travel journal: louisville

a + h
Oct 5, 2017
10 min read

we recently took our first ever real, adult vacation together! though it was the first time we were traveling together & going to a new place, we didn't actually plan anything before we touched down in louisville. life got a little bit crazy with exciting transitions for both of us at our jobs, and moving to a new apartment. i was a little worried about how we would decide on anything to do. we ended up just asking every local we talked to what they liked to do, and that was how we planned our trip - so here's a little travel journal & itinerary of what we did.

when we arrived, alex headed to baggage claim and i headed to the service desk to pick up as many pamphlets as i could. the woman behind the counter was so sweet and helped me pick out way too many brochures. from there we grabbed a lyft to our air b'n'b, the whippoorwill flat. our hosts had prepared a list of recommendations already - so based on this and on the pamphlets we picked up, we began to decide what we really wanted to see and do.

we figured heading downtown was a good place to start, but we quickly learned that there isn't much happening right now in downtown louisville - most of the cool things are happening in the neighborhoods just outside the city center. there are a lot of young people starting entrepreneurial ventures in the neighborhoods because it's pretty cheap to do that there now, and there is definitely a culture and economy to support that. in this way, we were reminded quite a bit of chicago.

the first neighborhood we visited was nulu, or new louisville. market street seems to be the most developed & trendy. feast bbq, on market street, was our first louisville meal and it did not disappoint. the pork cake appetizer was truly out of this world, and then we split a half-pound plate of brisket with creamy coleslaw and mac & cheese. the two mandatory menu items at feast are the pork cakes and the bourbon slushie with ginger ale, both of which truly blew us away. after our meal we strolled market street, and i needed something to overcome my barbecue food coma, so we went to the weekly juicery and i procured a green juice. it was just the jolt i needed. we then headed to quill, thinking maybe we'd get coffee, but alex got a beer and i kept nursing my juice. quill is a beautiful space, and i'm bummed we never got to try their coffee.

we headed to the highlands next, another neighborhood that came highly recommended. the street to stroll down in the highlands is bardstown, and we got a great recommendation from a shop keeper at mabel & moss to head to louvino for dinner. they serve small plates and specialize in wine, which sounded perfect after our heavy lunch. we split three plates: their seasonal risotto, seared scallops with fried green tomatoes, and shrimp and grits. i also ended up with a really cute dress from mabel & moss, thanks to alex.

for our second day, we started in downtown and headed to heine brothers coffee, a shop that came highly recommended by two of alex's close friends and coffee connoisseurs. we had some delicious pastries and even better coffee, and then started to formulate a plan for the day when i remembered something very important: WE HAD TO GET A HOT BROWN! the hot brown was invented at the brown hotel in 1926, and was an important stop on our culinary tour because we had seen it featured on one of our favorite food shows, mind of a chef. coffees in hand, we made a beeline for the hotel. we split one hot brown, and i thought i was going to die after five bites. alex finished his. we had a blast eating this historic dish, and then we walked around the ornate and elegant hotel for a while. louisville has a bike sharing program called louvelo, and there was a station right outside the brown hotel - so we rented bikes. because everyone's louisville recommendations revolved around bourbon tours, we decided to do one right in the heart of downtown: the evan williams bourbon experience. i'm pretty sure it was the best $12 i've ever spent. we had so much fun - the tour guide was phenomenal, but the tour truly was an experience - it was all about the history of bourbon, not just the process of distillation and aging. i can't really describe the experience in words, so hopefully alex's video does it justice! the tasting, of course, was super fun as well.

with bellies full of bourbon & hot brown, we hopped back on our bikes and rode through the old louisville neighborhood toward university of louisville. it was a really long ride, but we made it to the speed art museum an hour before closing. an hour wasn't nearly enough time, but we saw what we could and enjoyed what we did see. mostly, we took a photo outside and got in trouble. we also saw what were speculated to be abraham lincoln's dad's forks.

once the museum closed, we biked back downtown and headed in a different direction toward butchertown, another neighborhood that we heard was cool. needless to say, butchertown wasn't very interesting. we hopped in a lyft thinking we'd head back to nulu or something, but our driver recommended we head to the silver dollar in the hilltop neighborhood - so we took him up on it. the restaurant has a distinct barn-like feel, and we sat on their back patio with colorful string lights above us. we wanted something to start that sort of resembled a healthy choice, so we opted for the roasted beet & pear salad. overall, it was good - but what came next was simply magical. alex and i decided to do what we normally do, and order the two things that i think sound the best then share - the theory behind this is that i always end up ordering the better entree, so if we get my first two choices they're bound to be tasty. he ordered the plate of brisket and i ordered the fried catfish. after i had my first bite, i kept apologizing because i wasn't going to share any of that heavenly deliciousness. honestly, this catfish was one of the top five meals i've ever had. everything from the tenderness of the fish to the carefully balanced and hand-crafted tartar sauce was just too good to be true. if you ever go to louisville, going to the silver dollar and ordering the catfish is an absolute must do - just be warned, their dinner kitchen doesn't open until 5pm. after dinner we walked next door to the hilltop bar, which was in the old theater building. we ordered cocktails from their list of over 100, and sat outside to enjoy the summer air. this was all we could handle after such a busy day, and we both couldn't wait to go to sleep.

we started our last full day in louisville with a generous surprise that totally changed the trip and our forming relationship to the town: our air b'n'b hosts let us borrow one of their cars for the remainder of our stay. for the whole trip i had been hoping that we would get to meet our hosts, because the flat was gorgeous and i was dying to meet the sweet little family. we had an opportunity this morning to chat with them for a bit in their backyard, and it was such a special moment for alex & i. this was our first air b'n'b experience, and it will probably be the best we will ever have - ashley and ben made such an impact on us through their generous offer and delightful conversation.

armed with a vehicle, we drove back to nulu to go to toast on market for some brunch - and it was a wonderful choice. i love a good breakfast sandwich, so i got the bacon & egg sandwich - the gorgonzola cheese & dijon vinaigrette was a delightful combo. alex opted for the cliffie's plate, which was basically the option with the most food. i was very disappointed i did not order any pancakes. we also enjoyed a little morning drink - i got the kentucky mimosa (with bourbon, of course), and alex got a bellini. after brunch we drove to heine brothers for our cup of reliably delicious coffee, and then we headed to prospect, kentucky, to go to nachand kayaks.

it was about a 30 minute drive, and it was so fun to see a little bit more of kentucky. nachand kayaks is basically a boat dock underneath a riverside bar, but to rent a two person kayak for four hours was amazingly reasonable for price and the people running the dock were super friendly. we headed up the river toward a waterfall that the woman at the dock had told us about. it took us about an hour and a half to get to the waterfall. we docked our kayak on the rocks, grabbed our granola bars, and walked through some mud to discover... what was really like a limestone crevice with some water dripping down. it was super pretty, but definitely not a waterfall. we headed back down the river and got to see deer, a blue heron, and tons of turtles!

once we climbed back into the car we realized we were hungry, so i suggested smoothies from the weekly juicery. we showered up and got cute for dinner at eiderdown, a german restaurant in the germantown neighborhood. there were too many things we wanted to try, so we split a bunch of stuff - obviously starting with a pretzel. after the pretzel we had currywurst, which was chopped house brats on a bed of fries, covered in curry ketchup. we also shared a cup of potato soup and a plate of cheesy spatzle topped with a frank, both of which were very delicious. the meal ended the same way it started - a pretzel - but this time it was topped with maple ice cream and bacon. full of carbs and sausage, we headed to mr. lee's cocktail bar to enjoy a nightcap. mr. lee's is a well-done combination of my favorite vibes: it's a mod-style speakeasy cocktail lounge. it's dark but inviting, private and relaxing but somehow exciting. each table had next to it a little light with a pull chain, and when you wanted something you'd pull the chain and the light would come on, and the server would appear moments later to help you. everyone was super friendly and gave excellent recommendations.

low-and-behold, we woke up to our last day in louisville. we drove back to germantown for brunch at finn's southern kitchen, then we found ourselves back at heine brothers before heading to the conrad-caldwell house in the old louisville neighborhood for a house tour. the house was built in the mid-1800s, and is a very well-preserved and accurate representation of wealthy living in that time period. not to mention, the woman giving the tour is an ancestor of the caldwells. alex & i learned a lot about the history of louisville through this tour.

after the house tour we were itching to be outside, and there was one last touristy thing we needed to check off our list: going across the bridge from kentucky to indiana. there is a whole area next to the parking lot dedicated to fun things you can rent so that you don't have to walk across the bridge. we opted to rent a tandem bike, and headed across the bridge over the ohio river. once we got to indiana we were thirsty, and found outdoor seating a gin cocktail at the red yeti. we biked back to kentucky, and i had only one last request before we headed home: i wanted one more plate of fried catfish. that was all i wanted. so we drove back to hilltop.

we got distracted here by a super cute little florist/plant/small home goods shop called forage. i got stuck in the bathroom then bought a super beautiful turkish towel. after our small side trip, i marched triumphantly toward the catfish. i was seriously so excited.

remember how i said earlier that the silver dollar's kitchen didn't open till 5pm? this was how i found that out. it was 4pm, and our flight was at 7:30 so we wanted to be at the airport by 6pm. we didn't think we'd have enough time to wait at the silver dollar, then get food, eat it, get back to the air b'n'b to drop off the car, get to the airport and through security, and be at our gate in time to board. so i asked the hostess where i else i could find fried catfish in this town. she recommended a place called the fishery, and i thought, "how bad could that be? this here is a hipster girl's recommendation, so it's gotta be good!" we ended up in the middle of nowhere at a place that was the southern equivalent of an al's beef in chicago. i thought, "don't judge a book by its cover! anthony bourdain goes to places like this all time time and has amazing food!" we got food, and the food was just hot, fried sadness. not at all the hand-crafted and artful deliciousness that i had previously experienced. i was so disappointed that alex took me to get ice cream afterward. unfortunately, we didn't have time to do anything else except get to the airport - so we thought. it took us all of about 15 minutes to get from our lyft outside the airport to our gate. had we known, we definitely would have stayed at the silver dollar to have that catfish.

besides getting catfished by catfish, the trip was an incredible adventure. it was exciting to constantly experience something completely new together, and i think we just kept coming back to that. this whole summer has had that theme - from the music festival, starting this blog, to getting tattoos, to moving to a new home in a new neighborhood, to ending our summer on this trip. we traveled really well together and enjoyed documenting it. as always, below are some photos that we captured and our two videos are posted on the videos tab and on our youtube channel. we didn't take many photos because we were mostly focusing on the video, and i will say we did not film at all on the day we arrived because we wanted to get a feel for the city before we started filming - so some of the stuff i talked about here you won't get to see.