After rolling into Kentucky's largest city on the evening of Wednesday, July 6th, we checked into the Hampton Inn in downtown Louisville and decided to spend the last remaining hour(s) of daylight exploring the area a little bit. We walked a few blocks down to the Louisville Waterfront Park.
There were lots of kids playing in the water fountain/pool and trying to keep cool. Have I mentioned that it's really hot in the South during the summer?
There were several statues throughout the park and lots of benches and grassy areas.
From the park, we could see across the Ohio River to Indiana. Louisville (pronounced LOOey-vil or LOOuh-vuhl or LU-vul but NOT LEWIS-ville) is called the "Gateway to the South" because it sits right at the intersection between the Southern states and the Midwestern states and adopts some of the trademarks of both cultures.
It's also a big transportation hub. One of the many sights to see along the river is the Belle of Louisville, an early 20th-century steamboat which now makes evening dinner cruises down the Ohio. We ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then went to our hotel to finally get some sleep.
In the morning, we had to fight a large group of teenage Bible Campers for waffles at the hotel dining room. We had a lot to accomplish that morning and we didn't need delays. Our first stop was to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, where they produce the wooden bats used by Major League Baseball teams.
We opted not to go on a tour of the factory (time constraints). It would have been interesting to see, but we were there for one thing only: a customized baseball bat for my dad's birthday. You can choose between any number of the bats they produce and have them engraved. We got a regular MLB wooden baseball bat which I had engraved with my dad's name. I won like a thousand daughter points for that gift. My father loves his bat. (My dad is notoriously difficult to shop for so I will probably never top this gift-giving achievement ever again.)
David decided that he also wanted a bat for himself. This surprised me since he's not a big fan of sports or the MLB, but it made sense when he requested "Boyfriend Buster" as his bat's engraved message.
Planning ahead for Zara's future and those unlucky boys who try to date her.
After our bats were finished, we walked back to our hotel, but took a little bit more of a scenic route and I had a chance to admire Louisville's beautiful architecture. I had no idea, but Louisville has the third largest National Preservation District in the country and the largest Victorian district in the United States. There are some truly beautiful buildings in downtown Louisville.
There's also a lot of random art work and sculptures on the street too. This car apparently had something to do with slavery but I didn't stop to read the plaque.
I never did figure out why this building at giant red penguins sitting atop its roof and stringcourse.
We admired the courthouse and other public buildings and churches along our way....
....and the many different statues and memorials.
We made it back to the hotel just in time to check out for the day and got loaded into our car to begin our trip westward across Indiana and Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri and her beckoning Gateway Arch.
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