Leaving rainy day lousiville to fly the sky into the land of Or (my base with my new flight attendant job) via way of another airline my favorite (Southwest Airlines) with wifi and reliable pilots usually on time or early (http://www.southwest.com/). Someday i hope to work for them. Listening to loud mouth women laughing i breathe in thinking of a quiet flight while reading Sue Monk Kidd's The Dance of the Dissident Daughter ( http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Dissident-Daughter-Christian-Tradition/dp/006064589X) i take a long exhale. What is dissident? "departure from accepted beliefs or standards"?
... Maybe the fantabulousness of the women a couple of rows in front of me are breaking free too, from beliefs, or the ordinary whatever in their everyday lives. SO more power to em! I can truly relate to Kidd on so many levels at this moment.
"There is wisdom in giving up the fight to make it go away. When we instead come home to our path, we come home to what is. You are where you are. So be there. Stop trying to protect yourself from the harshness of right now, fleeing into a long fabrication about how it's going to be one day. That's a way of avoiding the here-and-now truth of our lives" (p.96).
So i have a choice and i choose wireless, musical escape (Bjork Homogenic) and my airplane neighbor chooses Bose headphones to eliminate unwanted sound (http://www.bose.com/) and goes to sleep.
[we fly bumpily over Atlanta. me, taking a moment to acknowledge flood victims and survivors pilot announces "chops for another 20 minutes"]
The flight crew is sweet, smiley, calm, and cute and pass me some graham crackers and nuts.
But back to my point... i'm not against a little quiet friendly conversation with your airplane neighbor especially bonding with the feminine divine. Yesterday after running, not joggin, i'm talkin full sprint as much as one can with roller and travel bags, full uniform, scarf, blazer, heels. the full on from the B side of Chicago Midway's airport to the A side. Why? To sleep in my own bed and water my flowers. barely making it to the gate, the one customer service agent was telling me "no" even though i could see the plane's wide open door. A Southwest Supervisor went down the jetway and waved me in. Away i ran "thank you thank you thank you" Puddling armpits and beads of sweat dripping from my forehead and upperlip. There WAS room for my rollerbag ! Thank you Mothergod! And a empty seat inbetween two silver foxes (wife aisle, husband window). I took a deep breath in and out and soon i was quietly chatting it up with the successful now retired woman who was inquiring about what to do in Louisville, i was rambling on, she was honing in with pen in hand.
What were my Louisville favorites and how would i entertain a power woman like herself?
"Let's see.." A flood of thoughts followed.."What do you like to do in your free time"
"I like to cook"
"Well if you love food and looking for local stuff, you've stumbled across the right person". It came down to this. Places i recommended for retired rich people (unlike myself) and expanded on the places i had personally enjoyed- a blog would probably be necessary for each but i managed to brief her in the short flight from Chicagow MDW to Louisville SDF: Proof on Main is the the first one that popped in my head, a personal fave - good place to open up in a bible belt city like Luvull- good wine, contemporary art, downtown area and attached to the hotel 21C if you like those kinds of things (http://www.proofonmain.com/) -you could just go for a glass of wine or a cup of tea and mosey the gallery. Other fine dining includes Porcini's (http://www.porcinilouisville.com/) where you might run into Rick Pitino, L&N (http://www.landnwinebarandbistro.com/) where you can rub shoulders with the old money trust fund kids of Louisville, Les Relais- the jetliner types by Bowman Feild- you can even rent a jet and join membership to the 'mile high club' (wink wink), hip Asiatique (http://www.asiatiquerestaurant.com/) for chocolate martinis and or appetizers, Seviche' (http://www.sevicherestaurant.com/)- yum. These are just to name a few of those types. Then i mentioned my kind of more affordable places; El Mundo's fish tacos, dippity do, and burrito lunch special with veggie filling (if you drink- they have the best margaritas!) Frankfort Ave. then have dessert and coffee at Sweet Surrender! (http://www.sweetsurrenderdessertcafe.com/). Crescent Hill is my favorite neighbor where they have The Taste of Frankfort Ave. once a year, F.A.T Friday (the trolley hop) http://www.fatfridayhop.org/ the final friday of every month (the 26th is the next one)- hop on the trolley and enjoy some fun stuff on Frankfort Ave. Heine Bros. (http://www.heinebroscoffee.com/), Charmichael's Bookstore (http://www.charmichaelsbookstore.com/) well the library and one of my favorite stores evAHHH- Just Creations (http://www.justcreations.org/) nonprofit- items from the world that are sold and actually go back to the people who create them- volunteers work there, etc. And then there is the First friday trolley hop on Main St. http://www.firstfridaytrolleyhop.com/. But for Kentucky home Cookin I would highly recommend the wacky funky fun and hip Lynn's Paradise Cafe (http://www.lynnsparadisecafe.com/) or The Monkey Wrench (www.myspace.com/monkeywrench1) where you can eat buffet style brunch and listen to live bluegrass on Sunday mornins, enjoy bands, dj's big screen tvs and a rooftop! Another fave is Cafe Lou Lou's - the pork tenderloin sandwich YUM! Toast on Market for brunch! (http://www.toastonmarket.com/) And Wild Eggs! (http://www.crackinwildeggs.com/) oh sooo many places- this is just skimming the surface.
Other things to look into if you find yourself in Louisville... Waterfront (http://www.louisvillewaterfront.com/) , or waterfront Wednesdays! VAVAVOOM! Actor's Theatre of Louisville (especially the Humana Festival of new Playwrights (http://www.actorstheatre.org/), Churchill Downs (http://www.churchilldowns.com/), Louisville Slugger (http://www.slugger.com/), Speed Art Museum (http://www.speedmuseum.org/) also a fun off the cuff thing to do is check out live lunch at WFPK radio station where you call and order a box lunch while watching the live guest perform for the radio station (http://www.wfpk.org/). if you make it to the St. James Art Fair get there early and plan on staying the whole day. And even if you miss the art fair you should totally check out the Conrad Caldwell house or just take the dog for a walk through St. James Ct. (http://www.stjamescourtartshow.com/) or the lovely neighborhood and park surrounding Cherokee triangle. Brown Park is also nice for a little walk. Antiquing at Joe Ley - overpriced but fun http://www.joeley.com/. Another fun little shop on Market is Red Tree (http://www.redtreefurniture.net/).
If you like local movie theatres with indy movies check out Baxter Avenue Theatres (http://www.villiage8.com/). The Wine Rack (http://www.thewinerack.us/), the Louisville Science Center is great if you have kiddos.
SInce my new retired friends don't drink i didn't mention the bar scene... however In my personal opinion - The best bars in louisville- Nach (www.myspace.com/thenachbar) - the best beer selection and Mag(www.myspace.com/magbar) along with Monkey Wrench in which i mentioned earlier. But sometimes you and your girls - if you just need to shake it! if you can deal with the stupid pick up lines- go to Brendan's (i know... guilty pleasure) or if you are more of a hippie and would like some Merry Pranksters (Grateful Dead cover band)- I think its still Sunday nights at Longshots. Best place to see live music - the waterfront, or Headliners (http://www.headlinerslouisville.com/).
And since they weren't gay, I didn't mention Woody's Tavern or Connections (http://www.theconnection.net/) where even my hetero friends love to whoop it up on the dance floor and enjoy a good drag show!
To my dancing buddies- good places to take adult dance classes, Louisville Ballet School (http://www.louisvilleballte.org/) Louisville Dance Alliance for modern (http://www.louisvilledancealliance.com/) and Sacred Heart School for the Arts (www.sacredheartschools.org/arts) also you might want to check out some swing dancing with the Louisville Swing Dance Society (http://www.lindylou.org/),
My recommendation for a louavall newbie is to never say "Lewisville" and however else you end up saying it stick to your guns- this city is named in honor of King Louis the XIV so what do you think? Most people say it like they have a wad of backy (tobacco) in their mouth. Also instead "you guys" its "yall"
I would suggest renting a old mustang convertable (vroom vroom) and spending one day in Crescent Hill/ Clifton (Frankfort Ave), one day in the Highlands (Bardstown Rd), one day downtown/ old louisville then lots to do outside of louisville. Hike at Red River Gorge, Keenland in Lexington, canoe Blue River, kayak Shelby Lake (aka Lake Lickasack), Bardstown, KY, Midway Ky. Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, and Maker's Mark distilleries.
Okay. maybe i didn't mention all of this to my retired friends, and there is always more to mention. but if you are new to the city this is a good start. don't hesitate to ask questions. for the rest of yall locals feel free to add more.....Vroom Vroom.
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