We headed back to Kentucky for our last day of sightseeing and it was such a perfect way to cap off the trip. We did so much in two weeks time, but the main theme of the trip really felt like Kentucky and horse racing. We were hesitant to do more horse-racing stuff; we didn't want to repeat things we had already done, but Churchill Downs is the most famous Racetrack and where the Kentucky Derby takes place. The girls were really excited to keep learning about horses, so we headed to the Kentucky Derby Museum and it ended up being one of the kids' favorite activities of the trip. Plus it had been a week since we did the other horse race stuff so it was nice having the the trip start and end with race horses.
The museum was super fun! I thought we would spend two hours tops there...including our Churchill Downs tour, but nope; had to pull the kids away after spending four hours. These kids are the best travel companions!
The museum actually had hands on stuff we could do and the kids LOVED it. There was a horse racing video game type thing, where they got to sit on fake horses and race each other. The Museum was basically empty, so the girls did not have to compete with anyone for time on the horses and they raced each other over and over. Estelle was the cutest. She had her bum out just like the jockeys and she bounced up and down shaking her little bum the whole time she raced.
There was also a station where you could place bets on horse races. It would print out a betting ticket and then you could watch the race, scan your ticket and see how much money you won. I may have created little horse gamblers because they loved it and did not want to stop betting. They would yell at the screen and cheer on their picks.
There was another station were you could look up and watch all the past Kentucky Derby races. We all watched the horses that won the year we were born. It was also fun to watch some of horses that we had actually met the week before at the Kentucky Horse Park. There was also a cool 360 round movie where we had to swivel on stools while we watched it. And there was a place where they could play Derby trivia. At this point, we were all really good at the trivia because we had learned so much about the Kentucky Derby. We are huge fans now and cannot wait for the big race this weekend.
We got there early in the morning so we could watch the practice riders again. It is fun seeing the horses really go on that track.
After the Derby Museum, we headed to the Louisville Slugger Museum. We are not big baseball fans, but we weren't Indy Car or Horse Race fans either, so we didn't think that would matter. It was the most disappointing place we went to on the trip. We left the trip Indy Car and Kentucky Derby fans, but we are still NOT very interested in baseball.
I think they assumed everyone already knows about baseball so they don't really teach you anything. They rushed us through the factory so fast. They played a little video at each stopping point that we could barely hear, and the second it was over they moved us, leaving no time to look around the factory or ask questions. The museum part was small, but we still made it fun and the girls had fun taking pictures. They thought it was cool to hold and take a picture with a bat that Babe Ruth actually used. I am holding Ken Griffey Jr's. bat in my picture (Go Mariners!)
We were done with the factory tour and museum in less than an hour. But they love their mini bats!
The rest of Louisville was a bit sad but great for starting conversation. Most of the buildings in downtown were boarded up. The streets were deserted and all the windows were covered with boards. There was vandalism and profanity spray painted on statues and building and landmarks. We inquired at the visitor's center and were told that even though there have been no riots since May, many businesses have not been able to afford new windows or they are back ordered. Others just have not opened back up so the boarded windows have stayed. It was very clear the negative way rioting and vandalism hurts a city. Apparently the riots started up again a few days after we were there. I have no problem with protesting and trying to find ways to spread a message or create change, but vandalism is just ignorant and unhelpful to any good cause.
We walked around and looked at some of the more historic homes in the area. We enjoyed that, but definitely got a sense that Louisville struggling a bit. Loved Kentucky, but don't think I would want to live in Louisville.
We spent one more night at our campground and then packed up in the morning and headed for home. We stopped in Ohio at my friend's house and spent a few hours with her before finishing the drive home. We had a blast catching up with Susanne, but I forgot to take pictures, other than this one of Estelle playing at the park. Susanne is awesome; she is a lifelong friend and I am so happy that we could stop by at the last minute and invade her house. We all wanted to stay longer, but we still had eight hours of driving ahead of us.
We made it home a 3:00 am! We had thought about stopping at a Walmart and sleeping for a few hours in the trailer, but Hector was in the mood to get home. It really was the best two weeks! We all felt that we could have just kept going, but sadly Hector had to get back to work.
We slept in Sunday at home...it was nice to sleep in our beds. We watched the Indy 500 and then went back to bed!
