Never ones to pass up a visit to friends and family in a new (to us) place, CJ and I jumped at the chance to visit his uncle and family outside Louisville, KY this spring. Neither of us had ever been to Kentucky, and I don't know if we would have planned a trip there on our own, but it was a great opportunity to visit with family and explore a little bit more of the country. CJ's uncle, his wife, and their then almost one-year-old son moved to Louisville earlier this year and we were excited to see them and their new home.
We didn't have many plans going into the trip other than spending time with family, but after a weekend full of historic houses, horses, and bourbon, I think we definitely got a good taste of Kentucky. Here are some highlights.
Louisville in a Day
We spent our first day in Kentucky exploring all of the Louisville landmarks we read about in our trusty Lonely Planet USA guidebook with CJ's aunt and cousin. Our first stop was Old Louisville to admire some of the beautiful old houses and take a tour of a Victorian era mansion (I can't remember the name!) This house did not disappoint when to elaborate Victorian era decorating and luxury. We learned about he Southern Exposition that came to Louisville in 1883 and introduced the world to Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulbs, putting the city on the map.
After the tour, we had a picnic of sandwiches and salads in Cherokee Park, a Frederick Law Olmstead creation. It was a beautiful day chatting and people (and dog) watching. By then it was pretty late in the day, so we swung by the Louisville Slugger Museum and Churchill Downs for some quick pictures before heading home. We ended our first day in town with a home cooked meal for dinner, and spent the evening catching up.
Bourbon Trail
We spent Day 2 of our Kentucky weekend visiting a few of the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail. I learned that the bluegrass state is beautiful, and also that I don't care for bourbon too much. I don't love to admit it, but I may or may not have spent my senior year of college exclusively drinking Kentucky Gentleman, an awful rail bourbon available for less than $10 a handle. I thought that may qualify me as a bourbon connoisseur but quickly learned that what I had been drinking was a far cry from the bourbon aged and made in these distilleries.
We didn't have many plans going into the trip other than spending time with family, but after a weekend full of historic houses, horses, and bourbon, I think we definitely got a good taste of Kentucky. Here are some highlights.
Louisville in a Day
We spent our first day in Kentucky exploring all of the Louisville landmarks we read about in our trusty Lonely Planet USA guidebook with CJ's aunt and cousin. Our first stop was Old Louisville to admire some of the beautiful old houses and take a tour of a Victorian era mansion (I can't remember the name!) This house did not disappoint when to elaborate Victorian era decorating and luxury. We learned about he Southern Exposition that came to Louisville in 1883 and introduced the world to Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulbs, putting the city on the map.
After the tour, we had a picnic of sandwiches and salads in Cherokee Park, a Frederick Law Olmstead creation. It was a beautiful day chatting and people (and dog) watching. By then it was pretty late in the day, so we swung by the Louisville Slugger Museum and Churchill Downs for some quick pictures before heading home. We ended our first day in town with a home cooked meal for dinner, and spent the evening catching up.
Bourbon Trail
We spent Day 2 of our Kentucky weekend visiting a few of the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail. I learned that the bluegrass state is beautiful, and also that I don't care for bourbon too much. I don't love to admit it, but I may or may not have spent my senior year of college exclusively drinking Kentucky Gentleman, an awful rail bourbon available for less than $10 a handle. I thought that may qualify me as a bourbon connoisseur but quickly learned that what I had been drinking was a far cry from the bourbon aged and made in these distilleries.
At Buffalo Trace Distillery, we took a 30 minute complimentary tour of the distillery. We learned what goes in to making different types of bourbons and how they get their flavor from the wood of the barrel. It's crazy that all of the drinks made there, and at other distilleries, come from corn. After the tour, we had a tasting of a few types of bourbon. I can't say that I was the biggest fan of drinking straight bourbon, but finishing the tasting off with a piece (or two) of chocolate made up for it.
We then drove to Woodford Reserve, a bit of a higher-end distillery nestled in the rolling hills of Kentucky's bluegrass. We did another bourbon and chocolate tasting on the porch and then head back to Louisville.
After a filling BBQ dinner, CJ and I ventured out on our own to check out downtown Louisville on a Friday night. I'm not sure if we knew the right places to hit, but we had a nice time drinking bourbon flavored beers, playing (a pitiful game of) pool and listening to live music. We decided to hit up one more hole-in-the-wall bars while we were waiting for our Uber to come, and also may have spent a solid 30 minutes watching knock-off WWE wrestling…
Keeneland
Never the less, we made it home in one piece and were up early Saturday for a day at the races. We spent the day watching horse races at Keeneland race track. Since we weren’t in town for the derby, this seemed like the next best thing. Some spectators were dressed to the nines in seer sucker and huge hats, others were in shorts in t-shirts and clearly had a great time tailgating.
Never the less, we made it home in one piece and were up early Saturday for a day at the races. We spent the day watching horse races at Keeneland race track. Since we weren’t in town for the derby, this seemed like the next best thing. Some spectators were dressed to the nines in seer sucker and huge hats, others were in shorts in t-shirts and clearly had a great time tailgating.
CJ and I bet on a random horse, named Savings Account, to win the first race and by some stroke of luck he won in a photo finish. We won a decent size chunk of money, and though we weren't lucky enough to win again, we got to spend the day betting without hurting our own savings accounts. We also learned that you can't order a mint Julep outside of "Derby Day" - in fact, the cashier was a bit horrified when CJ asked. That night, we had another meal at home and talked late into the evening.
We're so lucky to have family in other places of the country, and love visiting and spend time with them. And it's great to get to go to cities we may not otherwise see. I do think we'll try to make another trip back to Louisville for a Kentucky Derby - the hats, outfits, and festival are too good to pass up.
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