I've decided that it is time to wrap things up and move along from our recent trip to Louisville. I might do a couple more food posts down the road, but at this point I have nearly exhausted my plethora of photos from our recent trip.
I want to use this post to cover some areas I didn't in the past, recap some travel tips if you plan on heading down to Louisville, and also including it as a #wednesdaywalk post since we did walk around the city quite a bit and it is in fact Wednesday. Thanks for sponsoring this great initiative 
The hotel itself is quite modern with really nice finishes. I have been in a couple Embassy Suites in my life and this is probably the nicest one I have ever stayed at. One of the cool things about this hotel is the fact that it has a CVS drugstore attached right to it. That means if you forgot anything essential, you can always grab it down there.
The layout of the room was different than anything I had stayed in before. It was sort of a sideways "U" shaped. The bathroom was right to the left as you walk in. Then there was the open living area, and finally at the end of the living space was the bedroom. It took a little bit to get used to, but it was quite comfortable, clean, and welcoming. We didn't mind calling this place home for a couple of days.
As we settled into our room we turned on the TV to see what was happening with the local news. We were immediately struck with two things. First, they were talking about the weather. The county we were currently in was under a Tornado Watch and they expected some quite severe weather to roll through in the middle of the night.
Second, they were talking about a shooting that had just happened at a CVS drug store in the city. They showed some footage from outside the store and sure enough, it was the store that is connected to our hotel! This was an isolated incident where the two people knew each other, but in light of the recent mass shooting in downtown Louisville, it is still a little unnerving.
Despite the impending bad weather, we decided to head out and explore a little and try to find a place to get some food. Part of the reason I picked this Embassy Suites was because it is located near the 4th Street Live area.
4th Street Live is a covered section of the road that has been closed off to motor vehicles. Open alcohol is permitted there and they have DJ's and bands play on the weekends to basically create one big street party.
The problem is, it was quite commercialized and obviously a "touristy" area. The other problem was, many of the places in this space were closed or under rennovation.
I can see why there is a draw to this area, but looking back, I would not stay in this area again. Especially given the fact that you can't guarantee everything will be open. In addition to that, it's just too far away from Whiskey Row and some of the other cool parts of the city. If the weather had been warmer the walk may not have been so bad, but I'd rather just stay down on Whiskey Row next time.
If you head deeper into the city away from the Ohio River, the Embassy Suites is only a couple of blocks away from the famous Brown Hotel. That's where the legendary Kentucky Hot Brown was born. I was a little disappointed I didn't get to try that delectable turkey dish, but maybe next time we visit!
As we walked through 4th Street Live that first night we eventually settled on a sports bar to get something to eat. Unfortunately, they didn't have a very extensive menu, so we decided to just get an appetizer and then figure out what to do.
This smashed avocado queso was probably the second best thing I had in Louisville (next to the tacos in this post).
Of course I needed a beverage to wash it down!
Louisville is a very walk-able city. I think if the weather had been a little warmer we definitely would have enjoyed checking out the nooks and crannies a little more. Also, despite what it looks like, this building doesn't actually lean. Pisa definitely has a lock on that. Instead I was either a little off balance or perhaps a little whiskey heavy when I took this photo!
Down towards the river, there is a waterfront park that I wish we could have had some more time to explore. The problem is I misjudged our time and direction and we ended up much further away from it than I expected. Add to that the fact that we had to go the opposite direction to get to our next destination and we decided to scrub trying to reach the park.
Our hotel did have this really cool map available at the check in desk where you could get an idea of where everything is. We should have taken this with us on some of our excursions. I think it would have saved us a lot of wandering around.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned, a ton of stuff was closed in Louisville on Sunday and Monday. That seems to be the case year round. We ended up cutting our trip a day short and heading back home (but not quite) on Monday instead of staying until Tuesday like we had originally planned.
Our last night we headed back to 4th Street Live and one of the only things we could find open on Sunday night was Guy Fieri's Smokehouse.
We had been trying to avoid this place because honestly it felt just a little too commercial for us. We are the type of travelers who like to find those off the beaten path hidden gems that make you want to keep coming back for more.
A BBQ joint with a Food Network celebrity tied to it doesn't fit that bill at all.
The food was not horrible honestly. I would have liked bigger portions, but for the most part we both enjoyed our final meal in Louisville.
We of course had one final drink as well! Cheers Louisville!
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
