Louisville, continued: In which I try to be more concise

When I left off in my last entry, your protagonists were just about to get to Louisville. I have a lot of catching up to do.

We reached Louisville a little before rush hour, and had just enough time to drop our things off at our friends' and change our clothes to get ready for the theater. I felt very strongly that we ought to dress up to go see this play. I mostly felt this way because I got a new dress last week and I love it a lot and want to wear it as frequently as possible, even if it isn't quite spring yet.

We zipped in to downtown Louisville and easily found parking in one of the many towering parking garages. Louisville's downtown is an easy-to-navigate grid that hugs the Ohio River to the north. Several grand bridges span the rushing waters, leading to Indiana.

The play we saw that first night was called "A Devil at Noon." It was sparsely attended, so we were able to move forward several rows, and enjoyed second-row seats. The Humana Fest is composed of new plays being performed for the first time. This play was set in 1981 Berkeley and focused on a science fiction writer who, through some weird sci-fi glitch, experiences his characters coming to life around him in very spotty ways. It was enjoyable, especially the concept that he didn't quite have control over his characters, something I think about a lot as an aspiring writer myself. Before the play, we caught dinner (following a friend's recommendation!) at a little indie cafe tucked in a fading gray-brick building called Hillbilly Tea. On our way from dinner to the theater we also began the bourbon-tasting element of this adventure. When in Louisville, eh?

Yesterday morning, as per adventure rules, Heather and I went on a jog around the beautiful neighborhood we're staying in. Middletown is actually to the west of Louisville, its own independent town but still part of the general sprawl of the city. This neighborhood is composed of red brick houses built in the colonial style. Flowering trees decorate the yards, in full bloom despite the tricks nature seems determined to play on us this spring.

The Louisville Slugger museum is in downtown Louisville, so we partook of that tour, learning all about the history of wooden bat-making. A lot of old and famous bats are on display at the museum, and after a factory tour everybody gets a fun-sized baseball bat to take home (but not on the airplane; apparently baseball bats of any size are not allowed! And now you know!). I have a lifelong love of baseball, and I always appreciate any chance to rekindle that interest. The museum was comprehensive, featuring a timeline and displays about the Negro Leagues and the womens' league that existed during World War II.

Around the corner from the Louisville Slugger factory is the 21C museum, a modern art museum housed on the bottom two floors of an historic hotel. We browsed some really beautiful and moving pieces. There were many exhibits from Cuban artists, and photographs from a Louisvillan who had traveled to Haiti in the aftermath of their devastating earthquake last year.

We spent the afternoon exploring Bardstown Road, an avenue lined with eclectic shops and eateries. We enjoyed a delicious late lunch (well, Heather had lunch, and I had a bit of snack, having brought a lunch with me, but still. It was a great restaurant, which I appreciated) at Ramsi's On The World Cafe, which looked extremely fancy but was affordable and had a full and diverse menu - seitan jambalaya sandwich, anyone? The room was lined with tall bookcases filled with old books and bright yellow National Geographics, which was a nice touch.

That evening, we had a chance to meet up with a group of friends and some fellow travelers for Thai food. Let me rephrase that. We had a chance to GO OUT TO THAI FOOD and the rest is just details. The company, to be fair, was delightful and I met some wonderful residents of Louisville, but Heather and I are both extreme fans of Thai food wasting away in a small town which has pretty much everything a person would ever need to be happy except for a Thai restaurant, so we squealed with joy at the prospect of getting Thai food.

We slept in a little this morning before catching a jog along the majestic Ohio River. Louisville has a beautiful, expansive waterfront park with endless networks of sidewalks and paths, lined with benches, swings, and play structures. The effects of recent weeks' flooding were evident everywhere. Debris littered the shore, and some paths were still submerged. Others remained caked with mud. Here and there, volunteers worked to clean it up as we jogged past.

In the afternoon, Heather went to meet with a long-lost theater friend and see what sort of theater-related adventures she could get into. I split off and reconvened with some of our friends from last night, convinced at the last minute to participate in the Bourbon Trail, a lightly sketched route of several bourbon distilleries in the general Louisville area.

Now, whiskey is not anywhere near the top of my list of favorite things, but I have just recently begun to acquire an appreciation for it (probably have killed off enough taste buds by now), and again, I'm in Louisville and it's something they're famous for so hey, why not?

The distilleries are all set up for vast amounts of tourist groups, and we were led on tours of the distilling facilities by perky blond tour guides. We learned mostly about the history of each distillery and how deep in Kentucky's past their roots lie entwined. We got to see warehouses stacked eight stories high with white oak barrels filled with bourbon in various states of aging. (Freshly charred white oak barrels is one of the requirements of authentic bourbon) At the end of the tour, everyone shares a little sip, wincing (well, some of us), and we go along our merry way.

We stopped on our way back to Louisville at a restaurant and inn in Bardstown, Kentucky. Talbot's has, they tell us, been continually operating since 1779. The menu boasts a list of famous people who have stayed there over the years. We drive back into town through gently rolling hills, green farmland, rugged woods. Tomorrow we will drive back through those same hills to get back to our hills in Athens!