Overnight Tour to Georgetown, KY

Recently we had an opportunity to be part of a bus tour to Georgetown, KY (a beautiful area of Lexington Thoroughbred country).  We'd never gone with this group before but at $40 a person for transportation and admissions, we decided to give it a try.

The trip was hit or miss.  It wasn't well planned out or researched and the scheduling was way too tight.  We decided even tho the price was good we will not be going on another trip with this group.

See that?  That is a sunrise...my first for 2018 and hopefully my last!

We were up and out waaaay too early to the departure point to catch the bus at 6 am.

Tour buses have changed a lot since the last time we were on one.  There are plug ins to charge electronics and even Wifi.  I should have brought my Kindle!  There were only 25 on the trip so we each had our own seat row.

Our stops were in Georgetown, KY and ...

Midway, KY.  

There was a 'shopping stop' in both towns.  There were some cute looking shops but when you've been working hard to declutter, they just aren't interesting.  (However... a soda shop in Midway was very interesting!  Great root beer float.)

The drive past all the Thoroughbred stables was fun.  There were a lot of babies out playing.

We went past a few famous stables too.  This one is Summer Wind stables.  They have an up-and-coming full brother to American Pharoah and a half sister to Zenyetta.

Our first stop was at Old Friends Thoroughbred retirement farm.  This was a great.  I'll be writing more about it this week.

Next stop was "Yuko-En on the Elkhorn" - our first 'miss' on the trip.  It is touted as 'Kentucky's bluegrass landscape in Japanese style stroll garden'.  That is a bit ambitious...

On the tourist pamphlet the main view is photoshopped and the rest of the photos are really tightly cropped.   As you come through the entry corridor, the bamboo on both sides has been choked out with honeysuckle, weeds, and very healthy poison ivy.

Above is the koi(less) pond.  It is so dirty.  As you can see, the pathway is washed out gravel and mud.

The dry stream bed was was weed choked and the liner was showing in many places.

There is no admission but even free it is not a tourist stop.

Dinner that evening was at Wilshire's.  I'm going to do a review on Tripadvisor and will put it up here too.  In short, great potential lost to arrogance.

"Our" hotel for the night.

Everyone else (less one person who stayed with relatives) stayed across the street.

When I saw the triple digit price (group rate even) I just about opted out of the trip.  Then I got on Orbitz to see if they had a lower price, which they did tho not that much lower.  Being that is motel row, I looked at others in the immediate area and found Comfort Suites at HALF the price.

Did I mention "SUITES"?

I booked there.

Oh yes.  Two very comfy queen beds, one a bit softer than the other.  Perfect!  Lots of space.  Easy access plug-ins all over.  Fridge and microwave.

And our sitting area!  Nice.

LOVE this bedside lamp with the goose neck reading lamp.  Oh I want that for my bedside!

The free breakfast was amazing.  This is just half of it and it was all high quality food; no nameless knock offs.

The tour leaders were pretty ticked we got a better nicer deal.  The other participants were ticked too!  No suites and a skimpy breakfast at twice the price.

In the morning we headed to "Ward Hall" an antebellum mansion that had been owned by one of the richest families in old Kentucky.  Very much a hit that I will write more on this week.

Next stop was "Bi Water Farm".

It is known for its amazing flower baskets on Georgetown's Main St and for its fall fest corn maze, etc in October.

Why we stopped here is a total mystery.  We walked around looking at a lot of nothing... "this is where the corn maze will be" and "this is where the pumpkin patch will be" and so on.  The shop had a small amount of veggies, a ton of jellies/jams, a few loaves of banana bread, and some hanging basket components.

Lunch was at Hayden's Stockyard Restaurant... more on that later.

Our last stop was Equus Run Vineyard.  Nice.

Zack was our guide and he did an excellent job.  After touring the vineyard and production area, we went for tastings.

Himself came home with his own souvenir of the trip... a bottle of Equus Run Bella Rosso dessert wine.  It is a nice fortified red with warm tones.

After that we headed out on our 5 hour trip home.