Our family packed a lot in during our visit to Louisville this summer. Our first stop was visiting Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum
Just outside the museum, we saw the memorial statue for Barbaro, a racehorse who had 6 first-place finishes, including the Kentucky Derby in 2006. Barbaro gained national attention when he shattered his leg and battled through many ensuing infections. His ashes are now beneath this statue. The statue is significant because all four of the horse's hooves are suspended in the air.
As part of our museum admission, we were led on a 30-minute walking tour of the Churchill Downs racetrack.
Back inside the museum, we enjoyed all the interactive exhibits. One of the first displays was "The Winner's Circle," a display that is updated each season to depict the most recent Kentucky Derby winner. The 2019 winner was Country Horse, after the horse who crossed the finish line first (Maximum Security) was disqualified. We learned that this was the first on-track disqualification in the history of the race.
Our boys loved the exhibit where they could "bet" on a horse in a simulated race. Can you just sense everyone's excitement as they're holding their tickets, watching for the outcome??
All three of our kids enjoyed the Riders' Up exhibit where they could practice being a jockey and experience the rush of competition. :)
I was really impressed with the video we watched on the museum's 360 degree theater screen. We all sat in swivel chairs to watch this video so that we could turn to see all parts of the screen. So fun!
No actual races were going on during the month of June, unfortunately, so we didn't get to see any live races or horses. We did, however, get to sit atop a replica horse, inside the Down's first electric starting gate ever used (between 1940-1977).
It was a memorable visit to this historic site! I'm guessing that our children (or at least the boys) will show an increased interest in the Kentucky Derby next year! To cap off our visit, we stopped through the gift shop where each of our kids picked out a stuffed racehorse with the rest of their trip money from Grammy and Papa.
I didn't get any pictures of this, unfortunately, but when we got back to our hotel that afternoon, Jaden and Cody built their own racetrack out of MagnaTiles. Then, they slid their new horses, and a few other stuffed animals too, along the track to create their own Animal Races event. Gotta love these boys and their creative minds!
Later that evening, we visited the Big 4 Bridge, originally a railroad bridge, connecting Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana across the Ohio River. Now, the landmark is a popular pedestrian bridge, measuring 2,525 feet across.
We took a leisurely stroll across the bridge and enjoyed seeing a bit of Jeffersonville, Indiana; glimpsing a Belle of Louisville riverboat; and admiring the Louisville skyline.
At the base of the bridge, on the Louisville side, sits Waterfront Park, a large city park with playground equipment and a sprayground. Cooling off in the water felt great to our kiddos after the walk across the bridge!
The next day we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum. We figured this place would be a huge hit (ha, ha!) for our boys given their current obsession with baseball.
One of my favorite parts of this museum was the first exhibit--"Hold a Piece of History." After donning batting gloves, museum visitors get to hold bats that have actually been used by some of the greatest players in baseball.
Each of us could choose to hold any bat we wanted. Jason was thrilled to hold a bat belonging to one of his boyhood heroes-- Tigers player Alan Trammell.
Jaden chose a bat belonging to Willie Stargell from the Pirates.
Cody held Cubs player Kris Bryant's bat.
I was excited to check out Ozzie Smith's bat, as he was one of my favorite Cardinals players to watch growing up. I loved how he'd occasionally do backflips out on the field!
Jaden and Cody were really impressed with this pitching machine and loved watching the pitch speeds that were clocked.
Other fun exhibits included stadium replicas made from Legos!
The biggest part of our visit was having a chance to tour through the actual bat-making factory. I don't have any photos, as no pictures were allowed in this area. But, we were all very impressed with the step-by-step process of how this company makes bats-- beginning all the way back to how they select a good tree for the wood and ending with how they customize the paint or finish to each player's preference. The kids were amazed by the machine that carved the actual bat shape from the wooden billets. At the end of our tour, each of us received a free souvenir mini-bat, which Adley is proudly displaying below.
Once we had our souvenir bats and were outside of the factory area, the boys were excited to imitate each of these player's stances. Adley tried too. :)
Our last stop of the morning was trying out the museum's batting cages. The pitches came quite fast for the boys, but both of them at least tipped a few of the balls.
What an eventful visit in Louisville so far!
