A road trip with my traveling partner and daughter. An opportunity to visit a couple of states so Karen can reach her goal of seing all 50 states. A chance to see a Kentucky horse farm up close. An opportunity to visit Memphis/Graceland and stay at Nashville Four Seasons as well as visit the home of the Louisville slugger. Adding a few more ornaments to our already overburden trees!
CAUTION! Picture Overload! All photos taken with iPhone
Our alarms woke us up at o’dark thirty for an early flight to begin this episode of flying road trip. We arrived in Louisville, Kentucky and picked up our rental car. Nice that AVIS upgraded us but wow! Too big! Land yacht! We rented a sub compact SUV and received a full-sized which we promptly traded back down to more manageable size.
Louisville, Kentucky
Leaving the airport, we headed straight for Flame Run glass studio to design and make our Christmas ornaments. This glass factory operation is considerably smaller than the Fenton Factory that I have visited and certainly neither factory compares to Corning Glass works. Years ago a club I was active in designed and produced a commemorative piece of glass with Fenton. As a result I self-published a book on Carnival Glass Commemoratives. Fun project! At Flame Run, we had a personal glass blower (Steven) working the molten glass and putty. The finished ornaments were mailed to us. Have to say I’m a little disappointed in how they turned out but it was still a very neat experience!
After completing our glass projects (round ornament for Karen; snowman for me) we shared a burger and fries at Mussel and Burger Bar. Our server, Mina, was great. The burger was tasty. The truffle fries temperature could have been warmer. But after a nasty snack and drink on the plane, the food hit the spot.
Next stop – Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. Lots of history in a piece of wood that is meant to whack little round objects into the outfield and over the fence. Our takeaway was some wooden knobs from the bat ends that we will make into ornaments and mini Louisville slugger bats. No part of the tree is wasted – a local turkey farmer gets all the shavings and sawdust for his turkey’s home.
Lexington, Kentucky
On our way to Lexington, we took a little detour into Indiana. Another check mark on Karen’s 50 states list. And an interesting start to our September vacation with a Lewis and Clark theme. The closed roads to get to Rosie the Riverter’s statue kept us from being able to see it, unfortunately
Our hotel check in at Hilton’s Sire Hotel was smooth, We rested just a bit then headed out in search of food. Our Goodfellas calzone was tasty. A beer and Diet Coke later landed us back up in our room where we stayed for the next two nights. What is our luck with these hotels? Are our industry standards too high? More reviews to write!
Our early mornings net an early night. Another early alarm will go off all too soon..
Our excursion today is to a local horse park. Can’t come to Kentucky and not see the horses or taste the bourbon.
Bridle room
Kentucky Horse Park – 1200 acres devoted to all breeds of horses. See the special horse portrait gallery below.
Horse Portrait Gallery
The ‘smiling’ Accelerate
Staff Sergeant Reckless
Along the Drive and Around Town
Castle hotel
Building mural
Mural in progress
A bedazzled limo on the street
Wind chimes on the street
“Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.” ― Oscar Wilde
Twenty Steps at a Time 
Very cool experiences! Those horses are so beautiful! And two more states checked off my list! 6 more to go!
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