GoofyMom's Great American Road Trip to Florida - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We headed back to the van, and we drove over to the Budweiser Brewery. Tours of the brewery are free, however you do have to have a ticket, so we walked up to the Information Desk to get them. You do not have to be over 21, nor do you have to be a beer drinker. It smelled very beer-y throughout the property, but eventually you do get used to it. We had a while to kill before the next tour, so we wandered around, browsing through the gift shop and taking photos.
Dan's trying to give Chez's Mark a run for his money with the silly photo ops! You could not get close enough to the car to actually lean on it!
The part that is cut off at the bottom says "This Bud Light Micro Jet requires about 2100 feet of runway to take off. It is one of the few jet aircraft used for fall slides, a challenging and extremely difficult maneuver."
The company supplies drinking water to victims of natural disasters.
They called our tour, so we joined the group and started learning all about Anheuser-Busch. I wish I'd taken notes. They throw a lot of facts and numbers at you, and basically overwhelm you with information. There are a few areas you are not allowed to take pictures, but most of the property is camera-friendly.
First stop was the stables to see the Clydesdales. The stables were very ornate! Don't get me wrong, it still smelled like a stable (in a brewery ), but how many have such beautiful chandeliers and stained glass windows??
The Anheuser Eagle - I don't know where Dan took this photo, but it looks like it's on a lead or a saddle or something, doesn't it?
As we arrived, a man brought a horse out of his stall and started brushing him. Dan's farm had a Clydesdale when I first met Dan, so we both were familiar with how big a Clydesdale is. However, this horse was a giant! Much bigger than Dan's Clydesdale was.
They didn't tell us the horse's name, but he was beautiful. (The spots in the photo are particles of straw floating around)
The architecture was amazing! The two photos above are an archway for traffic to drive around the property.
Our two guides took us through all kinds of rooms, up elevators, down escalators, and through the bottling/canning production line area. One part of the tour is quite chilly, and one part is very warm.
Brewmeister Dan in the hot room.
This is the reason the room is so hot. They have big boilers for this part of the process.
For some reason they wouldn't allow us to take photos in the cold room. It was the room where they put the beechwood chips in incredibly huge tanks. There were 20 tanks in the room and I wish I could remember how many 6 packs they said each tank could hold, but they did say it would take 1 person over 120 years of drinking a beer a day to consume one tankful.
Way at the top of the tower is the eagle.
We were explained about the significance of the elephants. During Prohibition they sold baking yeast and the elephants were their trademark. Ok. So far they have Clydesdales, eagles and elephants. (There's another one in a minute)
This building is where the bottling/canning process occurs.
This was the only way to be permitted inside. If that door closed before you were through, you weren't getting in, so one of our tour guides held the door open for us all. We were only allowed to take photos in the lobby:
Here's the other animal mascot. I forget the name of the fox, (ok, I googled it - it's Renald). He's drinking Bevo (bee-vo) which was a near-beer that they produced during the Prohibition.
Our tour guides
The tour is all down hill so it's an easy walk. At the end of the tour, you load onto a tram and are returned up the hill to the main building.
The interior of the tram was completely made of plywood, including the seats.
This is the part Dan was waiting for..... the tasting room! I don't care for beer, but I figured there's no place like a brewery to try some! When you enter the tasting room, you are given a package of pretzels and told that you can have 2 complimentary beer samples. Samples, being full-sized servings!! There is also soda pop available for underage people and those who don't drink. Beer was not the only thing available at the bar, they also had coolers.
First I eased into it with a Bacardi Silver Mojito, instead of a beer. Mmmm. Not bad for a malt beverage!
My "sample" of Bacardi Mojito.
Dan started with a dark beer. In the meantime, here's where it would've come in really handy to have taken notes: the Trivia Contest. The guides showed us a really big bottle of some special edition of beer. By big bottle, I mean about 1½ litres!! Then they asked us a question that they had told us the answer to sometime during the tour. It was really tricky, because they throw so many numbers out during the tour that you're hard-pressed to keep them all straight. So, if you ever take the brewery tour, pay special close attention to everything they tell you, because it could pay off with a really big prize!
After I finished my Mojito, I went back to the bartenders to ask their opinion on what beer a non-beer drinker should try. They suggested the seasonal one called Jack's Pumpkin Spice and offered to give me a sample (this time it really was just a sample!). I tasted it, thought it was ok, and they poured me a full glass. Dan was amazed to see me drinking a beer, so he took a lot of pictures! I'll spare you most of them, but here's proof that I tried a beer.
He went back for his 2nd sample, which was not as dark of a beer as his first one. In the length of time it took me to nurse my beer, he went back to try to sweet talk himself into a third sample. Which he did!
Dan beats the system and gets his 3rd beer.
He got the dark beer that he had sampled the first time around. Funny thing is he really liked it, but now he doesn't remember what it was called.
After we had finished our samples and bought a shot glass from the gift shop for my collection, we decided we were hungry and hit McDonalds because it was fast and it was nearby. We left St. Louis at 2:00. It was 99º. This is where we had a decision to make: Nashville or Memphis.
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Ahh, I envy you a child-less road trip! Don't you just love the cheap prices plus the CDN dollar is just about par so it makes it that much better!
BTW, love the Corner Gas air freshner on your rear view mirror!
I was totally diggin' how inexpensive everything was!! Honestly -- only $2.60-$3.00/gallon for gas!!! The only things we found to be "expensive" were restaurant meals and hotel rooms. Those were about the same prices as we'd pay here, though, so even that wasn't bad, especially considering the favourable exchange rate now. I'm almost looking forward to the Visa bill.
And we're proud to have the Corner Gas air freshener! For those that don't know, it's a comedy on Canadian tv about life in a hick town in Saskatchewan. We basically lived that exact life when we were first married and we love that show!
Reallly? I liked Sioux Falls. It's a really pretty town and the people were very friendly!
Donna, I live in a small town called Canton which is about 21 - 25 miles SE of Sioux Falls. I drive to Sioux Falls on average once a day, but two or even three times is not uncommon.
You ever drive through this way again, PM me.
It was wonderful to see your pictures and read about your "road" adventures. We used to drive from SD to FL, but started flying this year to save some time.
I'm excited to read more - keep it coming!!
[quote=GoofyMom;1755622]I started getting nervous with the St. Louis traffic. St. Louis has half the population of Winnipeg, and yet it's got about 4 times the traffic!! I didn't get any pictures of the really scary stuff, but trust me, it was tense for a while!
[quote]
Ya know, I hear that A LOT!!! My mom hated St. Louis traffic, even my boss doesn't like it.
Me - I drove in Nazareth, Israel - nothing has fazed me since!!!!
More please!!
__________________
~*~ Jana ~*~
Troian Rae (7) and Benjamin (11) - March 2010
Last edited by TroianRae; 09-18-2007 at 11:48 AM..
Dan had been to Nashville before, and I didn't care one way or the other, so we decided on Memphis. We hopped aboard I-55 and away we went!
This is when we realized how long we had been in Missouri for. We'd hit the northern edge yesterday at 5:00, drove to KC then 220 miles across to St Louis, and then another 200 miles south of St L. It seemed like the state went on forever! We filled up with gas at Hayti, MO ($2.599/gal) for only $50! (That's a little over a half tank at home! )
Hey, Bill! We found you a new patrol car!!
At 5:00 we hit the Arkansas state line. It was 93º.
Getting closer to Memphis.
At the Arkansas border we figured we were still an hour or so away from Memphis, and that we would stop there for the night. But when I checked the AAA Guidebook for prices of rooms, we were amazed at how high the rates were. So we checked a little further along the interstate and found slightly cheaper rates at a little suburb of Memphis called Horn Lake, MS. We had liked the Drury Inn last night so much that we found another one in Horn Lake and decided to stop there. It was still $90, but was considerably less than if we had stayed in Memphis itself. One thing we learned to do on the trip home was to get the government/military room rate rather than the AAA rate. Dan works for the Canadian Government so he has his government ID and it qualified us for the discount. Wish we'd had that figured out for the trip down too!
I was a little disappointed with the part of Memphis that the interstate took us through. I mean, I wasn't expecting to drive past mansions or Graceland or anything, but all we saw were smokestacks and tanks and other industrial-type stuff.
After we checked in to the hotel, we helped ourselves to the treats at Happy Hour, carrying the drinks up to our room to put in the fridge for later. Then we drove to Chili's for dinner. Like Annabel, I love Chili's and we don't have one here! But I like it for a different reason. The Grilled Caribbean Salad. I also got a pink lemonade. We ate and headed back to our room for the nightcaps we had tucked away in our fridge. Only I ended up not drinking mine because I had ordered a margarita on the rocks with sugar, and the girl had rimmed it with salt instead. By the time we returned, the salt had dissolved into the drink and it was like drinking from the Gulf of Mexico! :::blech::: That was ok though. I was ready to hit the sack anyway, because we still had a long day's drive ahead of us tomorrow, and then a really big payoff at the end!
Donna, I live in a small town called Canton which is about 21 - 25 miles SE of Sioux Falls. I drive to Sioux Falls on average once a day, but two or even three times is not uncommon.
You ever drive through this way again, PM me.
It was wonderful to see your pictures and read about your "road" adventures. We used to drive from SD to FL, but started flying this year to save some time.
I'm excited to read more - keep it coming!!
Sure enough, I just checked the map and we drove right past Canton! That's 2 PassPorters now that I know we drove right past on this trip , and I'm sure there will be more. We'll have to see what the future brings so far as driving there again is concerned.
that dan sweet-talked his way into a third free beer!! i didn't get to do the tour when i went b/c i didn't have much time. maybe next time! it sounds like fun!
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I'm finding this trip report fascinating, as we've never really done a road trip and you're definitely making me think about one in the future.... you've seen some great places along the way already.
That's 2 PassPorters now that I know we drove right past on this trip , and I'm sure there will be more. We'll have to see what the future brings so far as driving there again is concerned.
Well, this is the day that I am a bad little Trip Reporter. We had a lot of options open to us for the route to take to Florida. Originally we had Google Mapped our route option from Memphis to cut across the NE corner of Mississippi, head to Birmingham, AL and south to Bill & Jan's. I had directions from Bill about how to get to his house based on that route. But when I got our TripTik from CAA they had us going down through Mississippi to Jackson, then across to Meridian and then down to Mobile, AL. When we were in Horn Lake we decided we didn't like either of these routes. So we decided to change it up – driving to Jackson on I-55, then took a nice divided highway (US Hwy 49) to Hattiesburg, then 98 to Mobile. And I didn't take any notes until we got to Mobile. All I have is a bunch of pictures and the notation I put on the TripTik when we left Horn Lake. The odometer read 76149 (meaning we did 894 km, or 555 miles yesterday), it was 79º out and we were on the road by 8:00. I remember that we had decided to sleep in a little, and I know we ate breakfast at our hotel because they have a pretty good spread there.
Leaving Horn Lake
Our well-marked map showing the various routes we had considered. We ended up taking the long yellow one heading south.
Dan in his aerodynamic driving position so we could get there faster!
We passed a huge car manufacturing facility:
Entering a nice little town called Magee. How do I know the name? Because I took this shot:
On our last leg through Mississippi
This is logging country.
Logging trail
And obviously, a logging truck
It was now 91º. How do I know?
33ºC = 91.4ºF I was bored. What can I say?!!
Goodbye Mississippi, hello Alabama!!
Some storm damage
Driving through Mobile about 2:00
We're getting closer!!
A tunnel?? Cool!
We stopped for something to eat at Cracker Barrel because we've never eaten there before. Probably won't eat there again, either.
We're almost in Florida and it's mid-afternoon. Time for a shower?
<whining> How much further??? Answer: 77.5 miles
Every state we entered, I tried to take a photo of the Welcome to XXXX sign. Yeah. This is Florida's.
I got one of the Welcome Center sign though.
We stopped there for a quick break and to have some orange juice. We also got directions for which exit to take so we could drive along the coast.
Now, somewhere around here, I had grabbed my cell phone and placed a call to Bill to let him know that we were almost there. He gave me directions to his house coming in from the West instead of the North, and we were on the road again!
At home that white stuff in the distance would be snow. Here, it was sand!!!
We got here a little after 5:00. I think Jan must have been waiting with her nose pressed to the window because she was out of the house running towards us so fast that this is the shot I got!!
The rest of the evening was spent just chillin out. Lots of hugs, lots of laughter, lots of catching up with each other. Oh, and I introduced Dan to Bill & Jan, and they introduced their granddaughter Abby and their son Adam to us. I had brought a book for Abby and she just climbed up on my lap like she'd known me forever and we read it. It was really nice to finally be here!!
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Donna - Glad you finally made it! That's one looooonnnngggggg drive! It's probably been over 30 years since I went up in the Arch. What's sad is that I can remember when they were building it. I can't wait to hear about your stay with Bill & Jan.
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), but how many have such beautiful chandeliers and stained glass windows?? 
There is also soda pop available for underage people and those who don't drink. Beer was not the only thing available at the bar, they also had coolers.
I'll spare you most of them, but here's proof that I tried a beer.
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
And I'm glad you had time to sample some at the end 
Although that pumkin one doesn't sound all that appealing 
The only things we found to be "expensive" were restaurant meals and hotel rooms. Those were about the same prices as we'd pay here, though, so even that wasn't bad, especially considering the favourable exchange rate now. I'm almost looking forward to the Visa bill. 
For those that don't know, it's a comedy on Canadian tv about life in a hick town in Saskatchewan. We basically lived that exact life when we were first married and we love that show! 
So we checked a little further along the interstate and found slightly cheaper rates at a little suburb of Memphis called Horn Lake, MS. We had liked the Drury Inn last night so much that we found another one in Horn Lake and decided to stop there. It was still $90, but was considerably less than if we had stayed in Memphis itself. One thing we learned to do on the trip home was to get the government/military room rate rather than the AAA rate. Dan works for the Canadian Government so he has his government ID and it qualified us for the discount. Wish we'd had that figured out for the trip down too! 
I also got a pink lemonade. 
We ate and headed back to our room for the nightcaps we had tucked away in our fridge. Only I ended up not drinking mine because I had ordered a margarita on the rocks with sugar, and the girl had rimmed it with salt instead. By the time we returned, the salt had dissolved into the drink and it was like drinking from the Gulf of Mexico! :::blech::: That was ok though. I was ready to hit the sack anyway, because we still had a long day's drive ahead of us tomorrow, and then a really big payoff at the end! 
We'll have to see what the future brings so far as driving there again is concerned. 
Glad you found another Drury Inn and at least had a good meal!!
that dan sweet-talked his way into a third free beer!! i didn't get to do the tour when i went b/c i didn't have much time. maybe next time! it sounds like fun!
PassPorter Guide Author
All I have is a bunch of pictures and the notation I put on the TripTik when we left Horn Lake. The odometer read 76149 (meaning we did 894 km, or 555 miles yesterday), it was 79º out and we were on the road by 8:00. I remember that we had decided to sleep in a little, and I know we ate breakfast at our hotel because they have a pretty good spread there. 
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