FST : Extra Innings – Louisville KY to Home (287 mi)

After the excitement of our tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory yesterday, we decided we needed another dose. Actually, we remembered that one of Becky’s girlfriends needed a customized bat for her birthday, so that drove us back to Museum Row.

We got to the museum just as it was opening, expecting to be in and out, given the speed the Slugger folks turned out my bat yesterday. However, they were having computer problems today, and that meant we were delayed for an unknown amount of time. We’d been reading out the museums on Museum Row, and decided to visit the 21C Museum and Hotel.

The museum is billed as preserving the best of 21st century art. Given that we’re only nine years into the century, I’d say they’ve got a pretty good shot at that goal. I guess my roots are a bit more traditional. There were photos and sculptures of what appeared to be naked people of various ages — that doesn’t do much for me. There was a significant amount of space dedicated to experimental photography treatments. Those were sometimes enjoyable to look at, but didn’t really inspire me to go out and do anything really different. There was one interesting treatment that I saw, comprised of a traditional photograph, along with another print of the photo on translucent fabric stretched across the front of the frame. It gave a real dimensional quality to the image that I really liked.

They had a couple of interactive exhibits. One was a well placed camera that allowed you to be the art. Another was a series of videos (a la JibJab) that were political, humorous, and probably not in the best of tastes. In all though, the visit to the museum was quite fun. Beck and I have decided that we might stay there should we visit Louisville again… assuming they’re not crazy expensive!

We walked around the museum area, snapping photos of the area, and headed back to the Louisville Slugger folks to see if the bat was ready. It was, we said our farewells to the city, and pointed the Jeep home, satisfied with ending our vacation on a high note.

So what were the stats on the trip? We drove 3315 miles this time, and shot just a shade over 5000 images. On the first eight days of the trip (home, west, and back again), we had long drives six of those days, I was sick three of the nights, Beck was sick two of the nights, and we didn’t accomplish much of what we’d set out to do. However, adding on the trip to Louisville put a nice shine on the trip. And the trek west wasn’t a total loss. We learned some things about how to do that trip in the future, and we learned about the area, and will feel pretty comfortable back in the four corners area in the future.