Louisville (part 1)

“If you live to be a hundred, I want 
to live to be a hundred minus one day, 
so I never have to live without you.” 
[A.A. Milne - Winnie the Pooh]

Well. My best friend had fallen in love with the man of her dreams and recently got engaged to that man. They made us wait 5 long months before we could celebrate with them at their wedding. The wedding weekend finally came, and it was slightly more than amazing. The last time I went to Louisville I travelled by myself, but this time around I was able to share the weekend with my parents. 

Our weekend adventure began by us travelling in extremely tiny planes that didn't even have real wings which made us feel like we were in an episode of Wings, and seeing a sea of cotton ball type clouds. During any trip we go on we make it a point to go to places and restaurants that we don't have back home. While in Louisville for the weekend we learned a few important lessons.

Plan your day around food

It has become evident that I am like a new born child and need to eat every 3 to 4 hours. Good thing Louisville knows how to do food. When I came to Louisville back in November DJ took me to a breakfast place called Wild Eggs. The food was fabulous and ever since my introduction I dreamt about the next time I would eat there. So I knew that this was somewhere I needed to take my parents. And again, it was far from disappointing.

Next on the food agenda was The Comfy Cow. Otherwise known as the "comfy utter", this was probably the best ice cream place I have been too. They have the traditional flavors - Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Coffee, Chocolate Chip - but they also have crazy, untraditional flavors like: Cow Tracks, Bourbon Ball, Candy Cane Lane, Coo Coo for Coconut, Dulce De Leche De Salte (Salty Caramel), and Vermont Maple Walnut.

The two times that we went there - within 24 hours - I travelled from the North Pole with a Candy Cane Lane milkshake to the Caribbean with a small scoop of Coo Coo for Coconut ice cream.

candy cane milkshake: christmas in a cup

new life motto

Another food gem we found on one of the day's adventure was a little diner called One Nineteen West Main located a little north of Louisville in a town called La Grange. The menu was cleverly written with humor and the food was simple, southern and satisfying. And I can even say that I tried a deep fried pickle. Despite how horrible that sounds, it actually was quite good - speaking from someone who absolutely hates pickles.

We heard from friends that in this town there were train tracks that literally came through the middle of town. While driving around before dinner we saw the train tracks but never thought we would have dinner AND a show.

The train literally came several feet away from the cars parallel parked next to the sidewalk. According to our waiter, these tracks are one of few main lines that run through the middle of a town and sometimes they can experience 40 trains coming through a day!!

Enjoy the Scenery

I don't know how to describe the scenery, except for the fact that Louisville has the most amazing clouds, storms and sunsets.

la grange

breathtaking, right?

Make Memories, Laugh Often, Repeat

No adventure is complete if memories aren't made and you don't laugh until your stomach hurts. This weekend there were many "memory made" opportunities and there was certainly an abundance of laughs. We explored the downtown parts of Louisville and helped to support a local coffee shop called Quills.

We visited the so called "boat people" at a restaurant called Captain's Quarter's and enjoyed sitting next to the Ohio River with dear friends while we saw cargo boats travel down river and delighted in the picture perfect clouds above in the sky.

Other adventures along the way included ice cream scoops accidentally falling off cones [names will be withheld for the protection of the guilty], galavanting through historical parks and coming across a group of actors rehearsing Pride and Prejudice - only in Kentucky, right? - and one of our airline stewards not doing his job and sitting behind us looking out the window and taking pictures with his iPhone.

Lastly, no trip could end without an exciting trip to a mall. But not just any mall. A mall that had a 2-story Forever 21. I had experienced the beauty of this store back in November and I raved to my parents about how huge this store actually was and strongly emphasized that we needed to visit it again. I knew they were doing this just for me because my mother hates shopping "for fun" and my dad isn't really a shopper, but he actually enjoyed himself and had fun.

These 5 days in Louisville were some of the best days in the past few months. The food was fabulous, the company was grand, the sky was incredible and was a reminder of our awesome Creator, and the laughter was abundant. But the best was yet to come, because this weekend was the first time I was a bridesmaid, and it just happened to be for the wedding of my best friend.

bachelorette party prep

(to be continued...)