We headed to Frankfort to pick up our friend (and star cameo for this part of the trip!) Martynas, noting the charming buildings and museums in Kentucky's capital. We didn't spend time there though, opting to explore the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Bourbon is an American whiskey that has strict production and aging requirements" it needs to be made in the United States from a mash bill of at least 51% corn, distilled at or below 160 proof, and aged in new, charred oak barrels. Kentucky produces 95% of the world's bourbon. While all bourbon is whiskey, not all whiskeys are bourbon! The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a collection of distilleries, that included 7 initially (including Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and Woodford Reserve), but todays spans 60 bourbon places across 27 counties.
We stopped at several bourbon places on our drive through Kentucky. Seeing a sign for "Larrikin Bourbon" made us immediately turn our heads, as larrikin is an Aussie slang term for a person who's a bit of a maverick, someone who has a bit of disregard for convention, and can behave badly but is good-hearted. So it's kind of a positive, endearing term. When we saw the statue of the kangaroo outside the building though, we knew we had to drop in a have a look.
It turns out that Larrikin Bourbon has only been around for a few years, but is already a popular stop on the Bourbon Trail. Founded by a Navy Combat Veteran who served in the US and Royal Australian Navy, he is now a US citizen and focuses on bourbon distilling. We tried a few bourbon whiskies, which included a smooth one distilled with rosewater, and ended up purchasing a bourbon cream, which is kind of like the bourbon version of a Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur. Martynas is more of a beer drinker (hazy IPAs are specifically more his jam), so he felt the alcohol hit rather quickly, albeit briefly!
We checked out the Wild Turkey Distillery Visitor Center, which looked like it was undergoing a lot of construction and renovation when we were there. As one of the larger distilleries in the area (it's now owned by French behemoth purchased by Pernod Ricard), it was a huge complex with distinct black buildings with the big turkey branding on the side. We did stop to check out the Woodford Reserve Distillery, a whiskey producer since 1812. While we didn't try any of their whiskies, the gift shop is rather swanky, with wooden finishings in the building, brown and neutral classical decor, and contemporary gifts and merchandise, including men's clothing.
Our final brief stop was at the Bulleit Distilling Company in the Kentucky town of Shelbyville (the same name as the town rival in The Simpsons cartoon--funnily enough, there's a town called Simpsonville nearby). As it's also now owned by a big multinational alcoholic beverage company, Diageo, it's another large building with lots of merch. They have cocktails as well besides straight bourbon tasting, but we simply appreciated seeing some of the old oak barrels used for aging the whiskey on display as part of the decor, as well as the general aesthetic of the place.
We're in Louisville! Water, Fried Chicken and Bees
We had a decent drive after leaving the Bourbon Trail to get to Louisville, Kentucky's largest city. We knew that the "s" in the city's name was silent, pronouncing it "Louie-ville", but we noticed that locals said it more like "Loo-ville" or "Looi-ville" where there's just a hint of an "i" sound. Whatever you do, don't say "Louis-ville"!
Just east of downtown Louisville on the banks of the Ohio River was our first stop, the Louisville Water Tower, built between 1857-60, which could pump 12 million gallons in 24 hours. A National Historic Landmark, it's the oldest ornamental water tower in the world, painted in all white with an ancient Roman design. While it was already closed for the day to visitors, there are tours to see the Water Tower and the Museum onsite.
The largest cemetery in Kentucky is the Cave Hill Cemetery & Arboretum, and when we drove in, it was clear that we wouldn't be able to drive within it, as the roads were too narrow. While we've been to a cemeteries on this trip (like when we saw where Lee Harvey Oswald was buried in Dallas), this was the first time we'd gone in to a cemetery that was clearly big enough to have staff at the entrance, as it has a number of famous people buried here, including Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, and Muhammad Ali, the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.
The employee at the entrance, Bobby, suggested we park the RV on the side near the entrance, and asked if we wanted a ride to see where Colonel Sanders and Muhammed Ali were buried. Wow, we weren't expecting this, but of course! Bobby's colleague, Chris, drove up and the 3 of us piled into the car (Sheila waited in the RV), before driving first to Colonel Sanders' grave. Because of the number of visitors they have each day, to make it easier people follow the yellow line on the road to get to Colonel Sanders' grave, while it's a green line for Muhammad Ali's final resting place. Colonel Sanders is buried with his wife, Claudia, and there's a large white marble monument large white marble monument that also includes a bust of the Colonel. Next to this is a family plot where other family members, including his daughter, are now buried. Maybe it'd been cleaned recently, but there weren't any KFC merchandise or memorabilia there that apparently is often left by folks who visit!
Muhammad Ali's grave has an ode to him inscribed on it, and there's also a separate granite marker with an epitaph that states, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room in heaven." There's a lovely garden surrounding his grave, and a wooden box strung up on a tree that says "Ali's Bees", which indeed is a home for bees. When we asked about it, Chris reminded us of Ali's famous quote, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"--what a perfect visual representation of this quote at his gravesite.
Downtown Louisville
Arriving in downtown Louisville, we checked out the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, a museum and factory that details the story of Louisville Slugger baseball bats, which are still used by professional baseball players, although they're no longer the official bat supplier for Major League Baseball. We were 20 minutes too late for their final tour of the day, but we saw visitors in the museum & factory, with souvenir mini wooden baseball bats that they clearly were included in the admission price.
Even though we didn't go on the tour, we got to see the room where freshly made bats were packed tightly together, waiting to be transported to stores, a massive baseball glove carved out of 450 million year-old Kentucky limestone (weighing a whopping 34,000 pounds or over 15,420 kilograms). There was also a room showing videos about the massive baseball bat sculpture that's standing outside the museum, which was transported there to launch the museum and factory in 1996. It's the World's Largest Baseball Bat, holding the Guinness World Records title, standing at over 36.5 meters (120 feet) and weighing over 30,840 kilograms (68,000 pounds). There was a room dedicated to detailing how the bat was made (the logo for example was painstakingly hand painted), including a video from a news broadcast showing the fanfare in Louisville as the bat made its way down the street to be installed in front of the museum.
We wandered along West Main Street, which is filled with shops, restaurants and bourbon whiskey tasting rooms. Along the street there's curiously a gigantic sculpture of Michelangelo's famous statue of David, although this one is almost twice the size of the original, made of foam and painted in gold. Apparently it was originally for the Biennial art exhibition in Istanbul, but was then acquired by 21c Museum Hotels in Louisville, where it obviously stands out, but somehow seems to fit in given that it's just a block from the world's largest baseball bat!
Walking around Louisville, it's clear that Muhammad Ali has left his legacy's as one of Kentucky's most famous people, with banners along the street declaring the city to be "The Greatest", as well as a series of "Hometown Hero" banners proudly displaying the faces of famous celebrities, including Ali and many others. There's also the Muhammad Ali Center, a museum and cultural center dedicated to the heavyweight boxing champion.
A Spooky Tree and Lots of Eerie History
We got back into the RV to see The Witches' Tree in a residential part of town, one of the most gnarled trees we've ever seen! It's a maple tree on the corner of Sixth and Park Avenue in Old Louisville, and as legend has it, the city cut down a previous tree used by witches, and after a tornado came along, a new, twisted tree grew on the old stump. Today, people leave offerings like beads, coins, and other trinkets, and it's one of the stops during haunted ghost tours of the city.
Heading back downtown again, we walked a couple of miles around the city, heading to the Seelbach Hotel, which has a restaurant called the Oak Room inside. During the 1930's and 40's, Al Capone had his own private room here, which included hidden features like a secret exit, which blends in with the wooden facade. We went up to see it just as a tour was wrapping up, but we were invited to stay as the tour guide talked about the ghost story of the "Lady in Blue", a ghost of a lady wearing a blue dress who has been said to show herself to guests. Apparently she was a call girl who had fought with a general at the hotel after he refused to pay her for her services, pushing her down the elevator chute, killing her. It was a very intricate story, as the lady's identity and how she died remained a mystery for many years.
The hotel has a ton of history and stories woven into its walls and rooms, and the facade alone is worth the visit. We wanted to also check out the famed Rathskeller Room in the hotel, but it was closed, so we vowed to return tomorrow.
Other places we visited included the Louisville Palace, built in 1927 in the opulent Art Deco style that today still operates as a music venue, and "Gallop to Glory," an installation commemorating the winning jockeys of the Kentucky Derby in front of the Galt House Hotel, with a statue of a jockey and horse, surrounded by the handprints of the jockeys who have won over the years (like what you'd see at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for celebrities). On the banks of the Ohio River close by is the Belle of Louisville, an iconic steamboat built in 1914, that proclaims itself to be the "most widely traveled river steamboat in American history." It continues to operate to this day, where tourists can go on tourists down the river.
Returning to the RV for dinner, the area started teeming with a lot of homeless folks, which didn't feel like the best place to hang out until the next day. We said goodnight to Martynas who headed to his hotel, while we drove to the nearby Tyler Park, which was a lot more peaceful and quiet for the night.
Route Map
