Where I Come From

I though I'd share this article from the San Francisco Chronicle about my hometown, Lexington, KY.

I wholeheartedly believe that I live in the most beautiful state in the country. Ya'll should pay us a visit...in fact, next month, October, is just about the perfect time to come to the Bluegrass!

"Kentucky's bluegrass region is easy to enjoy" The first time I saw Kentucky I was behind the wheel of a car. I was in a hurry. I was leaving New York state, bound for California, and as I drove cross-country with my worldly goods, the vastness of America blended into a blur of truck stops, toxic coffee and bleary-eyed days wiping bugs off the windshield. I didn't even stop for gas in Kentucky, but something about the hopelessly pretty, lovingly manicured quality of the countryside stayed with me down the decades. Just lately, I decided to revisit Kentucky, specifically the bluegrass region that wraps around Lexington, in the north-central part of the state. I want the full Southern monty without the drunks of New Orleans, the urban hell of Atlanta or the preciousness of Charleston or Savannah. I also want to avoid the climatic deep fryer of the Deep South. Kentucky, hovering on the edge of the Midwest, with a smooth blend of elegance and down-home charm, is an appealing alternative, especially in autumn and spring when the weather is fine. Flying into Lexington's aptly named Blue Grass Airport, I feel I'm flying into a garden. I pass over expansive, immaculately kept horse-breeding farms, meandering white fences tracing the soft contours of the land, canopies of trees and green, green grass flecked with the farm ponds I remember from my drive-by all those years ago. It takes maybe 0.3 seconds to exit the small, sweet airport located just across the road from Keeneland Race Course and motor along Man O' War Boulevard, past the turnoff to Sport Horse Lane and on toward downtown Lexington, a city of 300,000. Happily, you don't have to be a horsey person or a high roller - I am neither - to have a good time. The bluegrass region - so-called thanks to abundant Poa pratensis grass and its blue-tinged flower - has a variety of attractions to offer. Silky-smooth, locally distilled straight Kentucky bourbon, for one. Rich pioneer and Civil War history, for another. The redbrick cafes, restaurants and bars of Lexington's lively, compact downtown. The cavernous Valhalla of hoop dreams, Rupp Arena, where the hometown University of Kentucky Wildcats play basketball. Intricate, fast-fingered bluegrass music. Robust regional food that goes beyond KFC, biscuits and gravy. And, not least, lovely drives through leafy landscapes.... Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/09/TREA1KS5RN.DTL#ixzz1XrWSVAOs