USA

Washington DC

So we arrived at DC in the evening, this was one of the most expensive RV parks we have stayed at, which is a bit ridiculous, because there is nothing that makes it that much better than any of the other ones we have stayed at. Anyways, the next day we went into DC.

Woke up later than we should have and then had to drive Betsy to the train station, so we could catch the train into Washington. Today is going to be a big touristy day, and lots of walking, and also to try and spot Obama, which is on my list of things to do, if it’s going to happen, it’s most likely going to happen today. It is also very hot, probably one of the hottest days we’ve had here so far. On a side note, for those who don’t know, DC stands for District of Columbia, which I didn’t know until the train driver informed us so, maybe that will come in handy on a quiz night or something. 

Anyways, after the 25min train ride, we got walked into “the mall.” Which is not a shopping centre but a big area that has a lot of monuments and museums. We first went to the Washington Monument, AKA the big spire into the sky. It was pretty cool, and very big! After that we walked up to the WWII memorial which was really nice, and quite new as well, only built in 2004 from memory. Next up was the Lincoln Memorial. Unfortunately, the big reflection pool in front of it is being renovated, so it wasn’t there. It wasn’t even just empty, just a patch of dirty sand, which was a little disappointing, but it was leaking and they had to fix it!! So onwards to Lincoln himself. It was pretty cool, he is also rather big, and I can kind of see how sitting there next to him (when it wasn’t crowded with tourists) could be a good reflecting spot. We then went through the Vietnam War Memorial, which was also another pleasant memorial. We then walked some more, and kind of a roundabout way, while we decided what we were going to see next. We missed a couple of other presidential monuments, I think I remember from some movie, one of the comes to life and says something along the lines of “we are always forgotten, everyone always goes and sees Lincoln!” Well, it’s kind of a little bit out of the way, plus the direct path there was blocked off by construction. So sorry, Presidents, whose names I have forgotten, we didn’t make it.

We decided next stop was the current Presidents home, with a brief stop for lunch and for me to post my postcards, some which I’ve been holding onto since we were in Wendover, Nevada.  Time to spot Obama. When we first walked up there, we were like, ‘This is it?’ It wasn’t very grand looking at all, at least not how the movies make it out to be. Then we realised it was the back of the White House. So we decided to walk around to the front of it, plus I couldn’t see Obama, surely he would come out and wave for me or something!! :P The front was way more grand, and just like the movies. Seems like a pretty cool place to live. Well until an alien space ship comes and blows it up with a blue energy beam thing. But until then, a nice place to live. I also saw a movement in a window, not clearly coz you are far away and behind a few fences, but I am convinced it was Obama waving to me. So yes, the President of the USA waved hello to me from his window, how awesome.

We then decided to go to a museum, and we decided to go to the Air and Space Museum. It was a pretty cool museum, and I even got to touch a bit of moon rock!! We ended up spending a few hours there, which seems quite easy to do in these museums. We then walked up to the Capital building, which is a very pretty building. In fact, Washington DC has been full of grand, and beautiful buildings, especially around to mall area with all the monuments.

After that, it was about 7pm and the sun was setting and we were tired from walking so much so we decided to head back to Betsy and the RV park. We stopped off for dinner and fuel on the way. I got a burger from five guys, which was one of the nicest burgers I’ve had. The best burger I have had, from a chain, still goes to Wendy’s, delicious burger that was, and this one would have been close, but Wendy’s wins. Maybe coz my whole life my Father has consistently been saying how good the burgers from Wendy’s are, and he didn’t lie!! (For those who don’t know, my father is from the USA)

After DC, we headed to Kentucky. It was about a 10 hour drive according to Caroline. It was rainy and stormy most of the way, which sucked, coz not only was it rainy and stormy, but it makes it harder to see etc etc. We drove through some beautiful countryside, unfortunately, my cameras battery died. I took over driving from James about 4 hours into the trip, he couldn’t repeat his 8 hours marathon drive from earlier on. As soon as we got into Kentucky it started getting sunny again, which was nice. We hit some killer traffic for a while, where were literally were not moving at all, so much so I was able to read some of my book while waiting!! Also, we almost got taken out by a truck, who decided he would change lanes without looking in his mirrors or indicating. Luckily I was able to break in time, and give him a good honk of the horn, haha.

Got to our RV park, and we had to do some washing. While we were washing we booked our flights from Vegas to LA, as we have decided to fly that part and return Betsy in Vegas. It ends up costing us a little more, but is WAY more convenient, as we would have had to wake up at like 4am to be able to return her to LA in time on the Saturday.  I can already feel like we are heading south, with the way people dress, act and talk (ie: y’all), there definitely is a cultural difference from the more Northern states, and really Kentucky isn’t in the ‘deep south’, it will be interesting when we get to Texas!

After sleep, we woke up and the plan was to drive to the Marker’s Mark distillery and then onto Tennessee. We worked out Tennessee was too far away, and we wouldn’t have sufficient time in there, so we bailed on Tennessee and are now going to Maker’s Mark, then down to Orlando, Florida, with a stop off at Forsyth, Georgia. We stopped off at the Waffle House for breakfast. Not only was it delicious, but the service was awesome!! It was like a real diner, so friendly, and they were calling out orders that sounded nothing like what we ordered!! It was really awesome, and we tipped well. We are now driving to Maker’s Mark. Caroline however, has already been there and is now quite drunk, coz the roads she is taking us on, are like one lane tiny roads through fields! Plus there’s already been one turn onto a road that didn’t exist. We really don’t know where the hell we are or where this stupid GPS is taking us maybe to a murder house. Well I’m going to stop now and start hoping we make it alive!!

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So we made it alive, but wow that was a funny way to get there. Kinda make sense as it’s really in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, so we did the Makers Mark tour. It was really cool. It is America’s only handmade bourbon whiskey, and not mass produced. It is also still made at the same location where it first started, and still uses some of the original machinery. It was really cool to see how it is made, and it was also explained to us how they got the name, and why they dip it in wax. First off to be a bourbon, it has to have at least 51% corn, which they use 70%. They don’t use rye like the majority of bourbon’s, and instead use wheat, which makes it sweeter. The used to be the only distillery to do this back when they first started, and are now one of 7 who do it of 700+ bourbon producers worldwide. And of course, there’s malted barley in it. These are all sourced locally, with the wheat having only ever coming from one family. After these have been ground, they are put into large vats, which are made off 100+year old (Breaking news, a wasp thing was jsut on James’ leg, which caused him to squeal like a girl, and frantically get it off him, ahahahahahahahaha, in his defence he is allergic to bees so... anyways it was funny) back to the story, 100+year old wood, then they add yeast which breaks it down. They are kept in these massive, open vats, for 3 days. They only get about 10% of what they put into these vats. Recently they have also started getting the mash, removing the moisture and using it to produce methane, which is then used to power the distillery, this now contributes 20-30% of their energy usage. They also sell it on as good cattle feed, so it is all re-used. They are also the only North American distillery to do this, so good on them!! We were allowed to dip our fingers in the vats, I dipped my finger into the sweeter one. The whole room also had an over-powering yeast smell. We then saw where they get the liquid and put it through a chimney that is 5 miles high, where they put steam through it at 212 Fahrenheit, so the alcohol evaporates. It then condensates, and something is done to it to make it stronger (but not the Australian bound MM coz of taxes.)  When it comes out, it is clear, and is called Maker’s White AKA Moonshine (though not the really high alcohol content illegal stuff), you can buy this and try it which I did.

 It is then stored in barrels, which are carefully dried out then scorched so the tannins don’t affect the wheat. It goes up to the top of the warehouse first, where it is warmest and it is slowly absorbed into the wood and this plus the scorching of the barrel gives it it’s taste, and it’s brown colour. It the over time makes its way down to the warehouse. Each barrel not used by age, but by taste, so when it tastes up to standard, then it is used. It averages about 6 years. This is a pretty cool way to do it, I think, and that’s why you don’t see age markers on the bottles. It is then sent to the bottle line, where it is bottled, and each bottle hand dipped in wax. Yes every single bottle of Maker’s Mark that goes out to anywhere in the world, and it is only produced here, is hand dipped in wax. They workers can dip about 23 bottles a minute. Unfortunately, being a Saturday none were being bottled so we couldn’t see them in action. After that we went and I got some free tasting, coz Im not driving today, Kyle and James had to miss out. First we tried just normal Maker’s Mark, then they have a new style out, which was recently started by the next generation of the family in brewing. It is called 46 and it is distilled the same way, and after the normal storage and aging it is stored in a new barrel with pieces off a special type of wood, for 3 more weeks, which gives it a more unique and smoother taste. That tasted really nice, you then could try some of the Maker’s White, which tastes very different to normal bourbon, but I really liked it. I bought a bar mat, and a couple of glasses, then a bottle of the Maker’s White and the 46. You can only get the Maker’s white from there and the 46 only in the USA, so I thought it would be cool to buy them. You can dip your own bottle in wax, and you are able to do that when you bought a bottle of 46 (you can do it with normal Maker’s Mark bottles as well.) It was really cool to dip my own in, and something that I will probably keep for a very special occasion or never open at all.

Over all, it was a really cool tour and experience. Touring a distillery like this has always been something I’ve wanted to do, especially as bourbon is one of my favourite alcoholic beverages, so actually doing it, is like ticking another thing off my bucket list.

Well, that’s it for now, just the drive down to Georgia, we are going to get there pretty late, but stopping off for the tour was definitely worth it and worth the detour to Kentucky!!

Hope everyone is well!!