Louisville

A second time to visit horse country was appreciated. It’s still beautiful. We decided to do 3 more stops on the Bourbon Trail (when in Rome) so we visited Bardstown, Bulleit and Woodford Reserve. All had yummy pours and different presentations in their tasting rooms. I thought Bulleit was the most interesting because they have you smell decanters full of different scents like pine, allspice, cedar, etc. to show you how scent can really affect taste. 

We also visited the Mega Cavern. We thought it would be another natural cave but it was not. It’s an old mining site that is 100 acres big. It closed down and after some time some developers bought it. It was 100 feet deep and they allowed people to dump their non-biodegradable (think car bumpers, etc.) stuff. After some time, there was about 50 feet of junk so they poured dirt and concrete over it and still have a 50 foot deep cavern today. They split it in two and now 50 acres is reserved for an underground storage unit and 50 acres is for touring and zip lining. They also have a drive through lights show at Christmas time. When you do the tour, you find out that the government had a plan to use the cavern as a nuclear fallout shelter and long term living for 70,000 people during the missile crisis. Pretty creepy. They even have a display with mannequins simulating underground living. 

No visit to Louisville would be complete without touring Churchill Downs. We were excited to see the new exhibit featuring Rich Strike, this year’s underdog. It was so exciting to see the race again! 

The best part though was seeing friends from Boise. They have now relocated to Louisville so we got to go out to dinner and have dinner in their new, beautiful home. Rich and Mandy, thank you for your hospitality and the wonderful time!! 

The Nati

Cincinnati and Cleveland are close together but very different from each other. We like both but this year’s

tour found us liking “The Nati” a little bit more. 

We took an underground tour of the Queen City. The tunnels underground were used to make beer in this neighborhood called Over The Rhein that was settled by mostly German people. At one point they had over 100 saloons in a 2 block radius. What a great place for a beer lover! :)  Today it is a very gentrified district full of shops and restaurants. 

We also attended a Reds game. And sticking with the Gilliam tradition, the home team did indeed lose again. I can’t even remember our record now but it is dismal. :D

We rounded out our time there with a tour of the Taft Museum, which is a restored house full of art from the Taft family. 

Till next time, Cincy!! 

MLB parks remaining

NY Yankees - :-)  Let's go Mets! (Note from Danelle: RUDE)

Toronto

Tampa Bay

Baltimore

Cleveland

Detroit

LA Angels

Oakland

Atlanta

St. Louis

LA Dodgers

San Diego

Cleveland, OH

We had a great schedule to see many of the baseball stadiums that we have yet to visit, but then we had the players cause a lockout, which moved the schedule around.  The result was that the Tribe, now known as the Guardians, were not in town during our visit.  We rallied and did the next best thing, take a tour of the stadium, Progessive Field.  I would highly recommend these tours to the baseball fans out there.  We have done several and they have all been interesting.  No stop in Cleveland would be complete without a day spent at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The hall is truly a bucket list item for all music lovers.  This was our second visit and they have many new items and galleries open.  They have a new Beatles section on display that I enjoyed.  Watching the video footage of their recording sessions helps one understand all of the jokes about Ringo.  Hahaha.  They also had a creepy Pink Floyd display of the wall that makes sense if you are as medicated as the band was back in those days.  If you find yourself visiting Cleveland, make time to tour the Christmas Story house.  We have done it twice and it brings a smile to my face each time. 

 

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh is one of the MLB stadiums that we have yet to visit, so we put it on the list for this year.  Thankfully, the lockout did not cause us to miss the team in town.  Danelle's sister and husband met us in town for the game and a great dinner along the river.  We also got in a river boat tour of the 3 rivers area where we had amazing views of the city, the stadiums and learned a lot about the history of the city.  The final highlight of our stop was getting the controller board, finally, to be able to fix one of our A/C units.  We had one of our three A/C units go out in Hot Springs and have been fighting to get the part I ordered shipped to us.  Thanks to Boss and Dave for bringing the part with them.  The repairs went well and I didn't end up with any extra parts, for once.  We are now ready for summer temps to hit.  

Philadelphia, PA

With family in the Philly vicinity, our time in the area each year is spent catching up with them.  This year we have a new family member and baby C was the center of attention.  Besides hanging with the fam, we did get in a few new sights and experiences in the Philly area.  We went to a Phillies game, where I got to see them lose by a wide margin and then spent the night at the Union League.  The UL is amazing and we are always humbled to walk the halls and take in all of the history.  Adding two new stops on this trip was a visit to the Rodin museum and the Mutter museum.  The sculptures by Rodin are truly breath taking.  I was surprised by how moved I was by a few of his sculptures.  The Mutter museum is a collection of medical items and body parts that can only be described as "interesting."  They don't let you take photos, so I don't have any to share, but trust me that nobody wants to see the colon with 40 lbs. of backup...

No trip for me to Philly would be complete without a trip into the city to see Drexel and all of the changes.  I'm impressed by the amount of improvement they have made on the campus, but was bummed to find out that Cav's, our college bar, has closed down.  

Thanks, Philly, for all of the great memories.  L