Out and About in Louisville

Both Friday and Saturday night we spent some time exploring downtown Louisville. It is a beautiful city with some great nightlife options and sculptures and fountains interspersed with the skyscrapers and businesses. There were people out enjoying what the city had to offer, but it didn't feel crowded or dirty. And it didn't hurt that the weather was just about perfect. :)

Friday evening we started with dinner at the restaurant in our hotel: Proof on Main. Wow, yummy! Their mint julep was outstanding, and I highly recommend their cheesy grits and, well, pretty much everything on the menu.

Sitting in the bar area waiting for our table.

Pre-dinner beverages

The guys each got a bourbon sampler of three different brands of 12-year-old bourbon.

Nancy and I each had one of the famous Louisville mint juleps. I am definitely a fan!

After dinner we walked several blocks to the area known as Fourth Street Live, which is a section of Fourth St that is blocked off to traffic, lined with bars and restaurants and has an outdoor music venue. It's pretty touristy, so I'm guessing that the locals only go down there for bachelor/rette parties and when they have out of town guests. It was a fun atmosphere though, and the band playing was a mediocre cover band, so we didn't have to pay a cover charge to get in to the place, which was a bonus. We made our way to Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge, located in the Fourth Street Live complex. The waitress was not super interested in customer service, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and some more bourbon-based beverages.

Downtown Louisville

Cute husband

Checking out the downtown sights

Fourth Street Live entrance

Hanging out at Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge

Stu got a taster of three different types of Four Roses bourbon.

On Saturday evening after our day spent touring bourbon distilleries (detailed in an upcoming post) we decided to mix things up a bit and have dinner at a local brewpub, The Bluegrass Brewing Company. The beer was tasty (not mind-blowing-oh-my-gosh-this-is-so-delicious, but very tasty), the food was good (Stu recommends the local favorite The Hot Brown), the waitress was cool, and Todd and Stu got to taste a draft, craft malt liquor which was quite the novelty.

Fancy malt liquor--who knew there was such a thing?

Cheers!

After dinner we headed across the street to check out the Brown Hotel, which is a beautifully maintained fancy old hotel. We did not stay for a drink (the vibe was a little stuffy and music from a wedding reception was blaring) but we did admire the architecture and sit in the "throne" in the lobby! :)

From the Brown, we strolled over to the other classic historic Louisville hotel, The Seelbach. We had a drink at the Old Seelbach Bar, which is a very historic, classy, luxurious place. Live jazz, candlelight, mahogany bar, strong drinks... very nice.

When we walked out of the Seelbach to hail a cab back to 21c, the Seelbach valet mistook us for their own guests, and offered to drive us there in their complementary shuttle. We couldn't resist the opportunity, but the valet did get a nice tip! :) Back at the hotel, Dan and Nancy turned in for the evening, and the rest of us decided to have a nightcap at the Proof on Main bar. Wow, that is one happening scene of hip and trendy people! We had a blast people watching (there was one guy who looked exactly like the Ken doll in real life) and chatting. After Sue and Mark turned in, the four of us young-uns (and I use that term loosely, haha) hung out for quite awhile at the bar, touring the art gallery and then hung out with penguin #96 for awhile in Stu and Erin's room before heading to bed. It was SUCH a fun evening!

Pretending to be fancy with all the fancy people at the Proof on Main bar.

You can see some of the fancy people in the background. :)

New Job!

This week marks the end of an era in Todd's professional life. After eleven years at DeGroot Carstar Collision Center, on Monday, Todd started work at Autobody USA in their Battle Creek shop. Todd has been wanting to work for this company for awhile now, and the HR manager there has been trying for almost a year to find a position for him, and finally the stars aligned!

So far things are off to a good start. All of Todd's new co-workers have been very welcoming and friendly. It's been a bit of an adjustment as far as the commute (about 40 minutes compared to 10 to the old shop), the shop tools that are slightly different, new people, different workflow, and most of all actually having a LOT of work to do! Overall it has been an incredibly positive move for him, and I think that he's going to be really happy about the change.

On our drive back from Louisville on Sunday, we stopped by the new shop so that Dan and Nancy could see it. Nan and I made Todd reluctantly pose in front of the building. :)



Todd got his workbench all set up and organized in his new space. Looks pretty darn good, don't you think?

21c Museum Hotel

For our weekend in Louisville, Stuart was able to secure us some amazing rates at 21c Museum Hotel. This place is part boutique hotel, part 21st century art museum, part hip and cool bar, part gourmet restaurant, and all amazing. Even though it was voted the #1 hotel in the US in 2009 by Conde Nast Traveller magazine, 21c is far from stuffy. Perhaps it is because of all the funky, off-beat contemporary art on display, perhaps it's because their mascot is a large group of red penguin statues, created by The Cracking Art Group and who are present all throughout the hotel. These penguins have such a great personality and are so accessible that I will be dedicating an entire post to our favorite penguin, #96.

Given my penchant for photography, and the beauty of the hotel, I took a lot of pictures of the space. Believe me when I tell you that I've never been inspired to photograph the Hampton Inn, which is my usual lodging while traveling--this was quite the welcome upgrade!


The front entrance, and first introduction to the red penguins.


Shouldn't every hotel have an outdoor chandelier??


Stairway from the downstairs art gallery up to the main lobby.


Todd and I both fell in love with the wooden tables in the bar area.



This penguin hangs out in a well-behaved manner on his art display pedestal on the main floor. The other penguins in his flock, however, have been known to move about the hotel and can be found in a number of different places depending on the time of day.


One of these wandering penguins was hanging out by the elevators, so we decided to include him in our group photo. Notice that I am also in the picture (silhouette on the back wall, part of another art installation that projected our images on the wall--you can get a better feel for this a few photos down).



Photo of the art installation near the elevators.


Our beautiful room.



View of the Ohio River from the window.


ART: Some examples of the artwork on display around the hotel, bar and restaurant.

Taxidermy with a weave--gotta love it!


Devil statue on the corner of the bar--a very popular photo op.



Todd checking out the photography in one of the downstairs art galleries.



This walrus, who is on display in the restaurant, has "fur" made of Japanese beetle skin and his tusks are from swordfish. Soooo cool!


Tornado sculpture



Erin and I had to take advantage of the opportunity to be part of the gallery display.



My favorite kind of art--edible!