BACK IN BLUEGRASS

Last week when I was in Louisville severe storms hit Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville hard. At one point close to 100,000 people and businesses were without power. As a result several places that I wanted to visit were closed, so after a trip through Western Kentucky and up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, I returned to Louisville with the hope of visiting Cave Hill Cemetery and the Louisville Slugger factory.  

So today I was up early and off to Historic Cave Hill Cemetery. Traffic was light and I made the 15-mile drive in less than 30-minutes. Cave Hill is a beautiful old cemetery with a number of notable people resting here including Colonel Harland Sanders, General George Rogers Clark and Muhammad Ali who passed away in 2016.  

I spent about an hour at Cave Hill and then Headed downtown to tour the Louisville Slugger Factory. I had been here before in 1990 but it was on a weekend and had no problem finding parking. That was not the case this time.  There are a number of surface lots in the area along with some parking garages.  I tried two parking garages and they were full. I found a surface lot about 3/4 of a mile away but there was a rather seedy looking man at the entrance demanding $20 to park.  I suspect this was a scam so I pulled away and decided to move on.

Striking out in downtown Louisville, I head toward The Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky. I am glad I decided to visit during the week because I can see this place being tremendously crowded. They charge you $10.00 to park and it's $48 admission to Just the Ark Site. This same company has another attraction located about 20-miles away called the Creation Museum and you can purchase a combo-ticket for $60 that includes admission to both attractions.

Upon entering the attraction you will have to park in a large parking lot and walk to an open shelter to buy ticket. I am not a fan of any attractions that makes you stand in line to buy ticket, and trust me, the lines can be long really, really long. One you buy your ticket you stand in line again to board a bus that will take you to the Ark.  I can see these line being very very long at peak times. 

I was pretty luck, as I only had to spend about 15-minutes in the ticket line and another 15-minute in the bus line.  

Once the bus drops you off at the Ark it an awesome site. Pictures can not do it justice as to the shear size of the Ark. When I say it is huge, I mean it is huge.  And the inside is amazing, with life size stuffed animals and on the upper levels the working an living space for Noah, his wife and their sons and their wives.  

It took me about 3-hours to go through all three levels of the Ark, and I was really amazed at the detail and enjoyed it tremendously. 

There are live animal exhibits in an area around the Ark along with refreshment stands located throughout the area. I had lunch in the on site buffet restaurant. It cost me $10.59 for all you could eat, and the food was really quiet tasty.  I would highly recommend have a meal here. 

All total I ended up spending about 5-hours here at the Ark and by the time I had concluded my visit It was very late in the afternoon. So I decided to return to Lexington and spend the night before heading home tomorrow.  

I don't have any planned stops tomorrow but you never now what I might find. We will just have to wait and see.