GRISWOLDDAD
Parenting, Entertainment, and Travel Tips
Things to Do in Kentucky
*For Kentucky's top yearly events, click here.
Hodgenville
Hodgenville is the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln. At the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park, they have a really good museum as well as a memorial that, in the center of it, has a recreation of his cabin. You know, THE cabin. Although you always hear that he was so studious that he read by candlelight, this was PRE-electricity, so wouldn't anyone who read after dark have been reading by candlelight?
Either way, great president, and this is a fitting memorial for him. This is actually the first memorial to our 16th president.
Louisville
Louisville is probably most famous for the yearly Kentucky Derby. If you can make it to that event, be ready to fight the crowds! Park and ride into Churchill Downs, and take cash! This place isn't very card friendly. If you're worried you didn't get your ticket in time, don't worry, you can show up the day of and pay $50 and get into the infield. Oh, and the big race isn't until after 6pm, but most people start getting there by 11am! Buy a mint julep and wait for the most famous 2 minutes in sports. If you're NOT going to be in town on that day, you can still visit Churchill Downs, see the Kentucky Derby Museum and tour the building and see the track.
However, while in Louisville, also be sure to see the Louisville Slugger Museum.
The museum is a really cool baseball museum that has endless baseball memorabilia such as a display with Babe Ruth's actual bat. There are old uniforms, a signature wall, and interactive exhibits. You really don't have to be a baseball nut to like this place. The museum also has lots of fun stuff for kids to see and do including a giant glove for them to climb around on.
After touring the museum, you also get to tour the factory and watch bats being made. It's more fun than it sounds. You get to watch a bat go from a block of wood along its path to becoming an actual, usable bat. Woodworking fans are sure to love this part of the tour.
I would have to say that the coolest thing is the building itself. On the front of the building, there's a giant baseball bat bigger than the front of the building itself! The bat itself is 68,000 pounds of steel and stands at 120 feet tall making it the world's largest baseball bat. It's a huge replica of Babe Ruth's Louisville Slugger.
At the end of the tour, they give each kid a small bat to keep as a souvenir. If your kids are like mine, be prepared. The beating of Daddy started immediately. It was lots of fun, and I had the bruises to prove it!
Louisville is also home to the Muhammad Ali Center, a museum dedicated to Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time, who is also a Louisville native.
Mammoth Cave
Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of explored caves. While in the caves, you can go to "Fat Man's Misery," a sought out spot in the caves where you can HOPEFULLY squeeze through a tight spot. If you're looking for more adventure, try the Wild Cave Tour. Be prepared to crawl, climb and squeeze through tight passages, and be sure to have over the ankle hiking boots with good tread or you won't be allowed to go.
Mammoth Cave's Wild Cave Tour takes 6 hours and, at 5 miles, is considered very difficult (1). Other, more frequented and easier tours include the Frozen Niagara Tour, 1/4 mile and 1.25 hrs, and the Historic Tour, 2 miles and 2 hrs.
Nearby the cave, you can find Dinosaur World which has over 150 life size dinosaurs to discover, along with interactive activities like fossil digs and gem mining.
Kentucky is full of caves, not just at Mammoth Cave National Park. At nearby Mega Cavern, back in Louisville, the cavern area is so big you can even Zipline in it! See Mega-Zips for more information.
Williamstown
An exact size replica has been created here of Noah's Ark at the Ark Encounter. You can tour the ark and visit the zoo, where the animals are 2 by 2! With quite the extensive museum, spreading throughout multiple levels of the Ark, the creation of the Ark, life on the Ark, feasibility of all the animals being on it, and the biblical flood are all explained. Spoilers, there are dinosaurs on the Ark!
