Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We spent four nights in Louisville Kentucky at a spectacular AirBnB. It was just what we needed after our back to back hotel nights. We had enough room to spread out, everyone got a bit of space, the beds were finally comfortable and there was a fenced backyard for the dog. We were all pretty tired when we arrived and so we just settled into the place, found our first Aldi and enjoyed our evening at “home”.

The kids had it in their heads that we would be staying up and ringing in the new year at midnight. I’m not sure why they thought that would be a good idea, but we certainly disagreed. There also didn’t seem to be anything family friendly happening in the evening, instead, they did a Noon years eve event at the market around the corner from where we were staying. They had a DJ, balloons, confetti and a countdown on the big screen.

After we counted down to 2024, we wandered around the market venue. The majority of the stalls seem to be pushing crystals, rocks or some other form of spiritual cleansing. The girls were drawn in by the shiny objects. Oddly, the first thing the lady said to us was that she loved the colour of my hair because it reminded her of Anne of Green Gables!

After lunch we headed to the Louisville slugger museum, I love a factory tour and this one did not disappoint. The kids all got to try some famous bats, when if they have no idea who the people are that owned them.

Because we were in Louisville over the New Years holiday we really only had a couple of days where things were going to be open. It also turns out that Kentucky is not warm in the winter. I have no real basis for expecting it to be warm, other than I think of it as the south. We also learned that just about everything downtown closes for the winter, or at the very least quiets down quite a bit. The few times we did venture into downtown we basically had the place to ourselves. Seeing as nothing was happening downtown and the second most popular thing to do in Kentucky according to the kids guide book was visiting the Big Bone Lick State Park we went on a New Year’s Day hike.

Kentucky wouldn’t be complete without a couple of shots of bourbon, a visit to a distillery or some southern cooking so we checked that all off the list on our final day. Evan Williams distillery experience was very well done and included a great tasting experience.