Kentucky (Part 2)

8/27/26 - We left the RV at 5:30am(!!!) to drive 1.5 hours to Louisville for our 7am tour of Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby since 1875).

Our tour guide took us to the edge of the racetrack to watch the "workout riders" giving the horses their daily exercise. We also saw the owners' suites and the Winners Circle.

We learned that ~1400 horses stay on the "backside" of the track in stables leased by several "trainers" who manage the care and training of the horses for their owners. Except for important races (such as the Kentucky Derby) race-day jockeys may not ride their horse until race day.

On our tour of the "backside" (where the stables are) we got to stand in the starting gate (which only gets rolled onto the track for races)

After their workout, each horse gets bathed by their "groom"

There are dorms by the stables to enable ~500 full-time workers to live on-site. We enjoyed our visit a lot!

Our next stop was to pick up Jerry and Lori Harmann (friends from Green Bay, Wisconsin). They were driving from GB to Florida and our plans matched up so that we could explore Louisville together.

Our first stop was The Brown Hotel. Our AZ-neighbor recommended stopping here for their "Hot Brown" (an open-faced turkey sandwich with mornay sauce over bacon and tomatoes). Delicious!

All four of us toured the Louisville Slugger Factory, where all of their wooden bats are made.

Pat got to hold the bat that Jackie Robinson designed

We also enjoyed a tour and Bourbon/chocolate pairing at Angel's Envy

8/28/26 - We toured the Mega Caverns, a 100-acre limestone mine below the Louisville Zoo. It was mined 1930s to 1970s and was also tested as a 50,000-person fall-out shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now it has walled-off areas for commercial storage, stores road-salt for the city, and the tourist attraction (tours, a ropes course, zip-lining and a Christmas light show that cars can drive through).

Pat and I have been in a lot of caves and we found this one very unique, with its current commercial uses

For lunch, we got some famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. Chatty did NOT recommend KFC!

In the evening we hung out at the hotel and played lots of euchre before saying goodbye.

8/29/26 - We drove east to Frankfort to meet family and friends who drove from Ohio for a day of Bourbon distillery touring.

Ty and Julie Noe (friends from Green Bay), Rainer Kuschnerus (my dad's brother), Karina Morgan (my cousin) and her husband, Jim

We had a blast at our first distillery: Whiskey Thief. After our tour, we sampled barrel-strength whiskeys and Pat was able to fill a bottle to take.

Castle and Key was the prettiest, with several buildings and elaborate grounds. It started in 1887 as a distillery, sat abandoned for 40 years (starting in 1972), and was purchased in 2014 for a 4-year renovation into what it is today

Our last stop was Woodford Reserve for a tour and tasting

After checking into our hotel in Frankfort, we met for dinner and a few more beverages.

8/30/26 - We met for breakfast and farewells. Although closed for a 4-year renovation, Pat and I stopped to look at the Kentucky Capitol and Governor's mansion.

Chatty says they are spending almost $300 million to renovate and repair! To enable this, they spent $26 million to build temporary House and Senate chambers!

9/1/26 - Since Bourbon requires a new American Oak barrel for aging, a lot of barrels need to be made. We toured a barrel-making factory (the Kentucky Cooperage) in the town of Lebanon. We saw workers cutting wood, forming the barrel, managing the steaming and charring processes, testing, and reworking them as necessary. Our tour guide said they load the finished, 100-pound barrels onto a truck by hand. The whole process looked very exhausting!!

We couldn't take pictures in the factory but the Visitors Center had a great overview of the process

To kill a bit of time before our next planned activity, we stopped briefly at Limestone Branch (they make "Yellowstone" Bourbon) and Maker's Mark Distilleries.

In the afternoon, we toured Mill Ridge...one of 550 horse farms in Central Kentucky! We saw their 3 stallions and several of their 100+ mares and foals.

As you can see, they loved the attention!!