quick tour of Louisville, Kentucky – Louisville Slugger Museum review, parks, Kentucky State Fair

I’m finally getting around to posting this. We took this trip in August (roughly 6 weeks ago!)

My brother moved to Kentucky over a year ago after being based in Hawaii and deployed twice during his Hawaii stay. I was lucky enough to visit him in Hawaii and last fall I took my then-baby to Kentucky to see him. The husband had to stay back because we went in the fall, but this time we made sure to schedule our visit at a time he could go. (We traveled on a Thursday to see him, and came home on Sunday, though my mom stayed an extra day.)

Traveling longer distances is getting more difficult with my almost-two-year-old, so if you have travel tips I wouldn’t mind if you shared them in the comments!

I’ve posted this photo before. It’s a castle in Kentucky.

On Friday, we made plans to go to the Kentucky State Fair. I’d like to say it wasn’t stressful and everyone had a great time, but….Lucas kind of made it a little bit stressful. He was just all out of sorts from being awake early, traveling and being strapped into a stroller. Still, we had fun checking out the animals.

We ate lunch there, and Kenny and I had overpriced chicken while the toddler ate really awful pizza. (I did take a vegetable pouch which he devoured.) I couldn’t believe how much the really bad food cost.

The fair had a ton of rides too, but nothing suitable for an under-2-year-old. We walked through the rides and did notice an exhibit of dancing bears – the same bears/animals from Chuck E Cheese. It was so freaky and while I didn’t take a picture, Lucas did notice them and talked a lot about the “dancing bears.”

Saturday we headed to Louisville to check out the Louisville Slugger Museum and see what other trouble we could find ourselves in.

We couldn’t take photos during the tour, but we tried to get photos outside of the factory tour. The tour was interesting, but once again, Lucas did not want to be held, in a stroller, or otherwise constrained. Once we got to the part where you could get the nubs from the bats (the pieces they cut off each end), we grabbed a couple and the kid was happy. Note to the museum: give away free nubs at the beginning of the tour. Otherwise, my kid is going to want to carry around a bat the entire time.

With the purchase of your tickets, they give you a free miniature bat at the end of the tour. Our kid loved the bat – days later. He really loved those free nubs.

They had a Lego exhibit in a separate area which we checked out. The geniuses over this exhibit even had an area where kids could build. We could let Lucas run around that area and feel safe that he wasn’t going to try to escape or get hurt. He built things with Legos and after about a half hour (or longer?) we went outside to see the world’s largest bat.

Then it was onto lunch. The exhausted Lucas fell asleep in his stroller and we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe which was a few blocks away from the museum. We were able to sit outside, we ordered our food and Lucas slept until we were half done eating our lunches. The service was great, the food was good and they brought food for him after he woke (so it wouldn’t be cold.) He was a happy kid.

A few photos from our walk from the museum to lunch (and back to the car.) Check out the bedazzled car in the bottom right!

Next up was a nearby park and a splash pad! Splash pads seem to be the theme of our summer. We can’t get enough – and this was the first time that he really wanted to run through the water.


We had walked through a kickball tournament and a radio station happened to throw t-shirts at us, so I had something to change into once I carried my soaked child a half mile back to our car.

Kenny, Lucas and I drove home on Sunday, while my mom stayed an extra day. Kenny had to start back to work that Monday, and after 3 mornings of waking up super early, we were just ready to sleep in our own beds. We really did have a fun time, and I hope my brother invites us back again one day!