A trip to Lexington, I do declare!

The last few years my friends and I have been trying to take little trips away from Columbus.  Most memorable are our trips to New York City and Cincinnati, but this year’s trip won’t soon be forgotten.  After careful consideration we decided to get in touch with our inner southern belles and travel to Lexington, Kentucky.  Lexington is only a little over an hour from where I grew up, but it’s a city that I hadn’t really ever spent time in, other than driving through.  And since it wasn’t terribly far from Columbus, it was just perfect.

Right away we worked on an itinerary.  Here are some of our adventures.

After a series of stops and mini adventures on the roads, our first official stop was Keeneland Racetrack.  This was a beauty through and through.  And though there really wasn’t much going on there other than a happening gift shop where I purchased a magnet, it was still cool to see.  Additionally, there were gambling friends all around as we went to the “restaurant” which was more of a cafeteria.  Nonetheless, it was pretty unique.

Parking was interesting.  We figured the mini spots were for jockey cars or a bunch of Mini Coopers.  The E-Class was able to squeeze in, luckily.

Now this is just plain fancy.  Oh yeah.  If you ever wonder what time it is at Keeneland, just look for one of the many fancy Rolex clocks (that is if you don’t have a cell phone or watch handy).

Upon leaving Keeneland, what should we see but a lovely horse barn that just so happened to be on the cover of our visitor’s guide!  Another note, a local did tell us “it’s not a house, it’s a stable” --- we must have obviously been Yankees.

After all of the adventures at Keeneland, we were off to our next stop --- the Henry Clay Estate!  Henry Clay is “Kentucky’s Favorite Son” supposedly, which surprised me as Kentucky is also the home of George Clooney who I think is a more amazing choice.  Oh wells.  So anyway, HC was a pretty important guy back in the day who did amazing things such as farm, play politics, ride his horse from Lexington to DC like all the time, and had a series of canes that housed stilettos inside to be used as weapons.  He also ran for President a couple of times but never won and really inspired Abraham Lincoln’s work in politics.

Henry Clay’s estate was fancy, as you would expect of any respectable southern gentleman and while we couldn’t take photos inside (orders from our curator friend Lynn Crockett, who may be a relative of Davy, we were too scared to ask), it was a very educational and fun time.

Before our tour of the house, Abby, Lindsey and I decided to venture into the place where they used to store food.  It was very creepy down there and we are pretty sure it is haunted.

Here is Henry’s house – though it actually isn’t because his house had to be torn down and was rebuilt by his family.  However, they basically built the same house again, only with more fancy things.   On the middle window, there were initials etched in the glass.  When girls got engaged back in the day, they would take their diamond ring and etch their initials in the glass.  And yes, I will do this someday I pray.

Our visits to Keeneland and Henry Clay’s Estate had given us an appetite so it was perfect timing really that our next stop was the Old Kentucky Chocolate Factory.  And as you probably know, Kentucky is not afraid of bourbon, so a lot of their tasty treats included booze.  They had bourbon cherries that could have given us all a buzz if only we were to eat a few – oh man.

The chocolate ladies let us get our photo taken with the chocolate horse and foal there at the store.  How could we resist?

I opted for a nice box of truffles.  Honestly, the bourbon stuff was so strong I didn’t think I could handle it!  What a wimp, I know.

I think during this trip, the best decision we made was to stay at a charming bed and breakfast called Scottwood.  We had originally planned to stay in a hotel downtown, but when we came across Scottwood, we knew it was the place for us.

Just outside of Lexington, the charming home featured many treasures.  Upon our arrival we were greeted by Annette, who showed us to the carriage house where we would be staying.  We all loved it immediately.  The carriage house was beautifully decorated in classic Kentucky horse theme.  Just thinking about it now makes me want to implement some of Annette’s awesome decorating strategies.

Scottwood was built in 1795.  This home is seriously one of the most beautiful and kind places I’ve ever visited.

Innkeeper Annette’s awesome skills are showcased here.   I absolutely love how she decorated the fireplace.

Later in the evening, we met Annette’s husband, Tim, who built us a fire and welcomed us to Scottwood.  And after a dinner at DeSha’s that night, we settled in for a warm autumn nap, knowing the next day would hold even more treats!

The special message made us feel so welcome!  We love Scottwood!

After breakfast, we set off for a day of antiquing.  All in all we found several great treasures, which I will talk about in a later blog.  We also ate at a tasty place for lunch called Stella’s Kentucky Deli.  They had Ale 8 on tap, so of course I loved it.

Stella’s Kentucky Deli offered a variety of southern fares.

Being in the heart of bourbon country, it would be a sin to not hit up at least one distillery.  So in the spirit of Kentucky, we opted to go to Woodford Reserve, since that’s the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby. 

We had to get a commemorative bottle of bourbon! 

Then we found out we could get our names etched on the bottles for $2 – this was a must do.

I love visiting college campuses and while Abby and Lindsey did not allow me to visit the college bookstore for a new coffee mug, we did go to campus for dinner at a local pizza place.  It wasn’t as good as the old Varsity Club, but it was pretty good.  And since the Buckeyes lost that day, it was good to have a few brews.

The next morning before we left for Ohio, Annette and Tim hosted us once again for a delicious breakfast. Now I like these two for many reasons, but let me share a couple.  Tim and I bonded over our college sports woes.  And while he was a UK guy, he was very consoling to me as I explained the current Buckeye sadness.  He’s the kind of fan that I could watch a game with anytime.  Thanks for that, Tim.  And Annette is a real life southern belle with a feisty sweet attitude that I absolutely adore.  Having breakfast with Tim and Annette was definitely a highlight of our trip. They told us all kinds of stories about their road trips, past guests and other general shenanigans.

And before we left, they let us try on their hat collection to have a Derby Hat fashion show! 

Derby Hat party was definitely a highlight.

Thank you, Tim and Annette, for being such gracious hosts!  We can’t wait to come back to Lexington!

Check out some other photos from our trip to Lexington here, I do declare!