He Said, She Said: Tennessee- Lynchburg

HE SAID:
I know this is probably getting old to some of you, but the drive to Lynchburg was loooong. It was another 6-7 hours in the car, but once we got there, it was completely worth the drive. We got into town around 6 PM (it was too late to take a tour of the JD brewery), so we decided to stay at this cool little inn that off the main highway.

After checking in and unloading all of our stuff, it was off to find a meal. We decided to drive into the main square because we didn't know how far it was going to be, but the square ended up being a 30 second drive in. Lynchburg is a very small town (probably 1 L.A. block, not kidding) and obviously everything revolves around the tourists that come to see the brewery. Everything was pretty much closed except for one restaurant so our meal establishment was basically chosen for us. Now, when we were looking at the distilleries, we knew that one was in a dry county but we couldn't remember which one it was, but we found out after I tried to order a beer at the restaurant which one it was. After the waitresses had a good laugh at my expense, we got our food (it was pretty good, and down right cheap).

After dinner, we decided to head back to the inn and update our blog. On the way, we stopped to get some 24's of Bud Light (apparently they can sell beer, not the hard stuff).
After a good night's sleep and some catching up on blogging, we headed off to the JD distillery to take the tour. The place was really cool. It was great to walk around the distillery and see how everything is made. The tour guide knew all the little secrets (meaning he got us a little tipsy without ever actually drinking anything) and he was a pretty funny guy.

Of course we had to stop at the gift store and get some stuff. Apparently, they recently got a permit from the county to sell "gift bottles" rather than bottles for consumption. I got a bottle of 1981 Gold Medal Jack which you can only get at the distillery.

Afterwards, it was off to Nashville to explore the city. Hopefully it will be as fun as Lynchburg and not as shady as Memphis, we'll see.

SHE SAID:
We had originally planned on driving to Nashville to stay the night and just visiting the distillery during the day. I'm so glad we went to Lynchburg. It was the small Southern town we needed. As Mario mentioned, the main area was literally as large as our street made into a square.

The highlight of the first night was definitely dinner. You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl. Right??? When we sat down to eat, the waitress handed us a silver fork in a plastic bag. Not a plastic fork that would have made more sense. And why didn't we get a knife??? I never did get an explanation for any of that. Mario immediately asked the waitress what beer's they had on tap. From that point on, we were pegged as the tourists. We could hear them laughing in the kitchen about us. This only motivated me more to ask questions (definitely my mother's daughter). I actually had the audacity to ask our waitress what they did to have fun in the town and if they threw parties in the barns behind their parents' backs. She said they waited until the town meeting to throw a party at someone's house. I swear, this was the town I had always seen in movies but didn't know actually existed. To add to this, the high school coach was eating dinner at the table behind us, and the table next to us was planning their booth for the upcoming fair. At one point, the son, I kid you not, actually said, "I think you should strike the whole menu, bring out the fryer, and throw some pickles in." Oh baby, we are in the South now!!!

All kidding aside, Lynchburg was quite fabulous! It was refreshing to be in such a quaint town that seemed to not have any worries. Their biggest crime was probably jaywalking. We even went down to where the fair was going to take place and were amazed to see nothing locked up or even put away. All of the toys and prizes were scattered around the booths. We were definitely not in LA anymore. That night we drank beer on the front porch in our rocking chairs watching the fireflies and stars. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

The next day was reserved for Jack Daniels. The distillery was so beautiful and so full of history. Majority of the people that worked there had family working there and were somehow related to Jack himself. All of the workers were so full of pride for their product. The company slogan is, "Every day we make it, we'll make it the best we can." I don't think there is a better slogan for any company. Very proud! Along the tour, we were very pleased to discover you could get buzzed off of fumes alone. As a dry county, they cannot offer tastings. So, instead our guide taught us how to put our noses inside of the mashing stills and fanned the brewery fumes into our faces. You could definitely smell the fumes in the barrel room. I'm not a Jack fan, by nature, but I've gained a lot more respect for the company and product.