Louisville, KY

Hello everyone.

My daughter is a huge baseball fan and has been wanting to go to a Louisville Bats game since they are a feeder team for our Cincinnati Reds. Since we only have a short vacation time this year, we have decided to take her to a game. We have only been to Louisville one other time which was to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum, so we don't really know too much about it. I was wondering if anyone could tell us what we should not miss while spending a day in Louisville. I appreciate any recommendations or info that can be given.

Well, you've already mentioned the Slugger museum. The Science museum is excellent. Churchill Downs is a great visit, even if they don't have racing that day. Also, the Louisville Zoo is a lot of fun. Not quite on par with the Cincinnati Zoo, but still excellent. Those are the main things I would recommend in Louisville.

From Louisville, you are only about an hour from Holiday World. About two hours further, you could visit my hometown of Evansville, which is the home of historic Bosse Field and The Evansville Otters. They "compete" in the frontier league. Bosse field is one of the oldest ballparks in existence and was featured in movie "A League of Their Own"

I know these are not "in" Louisville, but felt that you might be interested.

Thanks
Scott C

The slugger museum is a lot of fun. If you can eat at Joes Crab Shack down on the waterfront- within walking distance is a nice park area to walk along the Ohio River ( if the water has gone down a bit). If you head out of town a little Squire Boone Caverns, Marango Caves are a lot of fun and about 30 easy minutes from Louisville going towards Holiday World and Evansville (also my hometown!)

Have a great trip!

You can take a ride on the Belle of Louisville, our riverboat. There's also the Falls of the Ohio, which is a large area to search for fossils and a museum to go with it. There's the Derby museum at Churchill downs that's a lot of fun and very interactive. About 1-1.5 hour from here is Kentucky Down Under which is a lot of fun. Welcome to Louisville! Hope u all have a great time!

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions!!

I was asking my 15 year old DS while reading this thread what he would suggest & he said Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. Living here, we've visited all of these and so I think we take them for granted and have to think hard of what to suggest! Actually I like our zoo much better than Cinci, we did a Cinci trip when the DS's where younger, visiting all of the highlites there in the Cinci area, and so many attractions/interactive things were broken or non-operational when we were at that zoo, I was not impressed. And I had visited there many years before and been so impressed, so maybe it was a fluke?

I'm not sure how old your DD is, or what she's interested in, but a few more suggestions that we've enjoyed is the Rauch Planetarium, they also have really cool laser light shows! The Louisville Science Center is a really neat hands on place which also has an IMAX theatre!

Let me know if you have any questions about Louisville, I'd be more than happy to help! You can also pm me. :)

Thanks Shari. DD is 19. Her college program requires her to go to school through the summer months so she only gets one week off in the summer. That is why we have decided to take a short trip to Louisville and make sure she gets to see the Bats.

My DS and his fiancee will be meeting us in the evening one night and we are trying to decide something we might be able to do on a Friday evening. Any suggestions? I read about 4th Street Live, but DD is not old enough for that. Are there any movie theaters or anything that we might try in the evening?

I love everyone's suggestions and are running them all by DD to see what else she would like to do.

Fourth Street Live is a great choice if you're already going to be in the downtown area for a ballgame! Your daughter is not too young! My DS's 13 & 15, love to have dinner there & then just walk around, maybe visit the shops or watch the people!

We have lots of theatres, and other options of course for dinner. Are you staying in the downtown area? If not and you could tell me what part of town you will be in I can give you some options & info. I'm not sure what you all might like. We have an Incredible Dave's, that's fun for all ages.

I'm not sure if you all are just looking for dinner, The Highlands & The Clifton area's offer some great restaurants & lots of really neat kitchy shops,bookstores & coffee houses all in walking distance. Neat areas to park your car, very close to dsowntown - have dinner, & stroll the area, very safe areas! Highly populated, & both areas kind of the artsy flare, and very laid back! We have malls, with chain stores & restaurants, We have The Actors Theatre if you want to catch a play with several nice dining venues downtown, we also have the Ky Center for the Arts, The Louisville Ballet as well as The Muhammad Ali Center.

I"d be happy to help, give info or opinion's if you have something in mind! Maybe I missed it, but when are you planning to visit us in Louavull (how the locals pronounce it! :D )?

Shari... We are staying in Hurstbourne, but the drive doesn't appear to be too far. If there is something there that you recommend or close to that area, I would gladly like accept any suggestions.

The reason I thought she was too young for 4th Street Live is that I read somewhere that if you are under 19 you are not allowed there after 9:00. I might have read that wrong. It looks like a really cool place and I know that she would love it.

Thanks so much for your suggestions!!

Oops. I forgot... we will be there Father's Day weekend.

I was looking at a Louisville website, and ran across a huge man-made cave underneath the city, with driving tours! I'm sorry, I have forgotten the name of the cave.

That's Mega Cavern, under our zoo. It's pretty neat.

We did this at Christmas time when it was all lit up & decorated. Mammoth Cave isn't terribly far from Louisville, it's the world's longest known cave systems at over 390 miles! This is awesome and they have many different tours if this is of any interest to you!

Hurstbourne Lane area, you aren't far from two of our biggest malls, Mall St. Matthew's & Oxmoor Mall. Hurstbourne Lane itself has many nice restaurants, and both malls have nice shops & restaurants.

Also downtown, near Sluggerfield there are several art galleries! Also The Belle of Louisville, a steamboat, has several types of excursions.

This is very different for me as we live here & take it all for granted and I have 2 teenage boys! lol

Hurstbourne Lane is a highly populated, high traffic area, it connects Shelbyville Rd, where the two aformentioned malls are located, you could travel in that way to visit the many shops & restaurants in the St. Matthews area or further in to the Crescent Hill & Clifton area. hurstbourne also connects with Taylorsville Rd. Which is an easy drive into the Douglass Loop & The Highlands area, whihc is a fantastic area to park your car, & walk to the shops, restaurants, etc.

Do you have anything particular in mind that you'd like to do? Have you checked out any of the websites for Louisville to see what you might be interested in seeing or doing? Louisville is very easy & quick to get around for the most part due to the various Xways & interstates, you can pretty much get anywhere in Louisville in about 30 minutes from the furthest point!

Sorry, to address your cocern about the age limit at 4th Street Live, after 9PM guests under 21 are only admitted to the ground level establishments, where most of the eateries are located! On the upper level is where most of the clubs reside! It is a really cool place to visit! :thumbsup:

Thank you for explaining 4th Street Live. I was a bit confused, but now that you say it is on 2 levels, I understand more.

We have visited the websites and DD has picked out a couple of places she would like to visit. She wants to visit Glassworks. I am thinking we will have to visit either the Clifton or Highlands area. DD loves coffee shops and walking in little shops.

Once again. Thank you so much!