kentucky's U.S. 23, aka the Country Music Highway. The likes of Naomi and Wynonna Judd, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless and Loretta Lynn grew up along the highway, but more than that, you will see and understand how the land influenced their music.
I am not sure I have ever done this either, but sometimes I don’t pay attention so I will just have to give it a drive sometime.

49. Meditate on life (and death) at Lexington Cemetery, one of the most beautiful places in Central Kentucky. It's on the National Register of Historic Places.
For sure this place is gorgeous…when I die I hope I am in a place as beautiful.

50. Walk on the land once owned by Henry Clay, one of America's greatest statesmen, at his Lexington estate, Ashland.
Yes yes yes this is a must do thing as well. It’s a fabulous place and you should eat at the Gingko if you can.

Here is the link to the full article, I just pulled the 50 places.
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/06/17/1777221/the-kentucky-bucket-list-eat-drink.html#storylink=misearch

I have done 19ish of the above so my 15 wasn’t too bad of a guess, but man I need to get on my Kentucky adventures!

In addition to the 50 above they had a list called “Here are some bucket list items for fall, winter and spring in Kentucky.” So here are my comments on them.

1. Go to a University of Kentucky men's basketball game at Rupp Arena. Even if you don't bleed blue, the sheer spectacle of a game in Rupp's hallowed halls will make you at least appreciate the undying devotion that fans have for the Wildcats.
ABSOLUTELY!! I do this several times during the season and its fabulous, I can’t imagine who has crazier fans than the Kentucky Wildcats.

2. See the Kentucky Derby live. There's a reason it's known around the world, and 164,858 people showed up to see it in May.
YES YES YES!!! This is a fabulous event and everyone should go. I think you actually should go twice…once in the end field and once in the stands they are both such different experiences but totally worth the experience! Oo and if your lucky enough you must go to the Barnstable Brown Derby Even party…ahmazing!

3. Hear Loretta Lynn in person. The country music legend, "coal miner's daughter" and national treasure is 78, but she puts on a show as if she just hit the big time. Her next Kentucky date is Oct. 22 in Ashland.
Oooo thanks for telling me this, I hope I can plan a trip there. She is awesome and would love to really hear her!

4. See a moonbow at Cumberland Falls, near Corbin. This natural wonder, seen regularly only here and at Victoria Falls in Africa, is best viewed under a full or almost full moon on very clear nights when humidity is low. That usually means in fall or winter (which might also mean a flask of bourbon for warmth).
Ooo this sound fabulous as well.

5. Visit Perryville Battlefield, the site of the most famous Kentucky Civil War battle. The next re-enactment is in October. The 150th anniversary of the Perryville battle will be in 2012.
Oo I love to see this I have only seen them in movies.

6. Visit Appalshop, a Whitesburg arts and education center that has worked for more than 40 years to document and preserve Appalachian culture through music, films and other media. The center hosts Seedtime on the Cumberland in early June each year. That would be a good time to go.
Oo dang just missed this probably but will look into it next year perhaps…

7. Watch the horse races from the clubhouse at Keeneland. The Southern, sophisticated gentility for which Kentucky is known worldwide is on full display there on a pretty spring or fall afternoon. Make sure you eat some of the scrumptious bread pudding, too.
Absolutely! Actually watching it anyway is a great adventure. Keeneland is amazing place to be. I would recommend going to Breakfast with the Works, tailgating in the parking lot, betting, watching the horses race, and eating some good ole food…oo so excited for Keeneland!

So there are all my thoughts...unfortunately I typed up all this up in my word doc to past in with tabs and all but it didn't work that way. Sorry if this is hard to read, but hopefully you enjoy it some way.