Driving south from Cincinnati into Kentucky was a homecoming for me. I did a lot of growing up in Kentucky as my family lived in suburban Louisville from 1989 to 1996. I had only been back one time previously so I was very excited to see my old house. The drive from Cincinnati to Louisville isn’t long, less than 3 hours. In no time at all it seemed we were close to my old neighborhood in the town of Prospect.
Like almost everything else in the world, Prospect was not immune to change. I recognized a few of my childhood landmarks (a Dairy Queen & the local doctors office) but the majority of the town looked very different than when we moved away 23 years ago. We soon found my neighborhood and drove in. As the neighborhood was fully completed when we lived there nothing major had changed here. At my old house the bushes and trees had grown and the current owners had put a different color of paint on the house and added a deck but all in all it was the same house that I had remembered. We parked the van and walked around for a bit as I pointed to different spots where I remembered playing baseball, football and golf. We saw a big hill on the adjacent golf course where as a kid I would sled in the winter. This was all pretty neat to see as the town had changed so much but the old neighborhood was the same friendly place that I had always remembered.
From Prospect we drove into Louisville stopping to see my old elementary and middle school. The middle school was in one of the older sections of outer Louisville and built on a big hill. I had only gone to this school for a few months as my family had moved to Texas soon after I started but it was still fun to be there and see how things had changed. After walking around and taking a few photos we hopped back into Bubbles and drove through Louisville and a bit south to get to our campground. We would be staying here for almost 5 days using this as our base in Kentucky.
We woke up the next morning ready to explore. After breakfast we packed up Bubbles and headed to downtown Louisville. Our first stop for the day was the East Market District or NuLu. We were meeting up with an old college friend of Julie’s, Lauren and her husband Kenny for lunch. We had arrived a little early so we stopped at a cocktail bar for an old fashioned and a mint julep (you have to have a mint julep at some point while visiting Louisville). After the drinks we walked a block and met up with Lauren & Kenny and their daughter at Grind Burger Kitchen. Lauren and Julie had not seen each other since graduating from college and were super excited to see one another. We had a great time hanging out. We learned from Kenny a ton about Kentucky bourbon. He is part of a team that has one of the top rated bourbon podcasts online (bourbonpursuit.com). This was great as we learned what to look for, taste and see on the bourbon trail that we would be going on in a few days. After lunch we said goodbye to Lauren & Kenny and continued on our tour of Louisville.
We walked a bit more around NuLu stopping at a store called Revelry where Julie found some bourbon barrel earrings, then wandered next door at Muth’s Candies where we had our first taste of Kentucky bourbon balls. We then walked to the heart of downtown at Fourth Street Live! where crews were setting up for an Iron Man race the next day. From there we walked to a river walk overlooking the Ohio River. At this point it was getting late in the day so we walked back to Bubbles and headed back to the campground for the night.
The next morning we woke up ready to go. Today was another exciting day. We were headed back to Louisville and going to world famous Churchill Downs! Driving up to the complex was pretty neat. Even though I had lived in Louisville for quite a few years growing up, I was never old enough there to truly appreciate how big of a deal the Kentucky Derby was. Now all these years later after watching the derby year after year, going to friend’s parties, dressing up and putting bets on horses; I really grasp how big of an event it is.
Surprisingly enough the track and the entire complex are almost in a neighborhood on the edge of downtown. After getting off the highway we drove past regular peoples houses before out of the blue the complex appears. As it was a weekday we parked right in front of the main gate and visitors center. We walked in, paid for 2 tickets and we were in. The Kentucky Derby Museum was very neat. Not only did it tell about each horse that has won the derby since 1875 but also the history of the complex, and the jockeys. Julie’s favorite area was a room showing all of the extremely fancy hats that the ladies wear on race day. My favorite area was on the 2nd floor where you saw the who, what, why and when for a colt the moment they were born until they were ready for race day. This was also an area for people interested in the horse industry. It went over almost ever job and what it entails for people working on the farm.
The best part of the museum however was the tour of the track. At a predetermined time we were lead by a guide out the back of the visitors center, through the grandstand and were able to stand in the first row looking at the track. This was breathtaking and really what you come to see at Churchill Downs. We took a ton of pictures smiling our faces off. Where we were standing we could almost hear the roar of the fans and the thunder of the horses on race day. All in all it was an awesome experience!
After seeing all that Churchill Downs had to offer we decided to explore some of Louisville’s city neighborhoods. After driving through the East Market and Phoenix neighborhoods we drove on through Smoketown, which wasn’t that nice. We then drove on through Germantown and Tyler Park, which were great little neighborhoods. We decided to get out and walk around in the Highlands neighborhood where we passed by lots of neat shops and stopped in for a drink at the Highlands Tap Room. We then opted for dinner out at Mark’s Feed Store Bar-B-Q. Julie and I both really liked this neighborhood and decided that we would be back again sometime in the near future.
The next day we were ready for a different kind of Kentucky adventure. Today we would be going to Kentucky’s most famous park, Mammoth Cave National Park. We had been to a few unique national parks so far on our trip including Hot Springs NP, Little Rock High School National Historic Site and White Sands National Monument. While all of those were unique in their own ways they did have one thing in common. They were all above ground.
Mammoth Cave is unique for caves in the world as it is the longest cave system in the world. As of 2019 more than 400 miles of cave in its system have been discovered. The cool thing is that even today additional entrances and miles of cave are still being discovered.
From Louisville the drive to the park was a little over an hour and a half (plus a time zone change into central time) and we were there. It was a beautiful drive as this is a hilly area of Kentucky. Once you arrive in the park you are free to just walk around. Unlike other national parks however if you want to go into the cave you need to sign up for and pay for one of the guided tours. We decided to go on two tours the first being the Domes & Dripstones tour. For this tour we were bused to what was called the “New Entrance” then worked our way down a tight staircase and through narrow passageways into the cave system. This was a neat tour as we wound ourselves through tight passageways that opened into big rooms. We passed by stalactites and stalagmites (the cone shaped rock formations on the ceiling & floor of the cave) before popping out another entrance for the cave and getting on a waiting bus to take us back to the visitor center. This was a really cool tour but if you are claustrophobic we would not recommend this one.
After lunch in the van it was time to take our second tour for the day, the Historic Tour. On this tour we walked from the visitors center and through a huge opening in the rock. This was the original entrance that was found as well as the largest. This was very neat as well as within minutes we were in a huge tunnel. Right away there were artifacts to look at. In the early 1800’s calcium nitrate deposits were found in this section of the cave. This proved to be vital during the war of 1812 when the British had blocked US ports from receiving gunpowder. All over this section of the cave were the remains of the mining operations with plaques detailing how the calcium nitrate was mined and how it made its way out of the cave and to factories where it was turned into the needed gunpowder to fight the British.
Further on in the cave were the remains of a church and an old hospital. As cave temperatures stay in the mid 50’s all year long regardless of the temperature outside this was a great place to pray and treat patients during the cold winters and hot summers of southern Kentucky. On this tour we saw the famous Mammoth Dome, the bottomless pit and wound our way through a tight passage called “Fat Mans Misery”. This was one of our favorite parts. It was a low passageway, about 4 ½ to 5 feet tall with a walkway of about 2 feet wide that came up to your hips then about 4 feet across after that. It was like being on a small sidewalk with snow built up on either side. It was a ton of fun to walk through.
We really enjoyed our time at Mammoth Cave. It’s a very unique park that really offers an experience that no other national park can. Next time we will take a different tour and even experience some of the parks above ground features!
Next up…We explore the Kentucky Bourbon Trail!
