Introducing… Elliot and Winston!

I got this email from Grandpa detailing their trip to Kentucky last week. He said I could post it here.

We did have a great trip this week and we have 50+ photos and 19 movies that prove it 🙂 .

Carol and I got away pretty early last Saturday (early for us anyway) and made it to Knoxville for an early lunch with Kate and Logan at Nixon’s Deli. We took Elliot with us and I think that he had at least as much fun as we did. He can handle a car ride pretty well and he kept busy honking his a toy steering wheel and watching movies.

Elliot did fall asleep on the ride up – right before we arrived at Fort Boonesborough. That might have been a good thing because he slept through something he might have found boring and it gave Carol and me time to take in some of the history and culture on display. We visited Williamsburg, VA a few years ago and this Fort Boonesborough visit kind of picked up the story from where it had ended there. I had never really put together the close connection between the Revolutionary War, the settlements west of the Appalachians, and even the establishment of Louisville. We also learned a little about hand-made textiles and blacksmithing.

We spent more time at Ft Boonesborough than I had anticipated, so we didn’t have much time to check out Lexington. We did find a house where Carol’s mom had lived and the church where her parents were married. We got a couple photos but that is about all.

We made it to Frankfort in time to walk around the capitol – what a pretty building and what a nice town! The floral clock is surrounded by trees and we had a hard time finding it! We walked 3/4ths of the way around the capitol plaza and never saw it. We did find it without trouble from the street level when we drove around the building. We also found the overlook and took a couple photos there.

We arrived in Louisville after dark and drove into a big storm. The lightning was impressive. I was glad to get the car into the parking garage with the existing threat of hail. We really enjoyed the Galt House and I’m glad that we chose to stay there. We had a view of the Belle of Louisville and the US 31 bridge from our window. It was still sprinkling rain on Sunday morning, which made it a good time to drive to the campus, Bardstown Road area, and some other places. We made a few photos at the campus. Turns out that you can get the Thinker and J.B. Speed Hall in the same photo!

By lunch time it had quit raining and we walked from the hotel to Broadway and ate Hot Browns at the Brown Hotel. We saw the Churchill Downs clock. Part of the clock was moving but the racetrack figures weren’t. I didn’t anticipate how big the clock would be and we walked right under it without noticing it the first time we went by. After lunch, we went to the Ky Theater and saw a 30 minute film (infomercial?) about Ky. I enjoyed the film and it made me proud to be from Ky.

We went over to Indiana in the afternoon to the Falls of the Ohio park. Again, Elliot slept through the boring, educational part – the visit to the Interpretive Center. And again the Virgina history came to the forefront as it was explained why Gen George Rogers Clark established Louisville. Also, the engineering history of building of the canal was interesting (I didn’t even know there was a canal until Sunday!). When we went back to the Galt House we could see the entrance to the canal and dam from the elevator lobby. Some day I’d like to see the lock if possible.

We tried to go to the Big 4 bridge on Sunday afternoon, but we couldn’t get to River Road through the crowd going to Slugger Field and all the highway construction. I’m glad we didn’t make it then because the weather and timing was much better for that activity on Monday morning. We spent the whole morning between walking across the bridge and watching Elliot play at the playground on the Ky side. I think that the playground was his favorite part of the trip. He climbed ladders, slide down slides, and rode the merry-go-round. Carol and I were impressed with the good manners of the children. I took a bunch of movies there.

We didn’t get to do the Taste of Louisville tour (it was filled by the time we tried to book it) but other than that we did a pretty good job of visiting the town. I’m looking forward to going back. Carol had such a good time that she said she’d even be willing to go back for a basketball game. I’ll be checking the UofL schedule when it comes out and seeing what might be possible 🙂 .

Howard