Kentucky Travel

The southern state of Kentucky is known for its vast wilderness and for its largest city of Louisville, where the world famous Kentucky Derby is held each May. Before my visit I had expected a similar state to West Virginia, but after traveling here on my own I was taken by surprise of all that Kentucky has to offer. I think it's one of the most underestimated states as far as traveling goes, and I have plenty more to see.

Kentucky Links
	Kentucky's capital is the small city of Frankfort located near the center of the state. Above is the current capitol building on the left, with the old capitol building on the right. A little interesting piece of history that happened here; back in 1900 Governor-elect William Goebel was assassinated here in Frankfort. He was walking to the old capitol building on the upper right for his inauguration when he was shot and died nearby. Former Secretary of State Caleb Powers was found to be part of the conspiracy but only served 8 years in prison before being pardoned.

	Frankfort isn't a well known city, but it's bigger than what I had expected. The city has a population of 27,000 people, which is still small by most state capital standards. Above is a photo of Frankfort's tallest building, the Capital Plaza Office Tower, which is part of the Capitol Plaza built in the 1960s. When I visited in 2010, there had been some talk of the city demolishing the tower and building a new modern building. On the right, is the current governor's mansion built outside the capitol building. Below is a shot of the city of Frankfort, and an old rail bridge.


One of early American's most famous explorers is Daniel Boone, who is credited with exploring and settling what is now Kentucky. He became famous for being a militia officer in the Revolutionary War where he was captured by British Allied native Americans but later escaped and returned to the defend settlements. His other adventures of hunting, exploring west of the 13 colonies and leadership made him famous in the states and Europe, and today he is seen as the father of Kentucky. On the upper right is his grave site located in Frankfort Cemetery. The cemetery is a historic graveyard with over a dozen former governors of the state, and local citizens dating back to 1844.

Above is Frankfort's small historic district that spans a few blocks, at the end of the street on the right is the location of the old capitol building. Below are two former homes in Frankfort that have been converted to businesses. There were a lot of upscale neighborhoods here.


Two random photos from Frankfort; a huge motorcycle gang passing through the downtown area and a kid jumping a flight of stairs on a skateboard. I'm not sure the story behind the motorcycle gang, but being that I only caught a small portion of it, I'd say that nearly everyone with a motorcycle in Frankfort was riding that day. The kid skate boarding belongs to a group called the Frankfort Skaters.

As far as touristy things to do in Frankfort, the Buffalo Trace Distillery is by far the best attraction in my opinion. Distilling began here in the 1770s until a formal distillery was built in 1820. It's been pumping out bourbon whiskey ever since, and is now considered the oldest distillery in the United States. There are plenty of good tours available to guide you through the process, and of course offer plenty of bourbon bottles and gifts to take with you. The surrounding photos are all from the distillery, with the lower right showing some of their past products.

About an hour west of Frankfort and right along the border of Indiana is Kentucky's largest city of Louisville. I wasn't sure what to expect here, but I think I'd almost like to say it's one of the nicest cities in the south. Above is the city hall, and on the right some of the cities taller buildings. Over a million people live in the immediate area.

I was worried Louisville would have one or two nice areas and the rest would be nasty. I actually did pass through a nasty area outside the airport, but all the other parts of Louisville I visited were nice and clean. Above is picture of a street in the downtown area and courthouse.
The most popular places to visit in Louisville are along two parallel streets called Market and Main street. Above is the Kentucky Performing Arts center, which also has random art throughout the city. The largest bat in the world belongs to the slugger baseball museum.

These two works of are owned by the Performing Arts center and were along Main street.

At both ends of Market and Main street, I found the buildings condemned and some sections blocked off. Both these areas are actually in the process of being rebuilt or remodeled. It seems like many parts of the city were in progress of getting a makeover.
Right along main street is this small park called Fort Nelson. In 1781 a fort was built here to defend the area from Native Americans and from the British. At the time, Kentucky was part of Virginia, so the Fort was named after Gov Thomas Nelson Jr.

Two random photos from Louisville; on the left is one of the sidewalks of Mainstreet which is where most of the museums and restaurant row is located. On the right is a drink I had never heard of until I visited the area, a mint julep. I forgot what all is inside of it, but the drink is popular down south and during the Kentucky Derby almost everyone is walking around with one of these from what I understand.

My reason for visiting Kentucky was to attend a wedding of a friend from high school. Unfortunately that was the best shot I got of them since at first there were too many people in front of me to get a clear photo, On the right is myself at the 21C hotel drinking a mint julep.
The wedding took place at the 21C hotel, which I have to say was one of the most unique hotels I've evern been to. It's a combination of a hotel and a museum, with all kinds of artwork both in and out of the hotel. The three photos above are from the 21C, and there are plenty of red penguins for you move around.

The actual Kentucky Derby takes place in early May, but throughout the year there are horse races held at the Churchill Downs track. A lot of people were making bets, but since I'm not a risk taker I only threw down and lost $2!

In 2004, the government of Louisville successfully created a new entertainment district to attract travelers, locals and commercial business. After Forth Street Live opened up, several businesses, a shopping mall and food court, restaurants and clubs opened up in the area. There are often free concerts throughout the year that bring tens of thousands of people, so it's a pretty lively area to visit. These photos above were taken around 4am when things were winding down but there were still people out.

After visiting 4th Street live, I didn't expect another nightlife district in Louisville, but along Baxter Ave you'll find plenty of dive bars, pool halls, pizza places and other casual dining. I had a more relaxed Saturday night after the wedding night Friday, so even though I didn't stay out all night Saturday in Baxter I could see this is definitely a good place to come out to.

Two last photos from Louisville, above is the Steamboat Belle of Louisville going down the Ohio River, with the state of Indiana in the background. There are just about daily cruises that offer sightseeing tours and dinner on board. On the right is a zoomed in shot.

Most of Kentucky is pretty rural and made up of farmlands and nature. I hadn't expected Louisville to be such a big and nice city, and the two shots above are more of what I had expected. On the left is a random forest, and on the right is a farm further south of Louisville.

American president Abraham Lincoln was born here in Kentucky in 1809. For most of his early childhood he grew up in the area on the Sinking Spring Farm and had a humble beginning. The photo on the upper left is a similar house to what he was born in. Above is the Lincoln birth memorial that was under construction, but there is a second cabin inside that the memorial was built around.

A small but popular destination to visit in Kentucky is the town of Bowling Green. Even though only 55,000 people live here, it's the states 4th largest town and is a good place to stay for those interested in visting Mammoth Caves, the Corvette Museum and other local attractions. The surrounding pictures are from Bowling Green's square, or downtown area. There is a nice park in the center with a large fountain and several statues and memorials. Below is one of the small strips of shops and a theater, with a historic marker ont he lower right.


Ever since 1981, the American sports car Corvette made by Chevrolet has been manufactured here in Bowling Green Kentucky. The Corvette has long time been seen as America's Sports Car, due to it's design, speed and handling, and relatively affordable price for a sports car. These three photos are from the National Corvette Museum which opened up in 1994. There are dozens of Corvette's inside ranging some of the earliest models, to actual cars that won races and a few cars that are the only of their kind to remain in existence. Above is a photo of an older model and a newer model on the upper right. The Corvette ZR1 on the right was the actual car driven by Jim Mero in 2008 around the Nürburgring racing track in Germany. This is a very challenging race track that has sharp turns and steep hills so it offers a good way to judge how well a car was made. The 2009 ZR1 on the right actually beat the world record for stock cars. The base model coming out of the factory and without any enhancements or upgrades completed the track in 7 minutes and 26 seconds

Southern Kentucky is mostly rural and filled with lots of sinkholes and underground caves. The most famous cave is called Mammoth Cave, both a national park and a world heritage site. The center photo above shows stairs descending a sinkhole that leads to a man made entrance to the caverns. The nasty camel cricket on the right of course makes the cave system it's home, but the grasshopper on the left was actually from the streets of Louisville and is found throughout the state. Inside Mammoth caves, there are some very unique animals, including several species of bats, some the size of an adult thumb, small rodents, dozens of species of insects, two species of blind fish and an endemic shrimp.

Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world, and more than twice as long as the second longest cave system. If you were to put all the windy cave networks in a straight line, the cave would span some 364 miles. On the left is one of the large portions of the cave with some tourists passing by on the right side of the picture. On the other photo, you can see the river flowing through the cave, where the blind fish and shrimp would live. Since they never see light, they have no pigment on their skin, and their bodies are basically see through except their organs.


	Mammoth caves were discovered by native Americans an estimated 5,000 years ago. When Americans rediscovered the caves in the 19th century, they found ancient pictographs, tools, and even mummified remains. In the early 20th century, a rich business man bought the land and began running tours through the Mammoth caves. He encouraged the visitors to carve their names in the wall, and because of the lack of light the writings have been well preserved. Above are some names of people who have tagged the cave in the 1930s. The formations on the upper right have been forming for millions of years, making the 80 year old writings seem like seconds in comparison.

And lastly, two wildlife photos from the forests of Kentucky, a pair of deer on the right including a very young buck, and a wild turkey on the left. I've never seen a turkey in the wild before, but during my time in Kentucky I saw them almost daily. I also passed by a fox and a groundhog but didn't have my camera ready. On the eastern side of Kentucky is the Bonne National Forest, spanning from the bottom to top of the state, and home to lots of wilderness and wildlife. I definitely plan to return to Kentucky some time in order to do an overnight backpacking trip there.


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Kentucky Travel

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