Louisville GTG 7/15/06
Jul 16th, 2006, 12:51 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,330
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Louisville GTG 7/15/06
It was a small, intimate GTG for the Midwest in Louisville on Saturday. With only seven I was able to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones.
Carolyn was as always the picture of Southern (with a capital "S") charm and hospitality. In her smart summer ensemble everything matched down to the adorable little flip-flop charm on her necklace.
Kybourbon our diligent hostess and organizer was there and as gracious as always. Accompanying her was her delightful DD. Recently returned from a college exchange program in Spain, DD made the pronouncement she was "Europe'd out!" for a while. Quelle horreur! The luxury of youth.
I met the beautiful and talented LLindaC and her dashing and articulate DH. LLindaC admitted she stutters when she types. That's how the double "L" happened.
Last but absolutely not least was npurpleh2. Another charming and pretty young lady from the South. (Do you people have a factory that puts them out?) With a festive Hawaiian shirt in purple (mais oui) she kept demurely claiming she was a "newby." With almost a year under her belt she showed much more Fodor's maturity and "grownup-ness" then many others.
Oh me? Middle aged man. Balding. Wearing shorts in public. I left my ball cap at home though. Kept hoping this would be THE ONE. The GTG where I'd be abducted by Fodorites, forced on a plane to France, then made to translate menu French for the group. OK. Back to reality.
As typical at one of these events we were so busy chatting we kept sending our server away with nothing more then an order for drinks. Being something over the yard-whatever I had a Bombay Sapphire gin martini with extra olives. (Will they change the name to Mumbai?) Most others had a glass of wine.
Talk of Spain and Switzerland and US National Parks mixed with the Caribbean and France and Bermuda.
After nearly an hour we'd managed to focus enough on the menu to order. I settled on the fried green tomatoes and duck ravioli in a wine sauce. The fried green tomatoes were exquisite. Fried to a golden crispy perfection and accompanied with a remoulade they were some of the best I've had in ages. Indiana is close to Kentucky. Hoosier like fryin' stuff. Why do I have such a hard time getting fried green tomatoes here? The duck ravioli was thankfully a 1/2 order. That's one of the nice features of the Uptown Cafe. A 1/2 order is almost always more then enough for me. With green onions, capers and a white wine reduction it was delicious.
More time passed as we continued to discuss traveling. Of course not a word of gossip passed my lips making conjectures about fellow Fodorites. :-"
Getting on in the afternoon dessert was finally ordered. The Uptown Cafe had a dessert called "Empress Carlotta." I cross-referenced to the Dick Van Dyke Show episode in black-n-white with Mary Tyler Moore. The Empress Carlotta was a hideous necklace he bought for her. To this day I can remember her sitting in the living room bay window with Dick pulling the curtains open to reveal her in that monstrosity. The mature people guffawed with me. The youth were lost. The desert was delicious. A vanilla mousse, surrounded by a chocolate mousse it was smooth creamy and perfect with my cappuccino.
Lunch finally broke up around 3:00. With a little more chatting in front of the restaurant the last of us parted ways at 4:00.
As always an excellent time. No matter how many or how few Fodorites, it's always people who know how important and fun travel is.
Carolyn was as always the picture of Southern (with a capital "S") charm and hospitality. In her smart summer ensemble everything matched down to the adorable little flip-flop charm on her necklace.
Kybourbon our diligent hostess and organizer was there and as gracious as always. Accompanying her was her delightful DD. Recently returned from a college exchange program in Spain, DD made the pronouncement she was "Europe'd out!" for a while. Quelle horreur! The luxury of youth.
I met the beautiful and talented LLindaC and her dashing and articulate DH. LLindaC admitted she stutters when she types. That's how the double "L" happened.
Last but absolutely not least was npurpleh2. Another charming and pretty young lady from the South. (Do you people have a factory that puts them out?) With a festive Hawaiian shirt in purple (mais oui) she kept demurely claiming she was a "newby." With almost a year under her belt she showed much more Fodor's maturity and "grownup-ness" then many others.
Oh me? Middle aged man. Balding. Wearing shorts in public. I left my ball cap at home though. Kept hoping this would be THE ONE. The GTG where I'd be abducted by Fodorites, forced on a plane to France, then made to translate menu French for the group. OK. Back to reality.
As typical at one of these events we were so busy chatting we kept sending our server away with nothing more then an order for drinks. Being something over the yard-whatever I had a Bombay Sapphire gin martini with extra olives. (Will they change the name to Mumbai?) Most others had a glass of wine.
Talk of Spain and Switzerland and US National Parks mixed with the Caribbean and France and Bermuda.
After nearly an hour we'd managed to focus enough on the menu to order. I settled on the fried green tomatoes and duck ravioli in a wine sauce. The fried green tomatoes were exquisite. Fried to a golden crispy perfection and accompanied with a remoulade they were some of the best I've had in ages. Indiana is close to Kentucky. Hoosier like fryin' stuff. Why do I have such a hard time getting fried green tomatoes here? The duck ravioli was thankfully a 1/2 order. That's one of the nice features of the Uptown Cafe. A 1/2 order is almost always more then enough for me. With green onions, capers and a white wine reduction it was delicious.
More time passed as we continued to discuss traveling. Of course not a word of gossip passed my lips making conjectures about fellow Fodorites. :-"
Getting on in the afternoon dessert was finally ordered. The Uptown Cafe had a dessert called "Empress Carlotta." I cross-referenced to the Dick Van Dyke Show episode in black-n-white with Mary Tyler Moore. The Empress Carlotta was a hideous necklace he bought for her. To this day I can remember her sitting in the living room bay window with Dick pulling the curtains open to reveal her in that monstrosity. The mature people guffawed with me. The youth were lost.
The desert was delicious. A vanilla mousse, surrounded by a chocolate mousse it was smooth creamy and perfect with my cappuccino.Lunch finally broke up around 3:00. With a little more chatting in front of the restaurant the last of us parted ways at 4:00.
As always an excellent time. No matter how many or how few Fodorites, it's always people who know how important and fun travel is.
Jul 16th, 2006, 01:14 PM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,585
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What a nice report! Truly, you are THE one to do the writing, lol. Rick and I really enjoyed meeting y'all ( Rick wore shorts, too, it was miserably hot) and having lunch at the always good Uptown. Thanks, kybourbon for organizing it. We're going to try to attend more GTGs. The best way to hear about new places is to sit with a group of avid travelers. BTW, indytravel may be follically challenged a la tete (his opinion, not mine), but he's adorable, smart and very funny! Who has the pics? I'll have to get Rick off the golf course and post one! How was the Comedy Club?
Jul 17th, 2006, 05:53 PM
#4
Too bad you just had it. My husband flies to Louisville tomorrow. I could have sent him in my place!! He would then become addicted to this website and I would never get on!! Just kidding. Glad you had a good time!
Just kidding. Glad you had a good time!
Jul 17th, 2006, 08:20 PM
#6
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 288
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What a great report!! The description of everyone was a riot...
It was so much fun to meet all of you and afterward I definitely felt better knowing there some other kindred travel-loving spirits in the area. When can we do it again??? Huh, huh, huh???
It was so much fun to meet all of you and afterward I definitely felt better knowing there some other kindred travel-loving spirits in the area. When can we do it again??? Huh, huh, huh???
Jul 17th, 2006, 09:14 PM
#7
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,194
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh, you just had to make me agonize over missing this, didn't you?
At the risk of being labeed a thread hijacker, I will chime in with my "dog ate my homework" story (why I couldn't be there).
Not that we were ever going to be able to attend. Even before this was planned, we had been invited to our first trip ever to Cape Cod - - to visit with oldest daughter's inlaws (or is it more proper to say son-in-laws parents?), at "their summer place". Pleasant enough it was... we cut it short by one day (plan was always to do this) and go to Newport (RI) for our departure day, with a 6 pm flight home from PVD.
Well, we liked Newport a lot, and I would like to go back there for several overnights (I think that it is quite a diss that in Fodors "If you have three days", they propose that you leave Newport for Providence after a day and a half)!
Anyhow, we got to TF Green (PVD) airport on time. But the plane that was supposed to take us home wasn't going to. Which meant a certainty of a missed connection in PHL. And no chance of getting home that night, the USAir agent clearly affirmed to us. So we were going to be stuck in a motel somewhere - - in Providence? in Philadelphia? I pressed for all of our options for the next morning. And as the travel quirk gods would have it, the choice of a nonstop, Newark to Louisville seemed the most appealing to me. He had no problem "FIM"ming us over to Continental. It was just about 6 pm. We could get a (yet another) car rental and make NYC by just about dark.
And so we did. Had dinner on the upper east side at a little trifle of a restaurant (Nectar, at 82nd and Madison) - - nothing special, but somehow, it still made us feel like we were Carrie and Mr. Big.
Aftrwards, went to see Ground Zero. Still mind boggling, five years later. As much now, for what all they have done since, and for what they are doing as I write this, day and night, even as the madmen continue to plot against "them" (us). Go. See for yourself.
Anyhow, that meant traversing the Holland tunnel at midnight, and barely getting a nap at EWR (Courtyard Marriott) before dealing with the shuttle/AirTrain biz at the Liberty Airport (boy, i remember People Express, and when Newark looked like a Greyhound bus station!), to make our 6:40 am flight.
Does this get me an excused absence? wink...
Let's plan a IN/KY/OH GTG 3.5 soon - - Marcy and Deirdre and others weren't there either. A makeup session is needed.
Best wishes,
Rex
At the risk of being labeed a thread hijacker, I will chime in with my "dog ate my homework" story (why I couldn't be there).
Not that we were ever going to be able to attend. Even before this was planned, we had been invited to our first trip ever to Cape Cod - - to visit with oldest daughter's inlaws (or is it more proper to say son-in-laws parents?), at "their summer place". Pleasant enough it was... we cut it short by one day (plan was always to do this) and go to Newport (RI) for our departure day, with a 6 pm flight home from PVD.
Well, we liked Newport a lot, and I would like to go back there for several overnights (I think that it is quite a diss that in Fodors "If you have three days", they propose that you leave Newport for Providence after a day and a half)!
Anyhow, we got to TF Green (PVD) airport on time. But the plane that was supposed to take us home wasn't going to. Which meant a certainty of a missed connection in PHL. And no chance of getting home that night, the USAir agent clearly affirmed to us. So we were going to be stuck in a motel somewhere - - in Providence? in Philadelphia? I pressed for all of our options for the next morning. And as the travel quirk gods would have it, the choice of a nonstop, Newark to Louisville seemed the most appealing to me. He had no problem "FIM"ming us over to Continental. It was just about 6 pm. We could get a (yet another) car rental and make NYC by just about dark.
And so we did. Had dinner on the upper east side at a little trifle of a restaurant (Nectar, at 82nd and Madison) - - nothing special, but somehow, it still made us feel like we were Carrie and Mr. Big.
Aftrwards, went to see Ground Zero. Still mind boggling, five years later. As much now, for what all they have done since, and for what they are doing as I write this, day and night, even as the madmen continue to plot against "them" (us). Go. See for yourself.
Anyhow, that meant traversing the Holland tunnel at midnight, and barely getting a nap at EWR (Courtyard Marriott) before dealing with the shuttle/AirTrain biz at the Liberty Airport (boy, i remember People Express, and when Newark looked like a Greyhound bus station!), to make our 6:40 am flight.
Does this get me an excused absence? wink...
Let's plan a IN/KY/OH GTG 3.5 soon - - Marcy and Deirdre and others weren't there either. A makeup session is needed.
Best wishes,
Rex
Jul 18th, 2006, 09:56 AM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,938
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Linda, congratulations to Rick (and you). I really enjoyed meeting you, him, and npurplah2 on Saturday as well as seeing Kybourbon, her daughter, and David again.
We had a really good time. Too bad you missed it, Rex.
We had a really good time. Too bad you missed it, Rex.
Jul 31st, 2006, 10:12 AM
#14
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,171
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Pictures?
So they can be posted on http://fodorite.fisherfowler.net/
So they can be posted on http://fodorite.fisherfowler.net/
Jul 31st, 2006, 02:17 PM
#15
I have pictures from several GTG's - Atlanta, NJ/NY, KY/IN(everyone's backsides - how did that happen?) and if I can track down my daughter's digital camera - Louisville. I'll see if I can locate all of them this week and you can use any or all. Thanks!
Aug 1st, 2006, 05:10 AM
#16
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,171
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Send them to [email protected]
But you might check the page to see what I already have.
But you might check the page to see what I already have.
gt;er said!
Aug 16th, 2006, 01:16 PM
#19
Sorry guys! I'm in recovery mode after being forced to hike LeConte with DD! I had to replace my cousin at the last minute. There isn't a spot on me that doesn't ache! I'm so glad I paid the extra $8 per person for wine. I needed it! $200 for one night on a mountain with no showers or electricity that you have to hike for hours to reach is NOT my idea of fun.
http://www.leconte-lodge.com/home.html
I'll try to get DD to load the photos this weekend.
http://www.leconte-lodge.com/home.html
I'll try to get DD to load the photos this weekend.
