Tour of Louisville

We decided to do the touristy thing today, but the first thing we did was not on the normal tourist schedule.  We stopped by 502 Auto Club which is a very nice garage, but garage is probably not a proper term.  This is a full service auto repair facility but caters more to vintage, classic and race car care and storage.  They do mechanical work as well as paint, metal work and upholstery on site.  Their facility is so clean you could eat off of the floor.  They also provide climate controlled storage for vehicles.  We were quite impressed with the facility.

502 Auto Club

From there, we went downtown to the Louisville Slugger museum.  We took surface streets everywhere so we could see Louisville, and the sections we passed through were older and very nice.  Large trees and very green everywhere.  You can't complain about parking downtown, there are large parking decks on almost every block, one was right behind Louisville Slugger.  So far, it's been top down and so we didn't worry about the overcast sky since we parked in a deck.  The Louisville Slugger factory was very interesting and the tour guide very entertaining and informative.  Bat manufacture is now computerized, with CNC lathes turning out a bat every 30 seconds where it took a craftsman about 30 minutes to do it by hand.  They make about 1.8 million bats every year!  When we left, it was raining so it was time to put the top up.  It rained on and off the rest of the day.

 We then drove to the Highlands area which is a very eclectic mix of shops and restaurants.  We found a parking place and walked around the area and had lunch at a wonderful Louisville landmark, Jack Fry's.  It rained again while we were eating but stopped before we left.  When we got back to the car, it started raining again!  It was time to go to Churchill Downs.  Again, by surface streets which, for the most part, were very nice, lined with older homes with mature trees and very green.  We got to the Kentucky Derby Museum and took a walking tour of the track and paddock, which was very interesting.  There was racing going on, so we watched one race.  Before the race horses came out, a group of leader ponies came out.  These are the calm horses that are used to lead the racehorses to the gate.  The kids in the group got to pet the horses and they were quite well behaved (the horses, not the kids).  The horses were then led out to the gates and we saw the race from the front row.  Churchill Downs is a very large place and hard to imagine with 167,000 people present - the number at the Derby this year.  After wondering around Churchill Downs, we headed back toward the hotel and stopped to eat at a place recommended to us - The Village Anchor in Anchorage (KY, not Alaska).  It was also very good.  It rained most of the time we were eating, but did stop just before we left.  By this time, we're getting a little tired and headed back to the hotel.   I rinsed the car off and hopefully the rain has passed, although there is still about 50% chance of scattered showers tomorrow.  Don't know what the show site will be like tomorrow as its supposed to be on grass.  With all the rain, it may have to be moved to a parking lot, but we'll see when we get there.  Unfortunately, the questionable weather tomorrow may keep lots of people at home.  But, we'll be there, rain or shine!

Churchill Downs original grandstands

Leader ponies