We had a great week in Kentucky thanks to Fodorites advice. We landed in Louisville and were pleased with the charming and friendly hotel staff at Holiday Inn. Had fun at the Louisville Bats (Cinn Reds triple A team). The next morning we drove out to Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park. What a great visitor attraction--even for people who aren't horse lovers would enjoy this place. They have an excellent horse museum, many opportunities for kids to get up and touch horses, watch workers in stables taking care of the horses, and even see famous thoroughbreds of years past. Ate at Billy's BBQ.
Next day we drove out to Springfield and stayed 2 nights at Maple Hill Manor B&B, a recommendation I found on this forum. It had the best desserts (and I've had many!), homemade pies, cakes, brownies to die for. The breakfasts were outstanding--no wonder it has been voted best B&B in Kentucky, best historical charm in the USA, and best breakfast in southeast US. The views are beautiful and the grounds are relaxing with fruit orchards, horses, alpacas, llamas, and their pet dogs and cats. It's worth checking out if you are in the area. Highly recommended. www.maplehillmanor.com.

Nearby we visited Perryville Civil War Battlefield, My Old Kentucky Home State Park, and ventured into Bardstown where we found an old corner drug store Hurst that still had the old fashioned soda fountain and we enjoyed milkshakes.

Next day we drove out to Harrodsburg and had sunday brunch at the old Beaumont Inn. We were still too full on our B&B breakfast to really enjoy the meal there.

Spent 3 nights at the Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill for our conference. It is a restored community with amazing architecture considering the age of the buildings. They serve the most wonderful cauliflower casserole. My husband thought it was the best thing he had on the entire trip, and he doesn't even like cauliflower! And we had a lot of great food on this trip.

Drove back to Louisville via Lexington back roads and enjoyed seeing all of the beautifully landscaped horse farms along the way. We had perfect weather, in the 70's until the last 2 days when the Kentucky rains moved in. Needless to say, we enjoyed our weeklong trip there.

Nice report. Thanks.

I hope to travel Kentucky in the next few years several times, and will take your printout.

Did you pass any nice lakes or lake towns?

Glad to hear it worked out well for you. I found it interesting you were at a conference at Shaker Village. I really enjoy going there and had no idea they were capable of accomodating conferences! Thanks for sharing your trip report.

Isn't the Kentucky Horse Park great? ;-) I always recommend it!

Hi offlady! Glad you enjoyed your trip here. Thanks for posting the comments. I guess you went back the old way (pre-interstate) via Simpsonville. Everyone considers KY to be the Thoroughbred industry but we have amazing Saddlebreds in that part and host the World Championship Horse show in Louisville this week. JJ5, not lake country between Louisville and Lexington, but below Bardstown a bit you have Rough River and Nolin Lakes. We have many beautiful state parks and gorgeous lakes at Land Between the Lakes and Ky Lake. Too bad lots of people consider us just a dentally challenged state, KY has awesome beauty, culture and such diversity. BTW....which Holiday Inn?

At Shaker Village, we rode the Dixie Belle ferry down the Kentucky River. They served a BBQ meal on the ferry, but it may have been a meal arranged with their conference services. Yes, they can accomodate conference groups. We stayed in the actual Shaker housing and the rooms were very clean and spacious, and have up-to-date bathrooms. They also provided lunches inside the conference hall during meetings. (www.shakervillageky.org) Their specialty is their sliced lemon pie which is different from anything you've had. It's thinly sliced lemons (skin and all) layered in a pie shell with sugar. It was a little too lemony and sweet for our taste. Sort of like a lemon marmalade pie.

We accidently took the back roads while navigating our way around (okay, we got lost), but the scenery was beautiful. Kentucky is a beautiful state.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Gardiner Point Drive near the Louisville Airport on the first day of our arrival and the last night before our flight home. It is directly across the road from the KFC headquarters. It is currently undergoing renovations but we didn't mind. They served a full breakfast free with the room--including eggs, bacon, assorted cereals, fresh cut melons and whole fruits (apples, oranges, bananas), yogurts, toasts, juices, milk, coffee, No kidding! WIth our family of 4, it was almost like we had a free night's stay there with the meal. They also provide free shuttle service within a 3 mile radius (airport, Six Flags, etc.) so we returned our car a day early and took their shuttle to the airport since we had an early flight. Best of all, the front desk clerks and the restaurant hostesses were so nice and friendly, I just had to write to the company and tell them so.

Thanks for the compliments to KY. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit. Come back and go to Cumberland Falls or Land Between the Lakes for a completely different experience.

I love Shaker Lemon Pie. You are just about right; the ingredients are lemons, sugar, and eggs. In fact, we enjoy Shakertown so much that about 25 members of my family are going there for lunch over Labor Day weekend, and just thinking about the pie makes my mouth water.

thanks for sharing. Maple Hill Manor sounds excellent!

Great report. This may sound like a crazy question, but are you sure it was califlower casserole? We ate at Shaker Village less than a year ago and they served a casserole with a white vegetable called salsify (this is how it is pronounced, no idea how to spell it). It was really delicious - very rich!

Is Shaker Lemon Pie the same thing as Lemon Chess Pie?

No, southern lemon chess pie is made with cornmeal. It's delicious, too!
http://southernfood.about.com/od/lem...r/bl00510e.htm

Risking life and limb by adding to the recipe frenzy, here is how to make a Shaker Lemon Pie.

3 thin-skinned lemons
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, well beaten
Pastry for a double-crust pie

Slice middle sections of two lemons as thin as possible, rind and all. Squeeze juice from the ends and the remaining lemon. Combine with sugar; mix well. Let stand two hours or longer, blending occasionally.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Add beaten eggs to lemon mixture, and mix well. Pour into a pie shell in a deep pie plate, arranging lemon slices evenly. Cover with a top crust. Vent the crust, and bake for 15 minutes; reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more or until a silver knife inserted near the edge comes out clean.

Serve warm, but refrigerate any leftovers.

(The reason for using thin-skinned lemons is to prevent a bitter taste from a thick inner pith.)

Hi Carolyn - I'm going to risk my life along with you by asking this question but I must know... how do you know which lemons have thin skins?

I think the smaller and more petite the lemon, the thinner skins. The "jumbo" versions generally are more robust, methinks. How are ya purple?

Doing well... missing my new Lville buddies... would you and Carolyn be up for lunch anytime soon?

npurpleh, since retirement, lunch is my favorite thing. Just say the word.

Linda is right--look for smaller lemons with a fine-grain peel. The fat ones will have a thick inner membrane and a coarse looking peel.

contact me at this screen name at aol dot com and let's do it!

GREAT! I just emailed Linda at the email address she provided. Carolyn, I've asked Linda to pass along your email info to me when she hears from you so the 3 of us can coordinate. Looking forward to seeing you both soon!

No bourbon ??!!!

snowrooster, the server said it was cauliflower casserole as she put it on our table. It had a distinct cauliflower taste. (I've never had salsify so I wouldn't know about that). It had a white sauce with bread crumb topping. I've never had cauliflower taste so good. We all agreed that out of all the food we had on our trip, this casserole was the best.

Maple Hill Manor has fresh homemade desserts put out every afternoon. The lemon cake, cherry pie and apple pie were excellent with perfect crust--nothing is left on the plate. On our last day, there was a huge plate of brownies. It was truly the best brownies I have ever had. The breakfast pancakes were also the best pancakes I have ever had--honest! The owner/cook is in the process of putting together a cookbook. He was getting so many requests for his recipes from his guests that he eventually put them all down on paper to give out. He has about 150 recipes to be printed in the book so far. There are a few recipes already on their website. They also sell jams and jellies made from fruits in their orchard, and alpaca apparel made from from their farm animal hair.