And the state count continues...

Next stop on my three state weekend trip was Alabama!

We drove over the border to the little town of Ardmore which straddled both Tennessee and Alabama.  Not too much in this part of Alabama...pretty much little po dunk towns.

I guess this bar couldn't decide who to support.  But the only for sure thing you knew to root for were the gold fish races held at the bar! 

We then quickly headed back into Tennessee!

Out next stop was Lynchburg, home of Jack Daniel's. Here is the iconic Jack Daniel on the rocks. Note this statue is larger than life size: Jack (his original name was Jasper – no wonder he changed it!) was only 5'2”.

Jack Daniel Tennessee whiskey is made in the same way it's been made since the beginning. The ingredients are corn, rye and barley. What makes Tennessee whiskey unique and different from bourbon or other whiskeys around the is that it is filtered through charcoal the take out impurities. Jack Daniel also only uses water from the spring that flows on the property and uses mostly local ingredients.

Jack Daniels is stored in oak barrels that are handmade on the property. The barrels are charred on the inside to give the whiskey a nice flavor. It's also interesting to note that their barrels are only used once and after that are sold to other companies (Tabasco buys the largest amount of barrels.)

Their barrels are stored in big barrels houses from about 6-8 years. Each level of the barrel house ages the whiskey in a different way due to the heat changes in the different levels. All of these barrels are combined to create the unique taste and the perfect combination that is determined by color and taste – nothing computerized about it. Must be a tough job to taste Jack all day :)

We also felt we had to eat a Moon Pie since they are an iconic Southern/Tennessee treat. They are made locally in Chattanooga.

We tried a chocolate one.

And a vanilla one. They are all made with marshmallow and graham cracker and dipped in either the chocolate or vanilla coating. They were a tasty sugary treat!

Next up was dinner. We thought it might be a trouble finding a place in the South that served a meatless meal (after all this was a Friday in Lent and everywhere we'd eaten had been heavy on the pork side.)

I'll admit I was unsure about Legendary (?) Joe's Place but it was good! Note the paper towel rolls instead of napkins. Let's just say it was laid back type of place but everyone there was sooooo nice! Truly, they gave us samples of things we'd never heard of before (white beans? corn nuggets?) and were just a delight to chat with.

We both had the fried catfish (a first!) I had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, hush puppies and cornbread. My mom had the same except she had the corn nuggets (corn but made into something like a tater tot...corn tot?) We also had the have sweet tea because what's a few more calories when you're eating everything fried?!

The dinner was yummmmmy! We were even talked into getting the chocolate pie (sorry it was devoured before a photo could be taken!)

And also a Piggly Wiggly. Those, like churches, are basically on every corner here in the South.