March 17, 2023
Louisville Ice Cream, Louisville, Kentucky
Over the last few years. Louisville Ice Cream has won accolades from Food Network, Food and Wine and USA Today, so we had to try it. The shop, located in an older section of town, is easily identified by the bright blue ice cream cone sign above its door. There was a picture board out front with pictures of some of their ice creams and a list telling us they had they had vegan options, made their own cones and used local dairy products. The same artist appeared to have made made signs inside with creative sundae options.
After perusing the options, I chose Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream (Cream Cheese Ice Cream with cinnamon and pieces of cinnamon buns) that was pictured on the outside picture board, My expectations were a bit too high, although the serving size was generous, I found the ice cream to be a bit weak on flavor and a bit grainy.
There were attractive benches outside – great to enjoy ice cream while people watching as well as indoor seating at small tables,
In the area: Louisville, Kentucky is located on the Ohio River directly across from Indiana. Louisville has many things to see and do.
Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchhill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky – the Kentucky Derby is a yearly horse race run since 1875. It is also called ‘Run for the Roses’ because the winner of this 1.25 mile race is draped with a shawl of beautiful red roses. The Kentucky Derby Museum, with its interesting exhibits, artifacts, videos and interactive activities was fun to visit. The museum is at the Churchhill Downs Racetrack is where all the horse racing action happens. We walked to the stands along the racetrack on an organized tour and heard fascinating stories related to the race. It was awesome being so close to where the horses run. We plan to comeback to see a race here someday, but not the Kentucky Derby – that is out of our price range!
While we were here, I had to try a mint julep, the traditional game day drink made from bourbon, sugar, water, ice and a sprig of mint. The drink was not really anything, it was all about tradition – now I just need the fancy hat. We enjoyed our trip here!
AHA Museum of the Blind, Louisville Kentucky – this was an off the beaten track place that should be an on the beaten track. It was so well done, so interesting and so informative of the technological history and the lives of blind and visually impaired people,
There have been many different systems and many different attempts to help the lives of visually impaired and this explained them with colorful exhibits that included hands-on experiences and artifacts. It gave us s better understanding a what blind people can naturally excel at and where life would be much more difficult than a seeing person.
We had a fantastic guide who taught us how to read Braille – it would take a long time to master it, but we got the basics down amazingly fast.
We then watched three actors reading braille dialog lines practicing for an upcoming stage performance. Their reading was so fast and so in character, we were totally amazed- I have never watched a blind person read out loud before, and it was totally amazing and heartening.
Hillerich and Bradsby Inc. Slugger Bat Factory Tour- “Baseball bats” – the words conjurer images of everything from Little League baseball and softball to Major League sluggers. Each player has a specific type of bat they prefer. Visiting the Slugger Bat Factory Tour, we got to chance to see how bats were made from start to finish,
We waited for our tour to begin in a large room with displays about famous baseball players with the bat they used – there was even a photo op holding the bat of your favorite player. Two stations had men making bats manually -lot more work than a modern factory! The place was filled with families with grade school kids, obviously enthusiastic baseball and softball players – their enthusiasm enriched the experience.
The tour started with the construction of professional bats, followed by the area with bat production for the common folk. Modern bat making is largely automated and fun to watch. We even got little bats to take home.
This is a not-to-be-missed stop in Louisville.
Colleen's Ice Cream Blog 