Kentucky
Mar 29th, 2019, 07:57 PM
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Kentucky
Thank you for all your help earlier this year as we planned our trip to Kentucky. Our family with two children ages 9 and 5 had a wonderful time exploring this state. We had great weather with temperatures in the 50's-60's. We drove from Wisconsin in one day and did the same thing on the way home. We had 7 full days in Kentucky.
Day 1: We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum first. We spent about 2 hours there with the tour. My son also spent some time in the batting cage. I am a big baseball fan and enjoyed this stop very much. We then walked almost across the street to Kentucky Science Center. My kids had a wonderful time here and we stayed about 2-3 hours. We were able to use a reciporcal membership from our local museum to get into here free. We then went back to the hotel for swimming for the kids. We stayed at the Drury Inn as it provided both breakfast and a reception for dinner.
Day 2: We stayed in and got a late start. We had brunch at Wild Eggs and we had a breakfast take on the Hot brown sandwich. We enjoyed our brunch here. We were going to do the Mega Caverns for my son to zipline, but when we found out the tour was about 3 hours we decided that was just too long. We opted to go to the Louisville zoo and had a nice day of walking and enjoying the nice day. They had a little zipline thing that my son could do at the zoo so that helped with this disappointment over the Mega Caverns.
Day 3: We made our way to Mammoth Cave with various spots along the way. We first stopped at Bernheim Arborteum and walked around. This quite the find. We hiked some trails and saw some wooden trolls which was amazing. They also had a great nature playground for the kids. We then stopped at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and spent probably 45 minutes here. We ate lunch at Laha's Red Castle Hamburgers. We enjoyed an inexpensive lunch of burgers and fries and sitting and an old time counter. We then headed to Mammoth Cave. We arranged for the 3:00pm Frozen Niagara tour. We were able to have about 90 minutes to explore before our tour and see the visitor center and also do a bit of walking. Our tour was only 75 minutes long, but we saw some good features of the cave. Highly recommend and would love to do a longer tour in the future. We stayed at the Drury Inn in Bowling Green.
Day 4: We started our day at the Corvette Museum and spent about 2 hours there. Even though we are not car people we found this to be a well done museum. We especially enjoyed learning about the sinkhole. We then headed to the Shaker Village. My husband and I enjoyed this thoroughly. Our kids were not as impressed. Since it was a quiet day we had a personal tour and then were able to look into many of the building. It is a beautiful location and nice day to walk around. We then headed to our two night stay at a farm near Frankfort. For dinner we went to the Versailles Brewing Company. We especially enjoyed the beer cheese and the beers. We thought this was the best beer cheese we ever had and that says a lot coming from Wisconsin.
Day 5: We spent the morning just enjoying the farm we were staying at by walking around, meeting the animals, fishing at their pond. We then went the Kentucky Horse Park. This was a good stop. It is off season so we missed some of the things that would be happening during the regular season. We got a reduced rate. For dinner that night we ate at The Stave which was near our farm stay. Very delicious and the food was locally sourced. They also had a great variety of bourbon to taste.
Day 6: We headed to the Natural Bridge State Park and had a great hike up with no other people on the trails. We then went to the Red River Gorge. What a beautiful area and we just drove around as there was a bit of rain. We had a great pizza at Miguel's for lunch. We then traveled up to Newport, KY for our last two nights and stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites.. We had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. It was a good place to the unwind, was loud and we could have a nice beer. Also, we found the food to be very good and hearty.
Day 7: Our last day! We promised our son a day at the Newport Aquarium. Both my kids had a great time. We got a reduced admission through our hotel. I would suggest booking ahead to get a timed entrance as we noticed the lines were long. We had lunch at Dewey's Pizza and then went back to see the aquarium. We walked the bridge over to Cincinnati and peeked into the Great American Ballpark. We did some quick stop in Covington adn toured the MainStrasse Village area and were able to hear the Caroll Chimes Clock Tower go off. We ended our last night with swimming at the pool and then ate dinner at Skyline Chili.
We had a wonderful stay and easily could have spent another week in lovely Kentucky
Day 1: We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum first. We spent about 2 hours there with the tour. My son also spent some time in the batting cage. I am a big baseball fan and enjoyed this stop very much. We then walked almost across the street to Kentucky Science Center. My kids had a wonderful time here and we stayed about 2-3 hours. We were able to use a reciporcal membership from our local museum to get into here free. We then went back to the hotel for swimming for the kids. We stayed at the Drury Inn as it provided both breakfast and a reception for dinner.
Day 2: We stayed in and got a late start. We had brunch at Wild Eggs and we had a breakfast take on the Hot brown sandwich. We enjoyed our brunch here. We were going to do the Mega Caverns for my son to zipline, but when we found out the tour was about 3 hours we decided that was just too long. We opted to go to the Louisville zoo and had a nice day of walking and enjoying the nice day. They had a little zipline thing that my son could do at the zoo so that helped with this disappointment over the Mega Caverns.
Day 3: We made our way to Mammoth Cave with various spots along the way. We first stopped at Bernheim Arborteum and walked around. This quite the find. We hiked some trails and saw some wooden trolls which was amazing. They also had a great nature playground for the kids. We then stopped at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and spent probably 45 minutes here. We ate lunch at Laha's Red Castle Hamburgers. We enjoyed an inexpensive lunch of burgers and fries and sitting and an old time counter. We then headed to Mammoth Cave. We arranged for the 3:00pm Frozen Niagara tour. We were able to have about 90 minutes to explore before our tour and see the visitor center and also do a bit of walking. Our tour was only 75 minutes long, but we saw some good features of the cave. Highly recommend and would love to do a longer tour in the future. We stayed at the Drury Inn in Bowling Green.
Day 4: We started our day at the Corvette Museum and spent about 2 hours there. Even though we are not car people we found this to be a well done museum. We especially enjoyed learning about the sinkhole. We then headed to the Shaker Village. My husband and I enjoyed this thoroughly. Our kids were not as impressed. Since it was a quiet day we had a personal tour and then were able to look into many of the building. It is a beautiful location and nice day to walk around. We then headed to our two night stay at a farm near Frankfort. For dinner we went to the Versailles Brewing Company. We especially enjoyed the beer cheese and the beers. We thought this was the best beer cheese we ever had and that says a lot coming from Wisconsin.
Day 5: We spent the morning just enjoying the farm we were staying at by walking around, meeting the animals, fishing at their pond. We then went the Kentucky Horse Park. This was a good stop. It is off season so we missed some of the things that would be happening during the regular season. We got a reduced rate. For dinner that night we ate at The Stave which was near our farm stay. Very delicious and the food was locally sourced. They also had a great variety of bourbon to taste.
Day 6: We headed to the Natural Bridge State Park and had a great hike up with no other people on the trails. We then went to the Red River Gorge. What a beautiful area and we just drove around as there was a bit of rain. We had a great pizza at Miguel's for lunch. We then traveled up to Newport, KY for our last two nights and stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites.. We had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. It was a good place to the unwind, was loud and we could have a nice beer. Also, we found the food to be very good and hearty.
Day 7: Our last day! We promised our son a day at the Newport Aquarium. Both my kids had a great time. We got a reduced admission through our hotel. I would suggest booking ahead to get a timed entrance as we noticed the lines were long. We had lunch at Dewey's Pizza and then went back to see the aquarium. We walked the bridge over to Cincinnati and peeked into the Great American Ballpark. We did some quick stop in Covington adn toured the MainStrasse Village area and were able to hear the Caroll Chimes Clock Tower go off. We ended our last night with swimming at the pool and then ate dinner at Skyline Chili.
We had a wonderful stay and easily could have spent another week in lovely Kentucky
Apr 5th, 2019, 01:47 AM
#4
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Wow, you packed a lot of activities into your week. When we visited Mammoth Caves many years ago I also discovered the Corvette Assembly Plant. It was a great birthday surprise for our son. Thanks for posting.
Apr 6th, 2019, 07:13 PM
#5
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Thank you for the positive feedback on my trip report. We did do a lot, but we still felt we missed so much. I was happy to share our wonderful time in Kentucky and hope it will encourage others to give it a try.
Apr 23rd, 2019, 06:42 AM
#6
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My husband and I drove through KY on our way home from a road trip into VA., TN, AL and MS.
We really enjoyed driving through the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area and were quite intrigued by the bison herd.
We stayed overnight at the Pleasant Valley Shaker Inn mentioned in this trip report and toured the museum the next day. A beautiful, peaceful spot.
My husband also insisted on visiting nearby Cane Ridge (site of the largest camp meetings of the second Great Awakening) and was skeptical when I told him we had already been there 40 plus years ago.
We stayed on secondary roads heading NE from Lexington into Ohio and really enjoyed the beautiful countryside.
We really enjoyed driving through the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area and were quite intrigued by the bison herd.
We stayed overnight at the Pleasant Valley Shaker Inn mentioned in this trip report and toured the museum the next day. A beautiful, peaceful spot.
My husband also insisted on visiting nearby Cane Ridge (site of the largest camp meetings of the second Great Awakening) and was skeptical when I told him we had already been there 40 plus years ago.
We stayed on secondary roads heading NE from Lexington into Ohio and really enjoyed the beautiful countryside.
