Hi Boys-
We made it back from our end of summer mini-vacation. There were a few relatively minor issues, but we had so much fun that we've decided to make this an annual event! The current front runners for a long weekend in August 2011 are Indianapolis and St Louis.
We started out at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. I highly recommend this. For the 4 of (with a
AAA discount) it was $20. They take you on a tour of the actual factory - we watched them make their regular "retail" bats on some machines, then watched them make the "professional" bats on a huge Italian CNC machine. (They were currently running a batch for Brian McCann of the Braves for all of you Atlanta fans.) They turn a "billit" of wood into a bat in about 60 seconds.
This one probably took a bit longer:
The best part is that everyone on the tour gets a free 18" mini bat to use as a weapon in an epic sibling battle the rest of the day!
The museum is awesome too. They have a lot of historical memorabilia, including the bat that Babe Ruth used for the first part of the '27 season. He would carve a notch around the logo for every home run he hit. After he hit 21, the bat broke and was eventually put on display here.
Lunch that day was at Lynn's Paradise Cafe.
DW had found this place either online or some brochure or something. It's odd to say the least, but not in a bad way. It's very "Disney" in that it takes it's "themeing" over the top. And it's theme is a mixture of odd, eclectic, nostalgic and funky. The food was good. I had a "hot brown" - a Kentucky original described on the menu as "Our home roasted turkey breast baked on sourdough bread, with Mornay sauce, bacon, tomato, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses") Yes, it's as good as it sounds, and yes, if we ever make it back to Louisville, we'll be eating here again.
We spent several hours at Louisville Waterfront Park before getting some Graeter's Ice Cream. Thank you to everyone that suggested this place. It was delicious. Both kids fell asleep on the way to Louisville Slugger Field where we had tickets to the Louisville Bats (AAA club of the Reds). We were running ahead of schedule, so we let them sleep for about an hour.
After getting into the stadium - which is very nice, by the way - and getting dinner, we made our way to our seats. There was a baseball laying in the field, left over from batting practice, just in front of us near the home team's bullpen. The Bats pitcher came out to warm up, grabbed the ball, and handed it to DD. She gave it to DS and he's been carrying it around ever since.
The second most memorable thing came a few minutes later. A mini-UPS truck was delivering the games balls. Why is the starting pitcher smirking?
Because a just seconds before, as the truck was driving behind the bullpen catcher, he beaned it, leaving a considerable dent in the back door - just above and to the right of the UPS logo.
The game was fun, but it was a long day for the kids so we left early. Both kids did the speed pitch machine on the way out. DD didn't quite register, but DS3 was a consistent 17 MPH.
We got up early the next morning, checked out of our hotel and headed the hour and a half or so down I-65 to Mammoth Cave National Park. The cave system currently has over 395 miles of discovered caverns and pathways. I say currently, because the ranger on our tour says they discover an average of 5-10 miles of new cave every year. They offer about a dozen different tours, but we did the Frozen Niagara Tour. It takes you through the prettiest part of the caves through a man-made entrance. They bill this tour as best for small children. The total was only about $20 for all 4 of us.
We had a picnic lunch at the park, then headed down towards Bowling Green. As cool as the park is, the kids's attention span is still pretty limited at their age, so we didn't want to stay too long.
In Bowling Green, we went to the Lost River Cave. Compared to Mammoth Cave, which is really out in a remote area, Lost River Cave is right in town. No, really, it's
right in town - there is a Sonic Drive in a few hundred feet away, and the tour guide told us about half way through the cave that we were under a bowling alley parking lot. Back in the 20s and 30s, the person that owned the cave built an outdoor nightclub at the mouth of the cave - using it as free Air Conditioning. The club shutdown in the 40s, but you can still rent it out. As we walked by, people were setting up for a wedding reception.
It's called the Lost River Cave because, well, the Lost River flows through it. There is a non-profit organization that runs tours through the cave and surrounding grounds. It is a very educational but very entertaining tour. Think "PBS" meets "Jungle Cruise". You load into a flat bottom boat for a nice ride. Unfortunately, I left the extra battery pack for the camera in the van, so I didn't get many pictures here. I highly recommend this if you're in the area.
The next morning, we checked out of our Bowling Green Hotel and headed up the New Haven and the Kentucky Railway Museum. The total for this was $52, and while the 90 minute train ride was pretty cool, I was a bit underwhelmed with the museum.
Some of you gear heads may find this interesting:
The company that made this track inspection bike eventually became known as Perfect Circle - a subsidiary of the Dana Corporation that manufactures piston rings and cylinder liners.
Its amazing just how BIG some of these things are!
The train ride took you through 22 miles of Kentucky countryside, but too much of it was blocked by overgrown trees along the rails. The kids still had fun, though.
From the train museum, we made an unscheduled stop at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site. We noticed the signs for this on our way to New Haven, and since it was so close we stopped by. A wealth of information here, but again, the kids were just a bit too young to care much.
The Lincoln Family Bible:
Finally, on our way out of Kentucky, we stopped at Falls of the Ohio State Park (its actually in Indiana, just over the Ohio River from Kentucky). Years ago, they built a series of dams to narrow (and thus, deepen) the river to make it more navigable. The result was a lot of exposed old river bed, where you can walk around and look a fossils.
We made it home late Saturday night. Sunday morning, we blatantly stole Captain_Oblivious' idea (Thanks Mark!) of having the kids stick pins in a map, reminding them of everywhere they've been and everywhere we want to go.
Being gone for 4 days, its pretty hard to catch up around here, so I'll just end with the usual
crud.
, we got to room, don't think they did upgrades since around 1975
I would not have been able to stay there either...I hope they guy loses his franchise!
