Earlier in the week a co-worker – who we shall name BY – asked if I wanted to head down to Louisville, about 2 hours south of Indianapolis, where I’m located for most of this month for work.  At first I was hesitant, as I’m trying to enjoy the 5 minute commute to the client and not driving as much as I have been in California.  Later in the day she said there is a Louisville Slugger Museum we could go to and at that point my hesitation was pretty much done.

So I took the drive to Louisville yesterday and had a really good time.  After arriving, BY and I went for a quick coffee.  From there we checked out the Louisville Slugger Museum.  The museum was going through some reconstruction so we weren’t able to see all it has to offer.  But we did take the tour through the area where they make the bats, where a tour guide explained the different parts of the process, and short videos at each station to further explain how the wooden bats are made.  Although they gave everyone taking the tour a free mini bat, I bought a second one engraved with my name at the museum shop as a souvenir.  I’m sure that will find it’s way into storage where I won’t see it again for years, but that’s ok.  I’m wondering if a baseball related trip is going to turn into a yearly spring event.  Last year, as you might remember, I flew down to Port St. Lucie, FL to check out the Mets during spring training.  And now I’ve added the Louisville Slugger Museum to the list.  Maybe next year I should check out the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  Something to think about.

BY had an idea for lunch which was to go to the Brown Hotel, where they have a Louisville specialty, Hot Browns.  This is something I wouldn’t recommend for the weak of heart, literally.  This meal might be worse than Fettucini Alfredo, which I call heart attack on a plate.  Either way, it was really good.  Check out a link to the recipe here.

On the way back to the parking garage we passed by Fourth Street Live, a small section of 4th St. with a few restaurants and bars.  We decided to stop at the Hard Rock Louisville for a quick drink and picked up a few t-shirts to boot.  The last time I was at a Hard Rock was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and for some reason wanted to do it again.  We quickly stopped at a couple of museum shops at the Frazier Museum and Kentucky Museum of Arts and Craft on the walk back.

That’s about it.  It turned out to be a really fun afternoon and worth the 2 hour trip to Louisville.  Check out some pics from the day.  They were taken with the iPhone, so I can’t guarantee they’ll all be in great shape.