As I mentioned before, we weren’t great at blogging during the first few months of our travels so this is the first of what will be many “catch up” posts. This covers the second part of our visit to the Louisville, KY/Palmyra, IN area which was the first stop on our adventure and mostly covers the second week of November 2022.
As travelers we like to experience as many different things as we can, however, one thing we try to hit often is the zoo. As a former zoo employee and volunteer, Angel has a definite fondness for visiting zoos, aquariums, and sanctuaries and John has a definite fondness for Angel so he goes along with it. Growing up visiting the Columbus Zoo every year has kind of spoiled us but we pretty much enjoy every zoo we visit. While Louisville is much smaller than our “hometown zoo”, we did get to see some animals that Columbus doesn’t have like meerkats and pygmy hippos. Louisville also has amazing exhibits for their polar bears and snow leopards with walkways for the animals suspended in the air above the walkways for guests. We were in the right place at the right time to watch a naughty pelican continually harass a zoo keeper while she was trying to feed the penguins as well.
On Tuesday November 8th after John got off work, we decided to venture out and take the dog on a hike. Angel had learned that there had once been an amusement park (similar to the Buckeye Lake Park of yesteryear) inside a nearby state park that had been flooded and abandoned almost a century ago. The park was a popular recreation area until it flooded in 1937. More than 10 feet of water covered the park and because of the extensive damage, on top of the financial damage already done by the Great Depression, the park never reopened.
The park once known as Rose Island is now located inside the Charlestown State Park. There is a paved trail leading down to a newly built bridge that explorers can take to cross over to the island but don’t be fooled – the trail is STEEP. While walking down the hill we passed two people stopping to take a break. They let us know that they are experienced hikers and they found it difficult. The trailhead is even marked with a warning sign that pretty much says “Don’t do it unless you are sure you can make it because we might or might not be able to come rescue you”. They aren’t kidding. But on the way down, you aren’t thinking about the trek back up so you carefully make your way to the bottom of the hill and cross the pretty bridge and begin exploring the dirt paths that make their way through the forest-covered island. The Rose Island Loop is only about half a mile all around on the actual island and it was so pretty and peaceful there. Some stone foundations of buildings and maybe fountains (?) still remain as well as a long walkway down most of the length of the island with metal arches spaced at fairly even intervals. We were even able to see the remains of what are believed to be cages that once held zoo animals just barely poking out from a cliffside. The pool has since been filled in with dirt but is very easy to pick out in the middle of the trees. The park history has been beautifully preserved in signs and displays throughout the island to really help you picture what this popular vacation spot looked like in its heyday. There were also recordings that would play when you turned hand cranks that contained actual testimonies from people who had visited the island prior to its downfall. It was strange to have the mental image of the grand hotel, dance hall, cabins and swimming pool overlaid on top of the serene surroundings of the trees and plants. We were even startled by some deer scampering off into the brush – we hadn’t even seen them until they started moving (and neither did our amazing, fearless, hyper observant guard dog – can you tell I am using sarcasm here?). The trek back up was absolutely no joke but, with several breaks along the way for the humans and the dog to catch our breath, we finally made it back to the parking area at the trailhead just as the sun was setting. Even though not much remains of the park, it was still a really fun experience and a beautiful hike – but definitely don’t attempt it if you have bad knees or bad ankles or breathing issues or are just fat and lazy like us. We made it but it was rough and we were lucky. Cue the inhaler, again.
We rewarded ourselves with Chinese food from The Rice Bowl in New Albany, Indiana on the way back to Buffalo Trace Park – shrimp shumai, tonkatsu, and beef bulgogi. I don’t know if it was the exhaustion from the hike or if the place was really just that good but when we staggered through the door of the tiny house, carryout in hand, and finally sat down to enjoy our dinner and watch some television, I truly experienced bliss.
I feel like we couldn’t say we had truly visited Kentucky without doing a Bourbon tasting so John took a half day on Wednesday (November 9) to have lunch with his friend and do a tour and tasting at Angel’s Envy. The name, while appealing for obvious reasons, was coincidental – it was the only place that had openings that worked with our schedule that was also in our area. We drove back into Louisville for lunch at Goodfella’s Pizzeria on Baxter Ave where we met John’s friend and ate the biggest breadsticks of our lives. These things were seriously as long as my arm. For $10 each we got a gi-normous slice of pizza, an insanely long breadstick, and a soda. Angel couldn’t even finish her entire meal although she somehow, miraculously, saved room for a cannoli which she reports was “disappointing and sad.”
After lunch, we drove to Angel’s Envy Distillery. The name “Angel’s Envy” refers to the “Angel’s Share” which is the portion of bourbon or whiskey that evaporates and is lost during aging in the barrels. Our guide walked us through the process and the brass machinery and the stacks of barrels were oddly beautiful. We also learned that the bourbon barrels can only be used one (a new barrel must be used each time) and once they have been used, they are repurposed by other liquor manufactures for types of alcohol that don’t have such strict rules. We were able to see the bourbon in various stages from mash to finish product. At the end of the tour, we were led into the tasting room where three different products had been set out for us to sample, along with a chocolate that compliments each product and a glass of water. We learned the proper way to “nose” the bourbon to really smell all of the different notes in each glass, how to swirl the bourbon in the glass to take note of the “legs” left on the glass, and that professional tasters will take a small sip and swish it around in their mouths to acclimate their tastebuds to the alcohol that they are about to consume. We were able to try their Bourbon finished in Port Barrels, their Rye finished in Rum Casks, and their Cask Strength Bourbon finished in Port Barrels. As we both suspected, neither of us are huge bourbon fans and both preferred the chocolates to the actual alcohol. I’m sure it was amazing Kentucky Bourbon – we are just big babies.
On our last day in the Kentuckiana area John was off work for Veteran’s Day and we took full advantage by booking up our entire day. We started with horse racing at Churchill Downs. John had been to horse races in Columbus before so had a good idea of what to expect but Angel had never been to a race before and found it all quite boring. Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, seemed a little sad and run down during our visit. We are sure that it is all done up and amazing come Derby time, but it seemed to us that it was largely in a state of disrepair. The races were exciting for the short time that they lasted but the time spent waiting between races was somewhat dull. John did bet a little bit of money on a few races and actually left with slightly more money than he put down in the first place. He was very disappointed with the pulled pork nachos from the concession stand which somehow smelled like hotdog water.
After leaving the racetrack and the disappointing nachos behind, we found the name of a well rated restaurant on Yelp and decided to give it a try. We walked into Yummy Pollo and were immediately greeted loudly and enthusiastically by the owner and by the sight and smell of a ton of small chickens roasting on a giant rotisserie. The owner held multiple conversations with each and every customer at the same time, in English and Spanish, and when it was our turn he walked us through the entire menu and his cooking process. John got a quarter chicken, white meat, with yucca fries and cilantro rice and Angel had the quarter chicken, dark, with fried rice and mashed potatoes. We were also offered two dipping sauces – one a creamy garlic and the other a cilantro jalapeno) and purchased Alfajores (traditional Peruvian dulce de leche cookie) for dessert. Everything was soooo good. The yucca fries were hot and crisp, both rice dishes were perfectly cooked and subtly seasoned, and the mashed potatoes were thick and flavorful. The sauces were good enough to drink out of the containers they came in (which we would have done had there not been other people around). Everything tasted so fresh and you could tell each dish was lovingly prepared by the very proud owner who was, quite possibly, the friendliest man on earth. If you find yourself in Louisville, you must eat here or we can no longer be friends.
We spent our last night in Louisville, Kentucky at Lights Under Louisville at the Kentucky Mega Cavern. This is an enormous underground space completely filled with holiday light displays. The entire thing is drive-thru and it took about 30 minutes to drive through. It was opening night and we were worried about large crowds so we arrived shortly before opening and got in line. The line was surprisingly short, however, due to things getting off to a late start opening, we heard it was backed up quite badly by the time the gates actually opened. The staff was friendly and efficient, though, and most of the line was gone by the time we exited and were headed back home. We have visited other drive-thru style light shows at Alum Creek Campground and at National Trails Raceway in Ohio and at Oglebay in West Virginia but this was probably the biggest light display and one of the neatest holiday light experiences we have ever done. They had displays with the Marvel and DC superheroes, Charlie Brown, The Grinch, Minions and more and had several light tunnels and a few lasers as well. The weather was pleasant so we took Harley with us and she really seemed to enjoy it – even if the workers that were inside to keep cars moving wouldn’t pet her as she hung out the window, desperate for their attention.
After a very nice ride, we returned to our house and went to bed, ready for our big move the next day. Or at least we thought we were ready. Unfortunately, we woke up to a surprise that we were definitely not ready for….but more on that next time!
