Our trip to Louisville was an impromptu trip, but one that we were really happy we took, since neither of us had been there before. I tend to be a big planner when it comes to trips. I do tons of research and get everything scheduled, so to do something different was kind of fun. It was the same weekend that we were to be mushroom hunting in southern Indiana, but storms and tornados changed our camping plans, which really didn’t hurt our feelings. It was still a bit cold and might have been a tough weekend to camp anyway. We decided that we would go a few hours in any direction from Brown County, Indiana so we ended up in Louisville. It rained there all weekend too, but we didn’t mind that from a dry hotel!

On Friday, we went to check out Churchill Downs, where they hold the Kentucky Derby every year. We were there the week before the race, and they were working hard to get everything set up for that event. They have onsite betting from races that are going on all over the country, so we spent a couple of hours betting on horses and eating some of the best pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had in my life. Horse betting was actually pretty exciting once we got the hang of it. I’m not much of a gambler, usually $20 is all I’m about to wager! We also may have kind of snuck onto the track to get to see it (I do that a lot too, actually). The track looks much bigger on tv than it is in person (which seems often to be the case, doesn’t it?), but it was still very cool to see it.

Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time, was from Louisville and he lived in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which is a small town about 20 miles north of our own city, so he was around a lot, at stores, restaurants and the airport in South Bend. He even came to my son’s school once, and when Jarrid and his friend saw him, even as 4th graders, they knew who he was- they ran into each other and fell down. My dad was a big admirer of his and we had just lost him to cancer a few months before this trip, so it was kind of a bittersweet visit to the Muhammad Ali Center that weekend. We spent the entire day there on Saturday. The exhibits show what a complex man he was, he was not at all just a boxer. Among other things, he was a very quiet philanthropist, giving money to organizations and people without wanting any recognition for it while he was alive. The Ali Center is well worth a visit and has something for everyone.

One of our favorite things to do when we go on a trip to a new city is have a drink and starter at multiple restaurants in one evening. We usually can hit three or four restaurants in a night and get a sampling of some great dishes. Personally, I think the U.S. has several great food cities, and in our travels so far, Louisville, Kentucky has been the best U.S. that we have visited. We had so much good food, one of the best was Against the Grain Brewery. Their Brussel Sprouts and Pulled Pork Nachos were definitely worth the trip!

Between the food, the Muhammad Ali Center and Churchill Downs, there’s plenty to do on a weekend getaway in Louisville. You could even add in a baseball game or even a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory and create your own baseball bat. I didn’t know it then, but there’s also a former, supposedly haunted, sanitorium nearby, Waverly Hills. But since this was the same weekend that we were staying at the Story, Inn, one ghost was probably enough.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Please like, share and subscribe if you did. Next week we will take you on a trip to Savannah, Georgia where we attempted to bicycle our way through all of the squares.