Yesterday afternoon following our tour of Maker’s Mark, we made our way along the less-traveled back roads to Louisville. The remainder of the day and evening was spent exploring the downtown area and scoping out the spots we would return to today during business hours.

Before returning to our hotel after dinner, I insisted we take the short drive on one of the bridges that crosses the Ohio River, so we could get a short look at Indiana on the other side. Hey, with us being THIS close to a state we had never been to, how could we come this far and NOT go there? Yes, it’s almost like cheating to add Indiana to my “States Traveled” list, but what is the official criteria, anyway?

This morning, I finally had an opportunity to get in a good swim. Although we had the time in Bowling Green, the pool was closed until later this month, so I had nowhere to swim.

The Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center was wonderful, because they offered an option of swimming short course yards or long course meters, because of their set up of a half-pool bulkhead. Given that option, I’ll take long course every time. Walls just get in the way! I love to get in a good rhythm swimming butterfly without having to break it up with a turn.

Meanwhile, Bruce got in a nice 3-mile walk in a path around the reservoir across the street.

Feeling refreshed and invigorated, we were ready to tackle a full day in the city. Since the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory was top on our list, we started with a tour.

Normally, when photographing somebody, I like to get in close so you can actually see the person in the photo; however, this ant-sized photo of Bruce shows just how large the bat is on the outside of the factory! (Just in case you were wondering, no, it’s not made of wood!)

This “Gallopalooza” horse depicts the scene across the street.

Here’s the bad news/ good news about the 1.8 million wooden Louisville Slugger bats that are produced each year. The bad news is that 40,000 are used to make those bats. The good news is that the trees used for the bats reseed themselves and six more trees grow for every tree that is harvested from the forest.

Back in the 1960’s, the bats were made by hand and took 20 minutes to shape. Now, a more precise computerized lathe is used, and it takes only 30 seconds to shape a bat (or 37 seconds for a major league ball player’s bat).

After the tour and enjoying the exhibits in the museum (especially everything about Hank Aaron and Tony Gwynn, our favorite baseball players), we walked all around the downtown area and rode on the free Zero Bus to Muth’s Candies to buy some chocolates. Muth’s has been producing chocolates since 1921. We also visited The Brown, one of the top hotels in the United States. It was absolutely gorgeous.

About that Zero Bus, the “Zero” stands for zero emissions, because the buses are 100% electric. It was interesting to see this bus pull into the charging station and hook up for a fresh electrical charge.

Our day ended with a stroll through the Historic District and a drive by Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

We enjoyed our stay in Louisville. The downtown area was clean, safe, and a nice place for walking.