#2 - Travel somewhere I’ve never been
You can’t spell…
Louisville, KY
Without LOVE.
I travelled down to Louisville, KY (which was surprisingly close – I should spend more times looking at maps) with two of my fave girlfriends for a birthday weekend. We all convened at the home of Amy & Mike in Bloomington, IN and then Amy, Anna and I road tripped the rest of the way down to Louisville together. Did you know there was a Nashville, IN? Well, next time you visit Amy you can drive through there on your way to the highway. It’s super cute. Looks a little like this…
(source)
About 2 hours later we were in Louisville, checking into the coolest hotel I’ve ever met. It's located in Downtown Louisville and is dedicated to giving guests constant interaction with art. I loved it. We settled into our room, made a reservation at the hotel’s restaurant and took a walk around the neighborhood. Had we done a little homework or asked the concierge which way to walk, we would have seen a bit more action, but instead we headed towards the river and what looked a lot like what Louisville’s Skid Row might look like without the destitute folks.
Okay really it was just a highway underpass.
Walking back from skid row, showing you our nostrils
Dinner was at Proof on Main. We ate in the bar and drank beer and Dark & Stormy’s and Bourbon’s with coke. We ate beet salad and burgers and ricotta gnocchi. We had the best waitress who knew her stuff and was right about how good the french fries were. We talked about things that women in their 40s talk about now, I guess ( I would argue that women rival only 6 y.o. boys in the amount of potty talk shared…and by potty talk I mean the-current-state-of-your-digestive-health yo). And mostly we laughed. Before heading up to bed we stopped by the art gallery the museum has on the first and mezzanine floors.
All from the Current Exhibitions
Amy figuring out how the girls fly in the video showing on the wall behind us
This is the hotel’s lobby. Check-in is just to the right. Entrance to the bar through the far right doorway.
Then we were off to bed to watch the last 20 minutes of “SuperBad”. Specifically the part where they are drunk on the floor in their sleeping bags admitting how much they love each other as best friends. This would be re-enacted the following night sans shame.
:: Saturday::
For some reason I couldn’t figure out the time change. Why is turning 40 so confusing to me? So I thought we’d slept really, really late. I mean our room had a blackout curtain so I was sure we were sleeping all day. I even got up and put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door because I was certain the cleaning staff were on their way. But, nah, it was only 8:30. Which meant it was only 7:30 in Chicago. Or did it mean that it was 9:30 in Louisville, but 8:30 on my phone? I still don’t know what time we got up.
But I do know that we had a tasty breakfast at Dish on Market. A basic two-eggs over medium, bacon and potatoes for me. There were grits on the table. Amy and Anna snuck in their own Chai tea packets. Our waitress had the first and best southern accent of the weekend. We hightailed it out of there just as we were ambushed by about 30 Mary Kay convention goers. What if they’d tried to make us over?!
About 3-4 blocks up the street we found Glassworks – a big ol’ space dedicated to glass art. They have galleries and glass blowing and a walk-in workshop and a gift shop, apparently you could also live there. it’s sweet.
We opted for the walk-in workshop where you can make you’re very own glass art. I made a suncatcher
Anna and Amy worked on larger projects of their own – that’ll get fused together and mailed to them. It involved cutting and scoring and goggles! (mine involved glue)
Where are Amy’s goggles?
Not surprisingly, their project took quite a bit longer than mine. In fact I think I was done before they got started. I took the opportunity to walk around some. Across the hall I saw a bunch of people in folding chairs watching something. As I got closer I realized they were watching a few men down in a pit working on glass blowing. It was quiet, the spectators were rapt…it was weird. And then I was one of them. Why was it totally mesmerizing? It must have been the fire. I sat there for probably 30 minutes totally engaged.
Afterwards we headed out to another part of town to eat at a place Anna’s husband used to work at Kayrouz Café. And we ate outside. Because it was 70 degrees. Did you know that it is 18 degrees in Chicago today? It is.
Next stop The Highlands neighborhood. Filled with shops, cafes, bookshops, young men with full beards, tons and tons of folks wearing green and hanging out of Irish pubs (st. paddys weekend, of course). And a surprising amount of Big Lebowski references. I later learned (like this morning) that Louisville is home of one of many Annual Lebowski fests. The Dude is alive and well in Louisville.
I also learned in The Highlands that Anna has had a premonition that we are going to travel to Scotland together. Could a Highlands tour be in our future? Are there any other Highlands we should include?
If/when I go back to Louisville I’ll spend a little more time in NuLu. A newish neighborhood filling up with art and food. We got to partake in a bit of the latter at my new favorite restaurant The Garage
It was a pizza place that focused on local, farm fresh foods and apparently is known for their ham, though we didn’t try any. We did try their beer
mine is the fullest. Why do I drink so little beer? Can I add start drinking more beer to my 40 list?
ALSO! I added something else to my list of trying new things. White Anchovies! Maybe you think, ewww…, but they turned out to be yum. in a salty, fishy kind of way
Since the was a birthday weekend we got a little Chocolate bread pudding (yum) and had a birthday pic taken. I look a little frazzled, but it’s with happiness
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Moral of the story: If you have the chance to go to Louisville you should do it. If you have the chance to go to Louisville to celebrate your birthday with two of your favorite friends on the planet you are probably already on your way. Have fun!
xo
erin
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