October 7-20, 2017 The Habitat Build - Gastonia

I hope you are ready for lots of photos.  

This years build was full of all kinds of emotions.  

We had four new couples who were absolutely fantastic.  These people 

know how to build a great house and I learned so much from them.
 I hope they decided to return next year for

more food and fun!

Day #1
We started with an empty cement foundation and 90 degree heat.

Day #2

 

Day #3
Frames for the walls

Day #4
Owens Corning sent volunteers to work with us

Day #5
House is wrapped, ladder is built and 
supports up for the walk way

Day #6
Was a rain day so this awesome crew did odd jobs around the Church.  
This year we had an electrician, several 
talented carpenters and one person who was great with brick work.

 Day #7
We came back Tuesday to the trusses up and the roof
ready to be shingled.  
The temperatures are about 20 degrees lower.

Day #8
The UAW came out and helped us with rat rails, windows, doors
and calking.

Day #9
This is what eight days of work will accomplish.

Day #10
Was spent at the affiliate putting up chair rails.

This is Sarah.  She was the best
general contractor.

The Habitat Ladies
Colleen had to leave early

 The little kitty is Charlie
He has a sibling named Tux












This is Teddy and he has a 
sibling named Zoe

This is Jack
He is asking for more treats

So now I will take you on a tour of where we stay.
Allison Creek Presbyterian has been our home base for 
13 years.

You need to make time to check out their site.  The history of this Church is fantastic.  In an age of taking down statues and black vs. white this Church has risen way above all of that mess and embraced their history.

We could not figure out how it was connected.

Common Ground is a walking path on Church property

Bill helping spread the mulch on the path

Next year this will be a working waterfall

 The Sophia Talks dinner for the Care-A-Vanners is a perfect 
end to our two week stay.
The Church and community donates our dinners and they are 
always fantastic.  Restaurants invite us in, groups come out and cook for us, people drop of wonderful cakes and then at the end this group comes in with so much food and love that we
are in overload. 

This is Patrice and Emily.  
These two make my heart so happy.

This is our updated map.
From here we travel south to see family in Florida.

September 23-29, 2017 The Bourbon Trail

Checking out the Bourbon Tail in Kentucky

We got our first bad recommendation.

Mammy's had the best looking pies and the worst 

Old Fashioned and service.

Since we could't get served at Mammy's we walked across

the street to the Old Talbott Tavern and started the meal with the 1779 Charcuterie Tasting Local summer sausage, shaved local country ham, local cheese, Talbott beer cheese and mixed pickle.

Bill had the Kentucky Hot Brown 

Smoked Turkey and sugar cured ham on toast points smothered in Mornay sauce and melted cheddar cheese. Topped with bacon and tomato 

I had a hamburger but I removed the bun

If you want a great display on the history of the area and bourbon 

you need to check out the Oscar Gets Museum.

They had a lot of display pieces and the building was beautiful.

We drove to Louisville, KY to start our tour of 

the bourbon trail.  The tour of Evan Williams was OK but it was the way

they do their tasting is most creative.  The filled 

tasting classes are waiting for you in a pop up desk!

Angels Envy was our big surprise.  I was not expecting much

of a tour from the inner city distilleries because we thought they

didn't do much at the building.  Well we were wrong!

This distillery took the prize for an unexpected great tour.

Jake was our tour guide and he was fantastic.  It also helped that people 

on our tour had a lot of good questions. 

The tasting was done on a huge log table that had been brought down in a snow storm and cut in half leaving a live edge.  It was beautiful. 

This was their bar where you could sample a 

mixed drink or their rye.

After the tour we drove to The Irish Rover.  We were told the chef was

from Ireland and that the food was great and the tour guide was correct! 

Bill had the ROVER CHICKEN – Two grilled chicken breasts glazed with a reduction of red Ale, garlic, cumin, and cream

I had the good old fish and chips.

If you have ever driven to Makers Mark you know that it is farm road all the way there.

We read that they had a Chihuly glass exhibit.  I thought for sure they would have the lights on for the public to see.  They do, but only on Saturday.  So I took this shot of the 

main building and drove the twisty dark roads back home

We drove back out the next day for a tour.

The tour was great and the grounds were beautiful.

 

  

The angel in the bottom 

picture is for the angels share

Jim Beam was right down the road so we decided to take their tour.

Teresa was our tour guide and did a great job. 

Although the process is the same each distillery has a different history.

The grounds were beautiful.

This is High Wine.  It is a product of the first distillation.  Next stop for

this liquid is the spirit still.

This was their 14,000,000 barrel

Bill putting his mark on HIS bottle. 

 The tour of the area would not be complete

without a trip to Buffalo Trace.

Rick, our tour guide gave a great tour with new

information and history.  This group also had many people on

their first tour who had lots of good questions.

I love it when I find these barrels in the mix

 This was one stop we had never done.

It was a beautiful cemetery that overlooks the 

Kentucky river.

 If ever tour the Bourbon Trail you must stop in

Bardstown and eat at the Rickhouse Restaurant.

This restaurant has the best food, atmosphere and staff of 

any restaurant in the area.  They are known for their steaks and I 

should have ordered one.  They smelled fantastic. 

This is the warm brie salad.  I could have

made a meal out of this.

Below on the right is shrimp and grits

Bill had the 24 oz. bone in double 
pork chop served with bourbon apricot chutney.
I had the bourbon blueberry salmon.  Both were
cooked perfectly and our sides were brussel sprouts sauted with bacon, apples, cranberries, brown sugar and bourbon. We also had eleven cheese macaroni.  

It was a great tour with lots of good food and people.

Time to get back on the road!