Being a Tourist in Louisville

Easiest way to spot a tourist in Louisville?

 

They're the ones carrying around the mini baseball bat that comes with the tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum. Dead giveaway. And yes, we were those tourists toting around our mini baseball bats for most of the day on Thursday when we visited Louisville.

 

Our first stop on Thursday, as I mentioned yesterday, was to the Louisville Slugger Museum.

 

 

They were super welcoming to the influx of Tiger fans and offered a deal: if you wore orange, you got 2 tickets for the price of one. Score!

 

 

The tour itself was pretty neat {even if I wasn't allowed to take any pictures}. We were able to walk around their production floor and see how bats were made from start to finish. It was a short tour {about half an hour} and included videos in addition to the things that the tour guide had to say. I'm not sure how any of the employees work there - it would get really annoying, really quick, with tour groups floating through every fifteen minutes.

 

At the end of the tour, we all received our mini bats, and proceeded to take a few more mandatory, cliché pictures around the museum. You know. Things like this.

 

 

 

Patrick's favorite part of the museum was seeing Babe Ruth's actual bat.

 

 

My favorite part? Finding new ways to act like a five year old.

 

 

If you're ever in Louisville, you kind of have to go here and do the tour and get your mini baseball bat. And you're pretty much required to take a picture with the giant bat outside of the museum.

 

 

 

You're also required to go to Churchill Downs when you're in Louisville. Going here has been on my bucket list since before I even knew what a bucket list was. I blame that on my cousin handing down an old book series to me {The Thoroughbred Series} when I was in elementary school and living next door to two horse-obsessed sisters. Even if it isn't on your bucket list {and I don't know why it wouldn't be}, you've got to go here.

 

This whole town is horse racing obsessed. In our hotel alone there was a Jockey Silks Bourbon Bar and this statue located just outside of the front doors.

 

 

We visited Louisville right in the middle of their fall racing season. This meant that we couldn't take a tour of the track {boo!} but we were able to see live racing instead. They had a deal going on where you could park for free, get into general admission for $3, and buy beer for $1. Deal, deal, and deal. It was also located directly across the street from the football stadium.

 

Tailgate at Churchill Downs? I'm ok with that. As was everyone else in orange.

 

 

Our tickets may have been for general admission, but it wasn't super crowded so the security there didn't really care where you chose to sit. We chose to sit up in the shaded area where the box seats are... if only it were that easy to get into a box seat during the Kentucky Derby!

 

This view. Totally worth it.

 

 



 

Although seeing the people down front makes me wish we had gone down there for at least one of the races to see it super close up. Oh well. We had fun in our box seats.

 

 

At the end of the day, we had all thoroughly enjoyed the races, Patrick had made $5 off a bet on the winning horse, and I was more than happy to have finally visited Churchill Downs. Maybe next time it will be for the Derby??