December 2015 Trip: Louisville

Perhaps one of the easiest planned vacations that the Sheffield girls ever went on was the Louisville/Clarksville/Montgomery trip in 2015.

Back when I was in High School, I went to 4-H Nationals with a demonstration where I made my mama and Grandma Betty’s Ham Pie. Now, Nationals was held in Louisville, Kentucky, and I quickly fell in love with the city. We went during the Fall, and the leaves had/were changing, the weather was gorgeous…it was just wonderful. One of my favorite things about that trip was our fieldtrip to Churchill Downs. As I have said a blue million times, I am really not a horse person. But Churchill Downs was just incredible. I felt that my sister, being a lover of horses, should have this same experience.

So, in December of 2015, we set our sights on Louisville. Now, the trip up? Well, perhaps it was my navigation, or Pegi (our GPS), but I think it took us double the time that it should have. In my defense, I was trying to avoid Nashville traffic at all cost. But because of that, I’m pretty sure that I took us through some areas where banjo music could be heard faintly in the distance; and some winding roads that were completely unnecessary. Regardless, after a quick trip around the world, we made it “close” to Louisville around 10 p.m. that night. Nothing had prepared us for the one-lane interstate traffic (caused by construction) 11 miles outside of Louisville. THAT, dear friends, was a nightmare. Two hours later, we made it to our exit and found a hotel.

All was made right, the next morning, when we rolled into the parking lot of Churchill Downs. The lobby that houses the museum was beautifully decorated for Christmas. We signed up for the next tour, not realizing that it would be just us and the tour guide.

Y’all…we could not have picked a better tour guide. He had been to something like 35 consecutive Derbys; he had worked at Churchill Downs for years; and had a vast knowledge of the history, the horses, the bloodlines, and the jockeys. He and Rheba chatted it up like old friends, as mom and I took in all of the sights. He told us so many stories, and probably took around 45 minutes longer than the allotted tour time with us. 

A fun side story: There is a car show at Churchill Downs about a month prior to the Kentucky Derby. And many people go to the car show, and hide their booze in the center of the track. See, many young people stand in the center of the track on the day of the Derby. Because the price of drinks is so high during the Derby, they can sneak in their own booze during the Car Show.

After the tour ended, we walked through the museum. Probably the coolest thing, for me, was watching how everything fascinated Rheba so. She was certainly in her element.

Later, we had lunch at the little restaurant in the Museum building. I can’t remember what I had now, but they had some kind of bourbon sauce for it, and that was what completely made the dish. It was delicious.

If ever you are in Louisville, a trip to Churchill Downs should be on your list of things to do. While I am ill-equipped to put it all into words, I will leave you with some of my photos.

Sometime next week, I will talk about the Clarksville leg of our trip.