hey ken tucks
coming back from a spring break trip to asheville, nc we aimed to stop-over in either lexington or louisville...made it to lousiville + stayed downtown at a hampton inn - about 4 blocks from 4th street. we toured the louisville slugger factory masquerading as a museum. and, yes, i did get a photo of me swinging mickey mantle's bat.
we had a great time + plan to come back with the boys for a ballgame this summer. any recommendations? what's lexington all about?
thankee
we had a great time + plan to come back with the boys for a ballgame this summer. any recommendations? what's lexington all about?
thankee
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i keep working mia re: moving to tnsee or nc when the kids head off to school - il is just so damn flat.
Louisville, you can't go wrong. Get on up to the Highlands (south of downtown), specifically Bardstown Rd.. Cool street with lots of neat stores. Music and books for you, vintage shops for the ladies, weird shops for everyone. Lots of good eating on that street, too. Also, Cherokee park is right there, which is a huge beautiful park great for walking around or a scenic drive. I love me some Louisville.
If there's specific things yer looking for in Louisville, let me know and I'll be happy to throw out some recs. I suspect Mommio is gonna be a great source of info, too.
Today is THE day to be in Louisville, in my humble opinion. From the first Thunder until about 10 years ago I reached the riverbank about an hour before the air show started and left after the fireworks at night. Daughter married and moved away, spouse wouldn't be caught dead in a crowd like this (estimated to be around 700,000 by the time of the firewords tonight), and none of my friends go. I don't feel comfortable being alone after the fireworks end, so I have sometimes gone down for part of the air show. Last trip down was a couple of years ago to see the Blue Angels. Yesterday I was able to see some of them during their show prep(including the four F-16s flying in formation), since many of them circle over our neighborhood. I may go down today to see the F-16 -- although capable of Mach2, top speed in the show will be 650 mph for safety reasons. People come from all over the US and other parts of the world just for this show. Entire busloads come from other states. I highly recommend!!
Thunder Over Louisville
Aircraft scheduled for today
Police are estimating 700,000 and people still arriving. Some of the pilots were just interviewed, and they talked about the biggest crowd they have ever seen at an air show. ONe of the cool spots to be is Slugger Field. The Bats have a deal every year for an afternoon ballgame. Admission gets you a bracelet so you can come and go all day, and it is a good spot for watching the air show and the fireworks. The show kicks off the Derby Festival and is a delight for both children and adults. Book your room early. There are still a few left in early April, but many of the good spots go very, very early.
Do I sound like an advertisement? Well, maybe you can make it next year, then decide for yourself whether or not this is the place to be two weeks before the Kentucky Derby. But book your hotel room early! The convenient hotels go fast.
one thing i will say that chicago has that really is worth coming to town for is everything going on around the taste of chicago. i enjoy food!
we also would be interested in camping down there - our school let's out june 10 and we have the van packed so the minute the bell rings were gone. my guess is the boys will always have a pronounced feel for school getting out and separating. prolly would not do caves while in the camping frame of mind...tent camping. ideas?
There's this KOA not far south of Louisville for access to attractions in Louisville. The main thing for me would be that it isn't far from Bernheim Forest. Years ago you could camp at Bernheim, but no longer. This is one of my favorite spots in the area, and my kids loved it from preschool on to adulthood. We had many picnics and hiked many miles. It's a beautiful place. Fishing, hiking, biking, photo opportunities.
Farther away, another great place - Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Beautiful. Not far away from Natural Bridge is the Red River Gorge. Also see Red River Gorge.
Taylorsville Lake State Park is southeast of Louisville. Another beautiful site with hiking, fishing, boat rentals.
Are these the kinds of things you had in mind -- or am I off base here? It really depends on what kinds of things you like to do as a family. This is a sample until I have a better idea of what you have in mind.
Also think about Mammoth Cave Park. Plenty of hiking around there, and while the caves are pretty cool, there's plenty of outdoor stuff to do if you want to skip it.
Bernheim Forrest ain't much of an outdoor adventure anymore. If they marked the trails any tighter, it would be a bank line.
Cumberland Falls has some good trails and is close to small towns that sell delicious chili cheese dogs and homemade rootbeer in drive-ups.
we hiked an entire day near asheville over spring break - so the boys can handle the climbs. but i would peg it as "moderate" hiking...not challenging as some are described in the red river site.
also, i do like the fact you can reserve sites ahead of time - too many times we've trekked up to wisconsin to find the woods-sites filled and nothing left but the dull open field sites - had we known...
Victim describes bear attack
My only trail encounter with a bear occurred many years ago in the Smokies, lower part, near Gatlinburg. We were on a trail when we saw a mother with two cubs ahead on the trail. Whoa! We slowly backed away, deciding that trail could wait for another trip.
On a completely unrelated note, Mommio, your post mentions that place I proposed to my wife (Red River Gorge on the Rock Bridge Trail) and where we honeymooned (up in the Smokies, near Gatlinburg).
The Smokies just may be my favorite place on earth. In the 60s and 70s, we went at least twice a year. I have been by myself a couple of times in recent years. I have hiked many of the trails, never miss Cades Cover, and Clingman's Dome is always a must. We usually ate breakfast, then hit the road and the trails. Peanut butter, pork and beans heated over Sterno, etc. was lunch, then we had a late dinner back in town. I have many wonderful memories of times spent there. The last few times I went, I stayed in a little motel off the main drag, on a stream, campground across the stream, in Pigeon Forge. Loved the quiet, the privacy, and the smell of the smoke and the morning coffee from the campground.
A gal I worked with went with me one October maybe 15 years ago, her first trip there. We went up to Clingman's Dome, and as we walked back to the parking lot, we saw many people sitting around on the rocks. I had to ask what was going on. They were locas -- first time in months that it was a clear evening with good visibility, and they were there for the sunset. So we stayed, too.
Unfortunately, the trip back down was ungodly and took forever. Friend was starving, and all I had in the car was a big bag of animal crackers. We dined on animal crackers with music by - oh, no - Neil Diamond, the only tape that I could find in the car. I laughed at her most of the way back down, and she vowed she would never go to Clingman's Dome again. Now where was her sense of humor!!!
I'm hungry for a road trip. Looking at my options and trying to decide which place has the highest priority.