frankfort

kentucky is a state adjacent to ohio. i've never been to kentucky except when going to or coming from the airport. with the help of virtual tourist and google, i checked its capital, which is frankfort. romer was staying in lexington, a few minutes away from frankfort. surprisingly, they've never been there before. well, i've never been to columbus as well, which is the state capital of ohio but that would be rectified soon, as i am just awaiting my brochure which i requested online. but that would be a different adventure all together.



romer and i decided to meet up at the state capitol. i was with my officemates, jay and cathy and he arrived with his officemates, joyce and phoebe. it's been a while since we last saw each other, i don't even remember when that was. so it was a bit ironic that it was in the US, miles away from home, that we would see each other again.

the frankfort capitol is the first that i have seen among the states that i have been to. the grounds were beautiful especially since the flowers were now in full bloom. we were able to go inside the building, have our pictures taken with lincoln's statue (he's a kentuckian) and in different parts of the building. we realized from going through the halls that they had senators and representatives from different states. we somehow wondered how they ever get to decide on national issues when all senators and representatives were present. when there were no more pictures to be taken within the capitol walls, we then proceeded to the floral clock at the back of the capitol to have more pictures taken.



after lunch, everyone (except for me) ruled out going to the museums. so we decided to go to buffalo trace distillery instead. thanks to the gps in cathy's car, we were able to arrive in one piece (well, two... since we were in two cars). and we were just in time for the 2 pm tour. after viewing a short video of the origins of buffalo trace, we went into the warehouse to see how they were storing the bourbon in oak barrels. we had to tour the smaller warehouse as the bigger one got damaged in a hurricane a couple of days back. we also went into the bottling facility where the bourbon is hand-bottled and hand-labelled. however, the last part of the tour was the most anticipated since it was the bourbon tasting. i've never had bourbon before so i was a bit excited. teresa, our guide, first poured out vodka for us to taste... then bourbon... then bourbon balls, which are bourbon-flavored chocolate. the bourbon was more subtle than the vodka, and the chocolate was delicious... just a hint of bourbon but not overpowering the chocolate.



our frankfort trip ended with the tour. we decided to part ways then, although i was going to see them again in a couple of weeks. it was a good trip... bonding with my officemates, catching up with an old friend and meeting new ones. kentucky might be boring for some people, but i guess that depends on you.

more pictures here.