Travel Trivia and Ice Cream

Turns out Louisville, KY is about 500 miles from Arlington, VA...mostly uphill. We averaged a depressing 6 miles a gallon through West Virginia. I guess towing about 5 tons will do that to a pickup truck.

We're also playing the license plate game (you know, try to spot a license plate from each state & DC) on our trip. Figure we're traveling over so much of the country, we have a good shot at seeing a bunch, right? We had 31 before we left VA...38 by the time we left WV, and have 42 down as of Day 2. Turns out I-81 & I-64 are great places to see folks from all over...even Alaska (gone in the first 10). Hawaii's still on the list to get, along with Louisiana, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wisconsin. (We're keeping an eye out for Guam, Puerto Rico, US VI, and American Samoa for the bonus round.)

Tom Johnson wins the first shout-out for cool recommendation proven true. The Comfy Cow had some great ice cream! Megan and Sam enjoyed Banana Puddin', Isabelle had Chocolate Brownie Batter, Mikayla had Vanilla (expect that to be repeated often), and I had Black Raspberry Chip & Chocolate Chip (off the ole block). When you have nothing going on, it's certainly worth telling a friend, "Get in the car, we're going for ice cream." Thanks Tom!

Next up: St. Louis...

By: Justin

Sam's Musings

At the Louisville slugger museum, we saw a bunch of baseball stadiums made with Legos. They had baseball cards made out of Legos! And it was so cool because one baseball mural had the words to "take me out to the ball game" in it.  They had Legos to play with too.  

Then we went to the batting cages.  The baseball was fast pitch.  It was good.  But softball slow pitch was bad.  I bonked my nose with a hard ball.  It hurt a lot!  

They showed us how to make bats.  And  it was really cool!  They carve the wood by using different tools.  They dip the bats in some kind of gooey stuff, and when they came out they were shiny.  We even saw a giant bat outside!

...to be continued

By Sam

The Great Race

Today we went to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum.  There was one thing where there were 3 mechanical horses and you could race on them against your friends or family members.  There was a crop you could use to speed up your horse, and you could move left or right.  I won twice, maybe three times.  

There was also fake horse in the starting gate. You could dress up like a jockey and get on it.  

Another thing I learned was that at the Derby people wear fancy hats.  I saw a whole bunch of them.  There were 4pink ones- woo hoo!  I tried one on in the gift shop.  It was $80, so I didn't get it. It looked good, though!

There was also a movie we saw called the great race.  It was about horses and how they race.  

By Isabelle

Bat Stats

Today this Family went to the Louisville Slugger Factory. When we got there we got to hold official baseball bats, I held David Ortiz's bat!

On the tour I learned that the players use 60 to 120 bat a season. Wow, I know. The kinds of bats we saw were: The Cane Bat, The longest bat allowed in Major League Baseball ( 42 inches long ), The pink Breast Cancer bat, and The 2012 Giant's World Series bat.  We sadly wen't allowed to take pics. in the factory. 

     We watched a man make a bat by hand. It takes him 30 minutes to finish. The machines make them in 30 seconds. When the bat is done it has funny looking knobs on both ends. Ryan Zimmerman has his bats made here. We watched a lady burn on the Louisville slugger logo on at 1300 degrees. There were 9 finishes and 40% choose black. After the knobs are removed and the bats are sanded they are hand dipped in shellac and are left to dry for 60 to 90 minutes. Overall I thought it was very fun and informational. 

BY: Mikayla Booth

Loose in Louisville

We finally arrived after a 9+ hour day of driving (and 3 1/2 tanks if gas!) we arrived in Louisville last night.

This morning we headed for the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum.   We were very impressed by the museum tour.  They make actual professional bats right in front of you!  Mikayla can provide many fun facts, as she took notes.  They also have some cool historic bats, like Babe Ruth's notched batch from 1927.  Right now they had an amazing Lego exhibit with Lego stadiums, players, and baseball cards.

 The kids also enjoyed the batting cage (until Sam beaned himself in the nose).

Next up... Kentucky Derby Museum.  

Megan