Fishing & Boating in the Northwoods

Oconomowoc, WI – A Lot to Like

golden mast exterior

Can you say Pasty? I knew you could! But more on what is thought to be a Cornish creation a bit later… The purpose of the weekend road trip was originally a plan to meet family members in Oconomowoc, one of whom was to be married this summer in New York. Unsure as to whether […]

Grey Rock Restaurant Review

grey rock mansion

Nestled against the shore of the deepest lake in Wisconsin – Green Lake – is the Grey Rock Mansion at the Heidel House Resort. The resort boasts one of the most picturesque settings I have visited. And the Grey Rock is truly an adventure in fine dining. From the outside, and even upon entering, it […]

The Heidel House Resort on Green Lake

heidel house sign

GI have looked all over the area within 100 miles or so of the Fox Valley area (Illinois) for an out-of-the-way place to go for a weekend retreat in the dead of winter. Guess I just didn’t look quite far or quite hard enough. Boy, do I have a place to recommend to you. It […]

How Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is Made

bourbon bottles

By the latter part of the 19th and even into the early 20th century , the distillery business was going along rather well for bourbon whiskey. At least, that is, until someone decided that distilled spirits were evil. Prohibition in 1920 (The 18th Amendment to the Constitution and The Volstead Act… “a grand and failed […]

Makers Mark & Bardstown

makers mark brown building

One Last Tour Our last stop on the Kentucky trip was Bardstown, Kentucky. But just about twenty minutes to the south of it – and not far off our intended path – was another landmark. I just couldn’t resist the temptation of a visit so I could compare Maker’s Mark to the other distilleries which […]

Perryville Battlefield

limestone walls

Next morning dawned bright and blue. The temperature however, hovered at a brisk 31 degrees, and a heavy frost covered my windshield. A pesky northeast wind did not help matters. Even so, this was a far better scenario than the last two days of downpours! The road to Perryville was, to say the least, scenic […]

An Evening in Lexington KY

gratz park inn entrance

We ended our tour of Woodford and, after sampling some excellent “bourbon balls”, met Niki and Mary from the Lexington Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau at the Cheapside Bar and Grill. Cheapside Bar and Grill The Cheapside is an upscale restaurant in downtown Lexington serving excellent food from a menu loaded with varied and interesting […]

Woodford Reserve Distillery

Kentucky thoroughbreds in field

We awoke from a deep sleep in our room at Natural Bridge State Park to singing birds. (Read about our trip to Natural Bridge State Park and the Red River Gorge here.) We thought that we had perhaps dodged the predicted rainstorm. Much to our chagrin, as soon as we got the car loaded, the […]

Natural Bridge State Park

view from natural bridge

Almost directly across the street from Miguel’s Pizza & Rock Climbing Shop is the Natural Bridge State Resort Park. As State Parks go, this one is very cool. About 50-60 feet below Hemlock Lodge (where we stayed), a small river runs through the park and surrounds an area called Hoedown Island — an open-air dance […]

Rock Climbing in the Red River Gorge

rock climbing

The rain that had taken a break and allowed us to observe some of the workouts at Keeneland began anew, and a cold wind added to the discomfort, so we packed it in and headed east and south to Natural Bridge State Park, with a brief stop in the Red River Gorge Geologic area of […]