Day 9: Mostly Louisville
We got out of Cincinnati pretty early (but no alarm clocks used on these trips) and made the short drive to Louisville (99 miles). We did several things there: Louisville Slugger factory, Old Forester distillery, the original 21c and driving in the Old Louisville residential district. We then headed south in the evening, passing through Nashville and about an hour beyond. We figure we’ll catch Nashville another time.
The Louisville Slugger factory turns out zillions of baseball bats, and many used by major leaguers. We took the tour.
These are billets, tube shape pieces of wood that will become baseball bats. They are made from ash, maple or birch trees.
Near final bats.
The Old Forester distillery tour. Because of trying to set a distillery tour up at the last minute (as we drove in from Cincinnati), we had little choice. The good thing was that it was just down the street from the Louisville Slugger factory. We had about as good of a tour guide as we could have had. And we were able to see a lot of the steps happening as we passed (that might be randomly missed as the tours go though the day). This tour was a highlight on the trip.
The Old Forester distillery tour. We saw barrels being put together and toasted, hoops added, etc. We also went by the bottling line as it was in action.
The tasting was good as well. This was our first distillery tour, so we don’t know what else we are missing, but we thought this one was great.
The 21c Museum Hotel Louisville. We visited the one in Cincinnati yesterday. We drop by these as a visit to a contemporary arts museum. The 21c in Louisville was the original in what is now a chain of several, all in smaller cities. We have also visited and stayed at the one in Bentonville, AR. This piece was by a local artist who had been through a tornado that spared her house, but destroyed the neighbors house. Her yard was covered with other people’s possessions.
Rest area on I-65 in Kentucky. I’ve driven this interstate through Kentucky twice now and it is one of my favorite interstate highway drives. Most of it is 3 lanes on each side and it crosses a beautiful landscape of rolling green forest and fields. That 3rd lane makes so much difference in todays interstates crowded with 18 wheelers.