In a week and a half, Shae and I are heading to the UK and Amsterdam for a couple of weeks.
When we get back at the beginning of April, we’ll be heading off to Kentucky for the 12th (official) state of our 5 year, 50 state road trip, where we’ll be spending 6 weeks or so.
The reason we’ve picked Kentucky for this time of year is for a couple of reasons. The first is that we’ve got tickets for the Kentucky Derby (standing area only, not the $$$$ seats!)
Before that in April though, Louisville has Thunder Over Louisville, a huuuuuge fireworks display. We’ve booked an Airbnb downtown during that time, so we’re looking forward to that too.
We’ve already got a list of a few dozen things to do and places to see, with several of those ideas coming from Sites & Bites (thanks Cassie!) We’re always on the lookout for more ideas though, so we’d love to hear your suggestions of fun things to do in Kentucky.
Our plan is to stay in the following areas as that should mean we’re no more than 2 hours away from anywhere in the state at some point during our time in Kentucky:
- Grayson
- Louisville
- Paducah
- Horse Cave
- Somerset
- Lexington
- Frankfort
- Covington
Kentucky is home to the Bourbon Trail, so we’ll hopefully have a chance to visit several whiskey distilleries while we’re there. There are some of the larger names like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, but I want to check out some smaller ones too.
Here’s the list we have already of possible things to do in Kentucky:
- Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby
- Lake Cumberland
- Mega Cavern Mega Zips
- Horse sculpture hunt in Louisville
- Pet friendly restaurants & bars in Louisville seeing as we have Truffles with us
- American Printing House for the Blind Museum
- Natural Bridge State Resort Park
- Rabbit Hash as their mayor is a dog
- Carter Caves State Resort Park
- Apple Valley Hillbilly Garden and Toyland
- Colonel Sanders Museum
- Cumberland Falls State Resort Park
- Mountain Life Museum
- Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
- Breaks Interstate Park
- Riverwalk Statue Tour in Covington
- State Capitol building in Frankfort
- Cherokee Trail Of Tears Commemorative Park
- Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area
- Demaris Phillips recommendations in Louisville (she’s on Food Network and we love her)
- Jim Beam American Stillhouse
- Mammoth Cave National Park
- Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory
- Mantle Rock Preserve
- Maker’s Mark Distillery
- Woodford Reserve Distillery
- Buffalo Trace Distillery
- Four Roses Distillery
Your Suggestions
So that’s what we have on our list already, but what would you add to our list of things to do in Kentucky? What great hiking spots would you recommend? Any great restaurants or bars? Interesting museums? Quirky roadside attractions? Smaller distilleries that I shouldn’t miss? Please let us know in the comments below.
Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, KY; Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, KY; and Dinosaur World in Cave City, KY (and it is pet-friendly).
Ooh, pet-friendly stuff – even better, thanks!
While checking out the Colonel Sanders muesum, you can also find his gravesite. Also, check out 4th street live, especially during Derby weekend. Very cool area, but it is a nightlife area, so prepare for some craziness if you are checking it out. Ha. Enjoy!
We like some craziness! Thanks for the suggestions 🙂
Sounds like you all are hitting the major points.
While in Louisville check out:
Louisville Slugger Museum
Cherokee Park
Ditto’s restaurant on Bardstown Rd. Get the Chicken Carbonara, it’s to DIE for.
When going to Natural Bridge, there is an awesome pizza place just down from it called Miguel’s Pizza. Another wonderful eatery.
You all will love Thunder. I miss it so much.
We’ll miss you all this year for the worlds Smallest St Patrick’s Day Parade. This year we are having a 1/2K marathon, lol.
We saw there was going to be a 1/2k – definitely sad to be missing that and not seeing you guys. We’ll definitely be back to Enterprise at some point though 🙂
The Corvette Musuem in Bowling Green … so much more than a car museum. There are cars duh, but also a display where they had a giant sinkhole in 2014? Swallow part of the museum, and this year they are partnered with NASA for an exhibit from gas stations to space stations. http://www.corvettemuseum.org
That sounds like fun – thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Make sure that you try at least a couple of The Hot Brown’s, a Louisville tradition.
It’s now on the list – thanks 🙂
The Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Ky.
Thanks!
Is it too late for suggestions? I just found your blog. I’m in Frankfort and we host visitors from Sweden often (husband is Swedish) so we have done the tourist thing regularly . Here are some of the things that we’ve had the most success with.
My husband has been to most of the bourbon distilleries, some of them many times. He thinks Buffalo Trace is the best one and it’s free. I liked the Woodford Reserve tour. You had both of them on the list already but they’re both big winners. Speaking of things already on your list, Mammoth Caves is impressive for its size but Carter Caves is more enjoyable, in my opinion. 🙂
Red State BBQ is a hole in the wall barbecue joint in Georgetown/Lexington. The food is great and the place is unusual. It’s very near the Kentucky Horse Park, which is also a nice place to visit.
This is a bit weird, but take a tour of the Toyota factory while in Georgetown. Reservations are recommended, but the tour is free. You ride around on a cart inside and it’s honestly fascinating to see.
We also once took my in-laws on a working horse farm tour. I think it was Three Chimneys. It was really interesting.. one of my favorite things we’ve done with them. The other thing that our visitors have really enjoyed is a trip to the gun range. (Knob Creek, Louisville area.) Very much a novelty for them.. may not be so much for you.
You might enjoy Claudia Sanders Dinner House, in Shelbyville (between Louisville and Frankfort). It’s the restaurant Colonel Sanders and his wife opened after he sold KFC. It’s a good example of super-Southern cooking. 😉 They have a buffet sometimes.
Hope you have a great time in Kentucky!
Oh, and try an Ale8! It’s a soft drink sold (almost) only in Kentucky, although it’s spreading a bit in recent years. Buy the one in the green bottle, not the can or plastic bottle. (It tastes better.) It’s produced in Winchester, and you can take a tour of that, too. I haven’t been yet but have always wanted to go. Official name is Ale-8-One. It is kind of a love-it-or-hate-it thing. It’s probably closest to ginger ale. Best served icy cold.
Wow, thanks so much for all those suggestions! We’re spending 12 days in Lexington next month, so we were planning on visiting some of the distilleries there. Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve had been high on my list of ones to visit, so I’ll make sure we check out those ones first in case we don’t end up having as much time to visit as many as I hope.
I’m looking forward to Carter Caves – I saw some of my friend’s photos from when they visited and it looked beautiful. We’re in Horse Cave at the moment, so we’ll be visiting Mammoth Cave at some point in the next couple of days.
I’ve added all your other suggestions to our list too, so we’ll hopefully do as many of them as we can. Thanks again!