The Stream

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Pretty Batty

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After leaving the Keeneland race track in Lexington, where we stood to distract the horses from training and listened to their flustered jockeys as they swore to jerk their horses back in focus (very funny), we headed to Louisville, KY for some battiness.


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First stop, we paid tribute to the colonal. Mister KFC himself.

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Colonal, we did buy your finger lickin' good chicken and some of Kentucky's own homemade soda, Ale 8.

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Then we stopped by the house of junk to meet the old man who lives there. He was sitting on his bench chatting with his neighbor as if times were slow. I brought Micah with me for cuteness (despite her rugged car look) hoping she would make us appear harmless when I asked him all my curiuos questions "where do you get all your junk, why the heck do want this junk, and who is going to torch it when you kick the bucket?" No offense Colonal Sanders.

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Turns out people surprise you. He actually had some cool collectibles like, an old red London telephone booth, old signage from the 50's and the picture he showed us that we would never forget, a Mussel Shoals KKK group from Alabama. It had over 300 members dressed up in KKK garb. He gave us Billy Beer cans as a souvenir. Pretty batty, but indeed cool.

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Next stop the Louisville slugger factory where we to watched how they made bats.

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I even got to hold the bat of my namesake, Mickey Mantle.

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Did you know that they make 1.8 billion bats a year? And, a pro will go through a 100 bats a season?

Next stop, the approximate cannonball. During the civil war a cannonball was shot into this blue building, but then the building caught on fire and burned to the ground. After rebuilding the structure, they placed the cannonball back into it's somewhat original spot, hence the name, approximate cannonball.

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A few other batty stops, a smaller version of Stonehenge randomly placed in a small town of KY...

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and the wigwam motel where one can stay the night, but I would not recommend it.

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Last destination, the biggest of all caverns in the world, Mammoth Cave. 396 miles long and 6 levels deep with a few bats in between, we found ourselves refreshed from the oppressive humidity in the cool 52 degree cave.

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Thank you Justin and Abby for the lovely stay. She made these yummy sandwiches to die for and a buttermilk pancake recipe that I must now have. You promised Abby, so send it.

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3 comments:

Erin said...

Oh Mic. I love your adventures. I always feel like I'm right there traveling with you. :)

p.s. It's not fair to look that cute with your hair pulled back in a handkerchief.

Emily S. said...

So so cool. Is that Becket taking pix of you guys? Nice!

Abs said...

1st - I'm seriously impressed that you are blogging on the road. It takes true dedication.
2nd - Getting a shout out on your blog makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
3rd- I really will send you that recipe, but keep bugging me until I do, cause sometimes I forget about stuff like that. Maybe I'll just take care of it right now...
I was really great seeing you and watching our kids get along so well.