Bruce and I had a little getaway weekend a few days ago and we went to Louisville, KY. The main purpose for going there was a music festival called Hullabalou. Bruce's favorite singer (Dierks Bentley) and my favorite singer (Kenny Chesney) were both performing there and with Kenny only doing a handful of shows this summer, this was a perfect opportunity for us! And the fact that Saturday was our 17th wedding anniversary didn't hurt either!
We left on Thursday morning after dropping the girls off at my parents' house. We arrived in Louisville around 2:00 or so. Our first stop was the Louisville Slugger Bat factory and tour, which was interesting. I thought I had been there in the past but after stepping inside the building, I didn't remember any of it so I guess I was never actually there!
This is a picture of a tree along the sidewalk outside the factory.....the base is in the shape of home plate!
And a picture of my honey next to the HUGE bat outside the front door!
Ozzie Smith's signature the way it appeared on his Louisville Slugger bats.
Here, Bruce is holding a game-used bat. I can't remember which player used the bat but I do know it was someone from sometime in the 1980's.
Here I am next to a replica of Babe Ruth.
We were not allowed to take any pictures during the actual tour of the factory. The factory itself surprised me by being rather small. Everything is on one floor and it's really not a very large space at all. They showed us the entire process of a bat being made, from cutting down the tree somewhere on the New York/Pennsylvania border to the carving to the branding to the dipping in shiny paint stuff, etc. It was interesting!
This picture of Lou Brock was in the area at the end of the tour where they give you a free miniature bat.
And here is how Stan Musial's signature appeared on his bats.
We stayed in a Quality Inn which was nice. It wasn't the best place we've ever stayed but certainly not the worst either.
Friday consisted of checking out 2 shopping malls in the morning/early afternoon. We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant inside one of the malls and Bruce got a massage from a little Chinese man. We arrived at the Hullabalou around 4pm. There were actually 65 bands at this festival all together and it was held at Churchill Downs. There were all genres of music as well and 5 stages total. Most of the performers we watched were on the main stage. We walked around for a while and got acclimated to the place and then eventually decided to go to the grandstand and try to find some decent seats. We had general admission tickets which means that our seats were "first come, first serve." We managed to get some decent seats, just off of the center (but pretty far back). There were like 5 big screens showing the performers while they sang so that really helped. The first band we heard on Friday was Train. Bruce did not hear much of what they did though because he had a "Meet n Greet" pass to see Dierks Bentley. He got this through Dierks' fan club.
After Train was done, then Dierks performed and he didn't disappoint. He is really full of energy! The headlining performer that night was Bon Jovi. And Jon still looks pretty darn good!
Later, during the song "Wanted, Dead or Alive" Dierks came back out and sang a little with Jon. Dierks later put on Facebook that he just sang with Jon Bon Jovi and he was still processing it, so you know he was excited about that!
On Saturday, we decided to go to a movie, which started at 1:45. We saw "Grown Ups" and it was not as funny as I anticipated from what I had heard from others. Oh well. Before the movie, we stopped at a flea market that we just sort of stumbled upon and let me tell ya, it was an interesting place! The people there were certainly different and I didn't let Bruce get too far out of my sight. But I did manage to find 3 pairs of shoes to purchase!
Then we headed back to Churchill Downs. I wore my Kenny Chesney orange football jersey and my cowboy hat that I purchased in Deadwood just a few weeks ago! You could tell from the time that we were in the parking lot that there was a certain energy in the air.....Kenny Chesney was here! We got into the stands and managed to get the same exact seats from the previous night! The first act was Sarah Evans, then Jason Aldean, and finally my Kenny. The people were soooooo much in a party mood the entire time. I can't imagine how much alcohol was consumed there on Saturday night. Wow! It was fun just to people-watch.
As usual, Kenny was full of energy, didn't stop moving, and just sang song after song. He didn't sing his new song though ("Boys of Fall"), which was a bit disappointing to me. I love singing along to all of his songs!
I've got my Kenny fix now for awhile again. I sure hope he tours again next summer like he has in the past.
We drove home on Sunday, picked up the girls, went to a cookout at a friend's house for a couple of hours, visited Bruce's mom for a little while, and then the girls and I decided to jump in the car and go see Sugarland in St. Louis. We lucked out too because someone gave us 2 free lawn seats so I only had to purchase 1 ticket!
It was a great weekend!
