Day 49 Louisville, Kentucky

 Yesterday we arrived in Louisville mid-afternoon and after checking in took a drive over to Bardstown Road which has a two mile strip of old small stores, restaurants, shops, pubs and tattoo joints. We managed a stop or two and thought it was a pretty neat area so we made reservations there at a semi-famous restaurant called Jack Fry's for the next day (today). We weren't very hungry so we skipped dinner and called it a night. The next day (today) we got an early start and headed downtown to take a tour of the Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat Company and Museum. I enjoyed watching them make Louisville Slugger bats for the major leaguers like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. For me it brought back old memories of playing baseball as a kid. For Sylvia, I don't know, but she didn't seem to mind too much. Or, maybe she just wasn't talking to me? Anyhow, after that we walked around downtown, which we discovered was a much bigger city that we thought. It's also undergoing a major revitalization and has quite a few museums and things to do. We wandered around and admired the old Brown Hotel before having lunch. Sylvia ate the innards out of a Chicken Salad sandwich and I was forced to try a Louisville tradition, the “Hot Brown.” The Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon covered in Mornay sauce and broiled until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown. It was a real stick-to-the-ribs lunch. I wonder why I'm getting fat and Sylvia isn't? The next stop was Churchill Downs and a Behind the Scenes Tour of the track that they only do on non-racing days.. Sylvia and I were the only ones on the tour and it was a real treat. We got tours of the Jockey's Quarters, Silk Room (picture), Board Room (picture), Press Box and TV area, Turf Club, Millionaires Row ($68,000 for a Derby Day table for 8), and other areas not normally seen. It was very impressive. If you get the chance--do it. Jack Fry's restaurant was packed and fortunately we had a reservation. The food was good and fairly expensive. They do a good job and wouldn't mind going back. The locals really support it. We're getting closer to home and expect to be in Solomons by Saturday. Tomorrow we want hope to get to Charlottesville,Virginia, but the snow might slow our progress.