mini vacay in december

Good grief.  Today is April 1 and this is not an April Fool's joke.  I just saw these pictures in my picture folder . . .these were taken back during December!  (I didn't even finish the post on April 1 - it is now April 4th!!)

Mark and I are the kind of people who plan a trip and proceed to the destination.  We don't have a tendency to veer from the course.  BUUUUTTT we did on this trip.  We were going to Nashville to see our friends, Hayden and Jan.  We had passed the sign for Jack Daniel Distillery many times but on this trip, we took the exit and we drove and drove and drove.  It is a lot further from the exit than you think!.

We finally arrived and went into the lobby area.  We found out that they had tasting tours and decided to sign up.  We texted our friends and said we might be a little later than we originally planned!!

It was a fun tour group!

We had a great guide (guy in the overalls!!)

He knew lots of fun and interesting facts about bourbon.

They had a firetruck on the premises . . .so cute!

It was very cool in this cave - spring water!!

Hanging out with Gentleman Jack!

The next two pictures were taken in the bottling area - those bottles moved through the line very quickly.  The quality control person stood by ready to remove any that didn't meet the criteria.

Hayden and Jan took us to the most fun restaurant - if you are in Nashville, you should try out the Firefly Grille.  The food was good and the restaurant itself was just fun!

On Saturday morning, we drove over to Franklin for their Dickens of a Christmas.  Here is a little blurb about it from their website:

Franklin’s Main Street–and its beautiful Victorian architecture–will be decked out for the holiday season. Some 200 characters, dancers and entertainers in the street, including several from Charles Dickens’s stories interacting with the public. Expect to see the nefarious Fagin from Oliver Twist; Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim Cratchit (I wish we had seen Tiny Tim!!) with his parents from A Christmas Carol; and of course, a Victorian Father and Mother Christmas with treats for children.

We ate breakfast at Puckett's Grocery and it was yummy!!

There were booths filled with all sorts of arts and crafts and popcorn and other food items.  There were characters in costume.

I love this bicycle!!  When we first arrived that morning, there were very few people around.  By the time we left, the streets were packed.  As we were driving out of town, we saw people parking over a mile away and walking down the side of the street!!

We love spending time with Hayden and Jan.   We laugh so hard when we are together and we are always renewed and refreshed.  Good friends are like gold, aren't they??