Frankfort and Zachary Taylor, but no Bourbon Tourism Today

The Kentucky State Capitol, with blue and silver pinwheels spinning in front.
(But there not a Jewish thing, which those colors normally are. And it would be all right if it were)
(I think it's some anti-child abuse thing.) (Take that! Pro-child-abuse lobbyists!)

I woke up this morning in the middle of Kentucky. On purpose!

Yes, I planned that way. This is a little mini-vacation before my maxi-vacation in May. Because, like Nu Shooz sez, I can't wait.

First stop: the Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky.  Frankfort is a small city.  It's fourth smallest state capital city in the country. (I knew the two smallest:  Montpelier, Vermont, and Pierre, South Dakota. I had to look up the third after I guessed wrong. It's not Dover, Delaware. It's Augusta, Maine.)

The capital city may be small, but it's a nice state capitol building. The only Kentucky-connected president stands at the center of the rotunda; Kentucky-born Abraham Lincoln.  Around him are statutes of four prominents Kentuckians.

Henry Clay. Foiled more often in bids for the presidency than even Hillary Clinton.

This second one is a bit controversial, but I'm glad he didn't warrant bronze:  Jefferson Davis. Also Kentucky-born, but like Lincoln moved elsewhere to make his mark.  Davis's family went to Mississippi.

And finally, former Vice President Alben Barkley, vice president under Harry Truman. I left out the fourth because I never heard of the guy.

Here's my artsy picture of Abraham Lincoln with Traitor Jefferson Davis over his shoulder.

It is a rotunda, so there has to be a dome.

This is the state senate chamber:

The state assembly's empty chamber was behind locked, frosted glass doors.

This is looking down from the third floor to Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda:

That was a fun 20 minutes. What's next? I didn't plan much because (a) I'm exhausted from getting my work done so I go away for a few days and (b) today is supposed to a weird weather day, with frequent downpours and temperatures beginning to collapse in the evening from a daytime high of around 70 to an overnight low in the upper 20's. Yes. 20's. A 40-degree temperature drop, with gusting winds and heavy rain. Woo-hoo. Perfect weather for just about anything!

So how about an unplanned bourbon tour?  The Woodford Reserve Distillery was nearby. And I wouldn't expect it to be an industrial-scale distilling operation, like Wild Turkey. So I thought I would drop in.

It was packed. And the tours were sold out for the day.

Bourbon tourism is now big business. Kentucky has done an excellent job of marketing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail as a tourism destination.

Maybe it's because it was the first weekend of Kentucky Spring Break, but the place was mobbed by bus tourists and (this I did not expect) families with young children.

I did go into the gift shop, but I did not buy a bottle of the special Kentucky Derby edition Woodford Reserve. (I almost bought their special reserve rye whiskey, which I've never seen in a store in Las Vegas before. I was just about to pull the trigger when I realized I was just about to pay $39 for a bottle of rye. It may be the best rye whiskey ever made, but $39 for a bottle of rye??)

So no bourbon tourism today, Maybe Monday. The crowds should be down. They will be WAY down at Woodford Reserve since it's closed Monday. But Wild Turkey is just down the road and they will be open! Woo-hoo!

So what's next on the agenda before the Biblical rains start falling, the wind starts gusting, and the temperatures commence collapsing?

If you guessed "the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery" on the eastern edge of Louisville, to pay my respects to one of America's most beloved presidents Zachary Taylor, who by the way did not die of poisoning, then you would be correct.

Cemeteries should only be visiting on either overcast or rainy days. And since I had a little trouble finding the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, the rains had started falling hard by the time I arrived.

It is very small for a national cemetery, but I was guessing the figure at the top of the obelisk was going to the man of the hour.

And it was!  A giant monument to our 12th President, Zachary Taylor. One of our most beloved presidents. By me. You can declare whichever presidents you want as "beloved," but I so declare Zachary Taylor. Zachary Taylor was militantly pro-union, despite being a southerner. He was so cheap that I did not learn that he was the Whig Party's presidential nominee for several weeks because the Whigs sent his notice postage due.

This is (once again) his final resting place.

I actually recognized this little mausoleum from all of news coverage of when they exhumed his body in June 1991 to test it to see if he had been poisoned. I would have been studying for the Virginia Bar when this happened and I actually stopped what I was doing (probably trying to decipher the Rule Against Perpetuities or something) to watch.

This is the final (once again) resting place of our beloved (I've explained this already) president. If you see ghostly apparitions around the tomb, it's only me, reflected in the glass, wearing a white anorak with black sleeves.

The rains started coming down harder. And what did I discover when I got back to my hotel? There's a Culver's right across the street. I did not even know there were Culver's (only the best frozen custard in the known universe) in this part of Kentucky.

I did have supper not a Culver's but at a steakhouse a short walk from the hotel. In the hour and 15 minutes (or so) I was there eating, the temperatures dropped about 20 degrees, with another 15 or so to go.