June – Great American Balloon Race

Posted on 01. Jun, 2011 by admin in What’s on

Great American Balloon Race

The countdown to lift-off is nearly upon us, the Great American Air Balloon Race in good ol’ Danville, Kentucky is just around the corner.

The 22nd annual spectacular has become a great family day out, with people of all ages flocking to Junction City to watch the bright blue June skies fill up with the multi-hewn balls of fabric and hot air. It’s like a rainbow, albeit  in dots.

Families from across the state flock to Danville, near Harrodsburg, for the race, which celebrates all things ballooning, historically man’s first successful attempt to fly. It started in Paris, in 1783, with two men flying 5.5miles for 23 minutes before plunging safely down to Earth.

We don’t know where “le ballon” touched down but the Danville enthusiasts seek to emulate the landing, albeit in a more modern, much more controlled, and safer way.

The event – on June 10 this year – is not so much a race as a test of aeronautics and navigation, the balloon pilots testing their guile against wind and air pressure to land their flimsy, lightweight craft within 200 yards of the set landing target, with the closest balloon scooping the $1,000 prize.

It’s a tricky task, some years there have been no winners at all, the weather conditions making it too difficult for any of the 20 or so balloon pilots to get anywhere near the mark.

The field opens at 5pm, with a brass band playing in the crowd and food vendors opening for snacks and refreshment. At 6.30pm the pilots gather at the VIP hangar and by 7pm the fist balloons take off. Ninety minutes later the winner is awarded.

Why so late in the day? Apparently ballooning is best at sunrise or sunset, all due to the prevailing thermals and wind.

If you can’t make the June 10 event, try the all-year round balloon ride specialists at  louisvilleballoonrides.com, offering unforgettable aerial views of Kentucky in the heart of the bluegrass country. Or if you plan to visit Louisville in spring for the fabled Kentucky Derby, check out the Derby race in the sky, the Derby Festival Great Balloon Race. Or if you visit in deep summer, venture to Lexington’s 15th Annual Rotary BB&T Fourth of July Balloon Rally.

Follow Our Road Tripper Around Kentucky

Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in News blog

Kentucky Tried?

Hi yall, I’m off to Kentucky: home of the thoroughbred racehorses and American racing, the bourbon capital of the world, the home of Muhammad Ali, the Louisville Slugger baseball bat, bluegrass music, the gateway to the South, Mammoth Caves, the biggest cave system in the US, and Cumberland Falls, the only place save for Victoria Falls where you get “moonbows”. Of vast state parks, sprawling lakes and good old southern hospitality. And yes, the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Colonel Sanders!

“How you doing”

The first thing that hits you about Kentucky, is the people. Friendly isn’t the word. Everyone says “hello”, or “morning”, or “hi”, or “how you doing”. They make eye contact. And when they say “have a good day”, it’s as if they mean it – none of this “have a nice day” supermarket checkout faux pleasantry, which can often translate as “Look I have to say this, otherwise I get sacked – I couldn’t really give two cents if you get mugged on the way out and your car gets totalled by a bus”.

“Yep, they’re friendly, very friendly” says Craig, a diver from Wisconsin checking out supports on one of the new river bridges. “And they mean it, it’s not like Detroit.”

I sat next to Craig on the plane from Detroit, perhaps the smallest airplane I have encountered. It figures, Lexington is one of the smallest airports I have encountered, save for the early days of Ryanair flying into one-man flying school aerodromes in suburban Oslo, Norway. On the other side of the coin, baggage pick-up, rental cars and the 10 yard walk from the plane to arrivals is a plus.

Lexington

East Main in Lexington, Kentucky

Now cute or quaint aint the word for this town, the capital of horses. Compared to much of urban America, it’s positively regal. Surrounded by undulating bluegrass fields, horse ranches and stud farms, pockmarked by old wooden barns, lined by pretty green, black or traditionally white plank fences or stone walls, all topped off by the palatial mansions of the “colonels”, the thoroughbred horse trainers and ranch owners.

The city of nearly 250,000 is brimming with Victorian townhouses, wooden arched gables, stone window ledges, clapperboard faciers, with neo-classical collonades on the leading up the covered porches; townhouses all, it’s an America I haven’t seen before. Most of the town seems to be lined with these old homes, save for a part of downtown, where the high-rise banks have sprouted, albeit for only a block or two. Banks such as the oddly named skyrise tower of the Fifth Third Ban”, which makes you wonder what happened to the first four.

Front Porches of Houses in Lexington, Kentucky

Its clear Lexington has history, as befits horse country. Pioneers came here after the Revolutionary War (the War of Independence in this Brit’s book), settling for the vast pastures and naming the town after the battle which sealed victory. The horse farms and breeders came soon afterwards.

It claims to be the Horse Capital of the World – and why not? Nearly everyone here has links to the trade, be they the marketing manager of a horse-feed firm, jockey or a trainee vet. Well, nearly everyone: in downtown Lexington, law practices abound, and it’s clear quite a few people are majoring in criminal justice or work at the nearby law firms. Perhaps there are major disputes between ranch owners (“hey, that’s my horse” … “no it’s not, it mine!” “Prove it!”)

Basketball

Don’t mention the word basketball; it’s Kentucky’s major sport and the team, UK (University of Kentucky, based in Lexington) has just lost in the quarter finals to Oklahoma). Still, they don’t seem too upset at the Sidebar grill, a funky indie-style bar serving value for money burgers and steaks on 147 North Limestone (www.sidebargrill.com). It’s $5.99 for a ground sirloin patty burger with cheddar, onion, pickle and lettuce, with fries. The bottled Kentucky Ale, a lively brew, and tasty, rocks in at 5.4%. “Yeh, don’t mention the game,” says Anna, the waitress. “It sucks.” If you want a more fancy meal, try La Deauville bistro or La La Lucy’s on East Main.

You won’t mention the game at Mia’s, either, a lively bar this Monday night. Everyone is too busy getting drunk. It’ the only bar buzzing this night on the edge of the downtown area; McCarthy’s is dead, as is Molly’s, and Cheapside, next to the being-renovated old market is quiet too. Well, it is Monday, and 10pm. so why is Mia’s throbbing? Karaoke. or, to be precise, gay and lesbian karaoke.

You do know it’s a gay and lesbian bar, ask Brian? I kinda figured, a casual glance of the student clientele and the karaoke playlist gave it away (Neil Diamond, for your future reference). And who else, on a Monday night, before the start of the annual spring race meet at nearby Keeneland racetrack, would be whooping it up on a Monday night.

Oh, my God, I just love your accent….

Kentucky doesn’t get many visitors from across the pond (well, not just across the pond – across the Appalachians, and West Virginia, then Virgina, and then the pond). You can tell, ‘cos when you speak, many people look, well, if not exactly awestruck, at least phazed or non-plussed. “Oh-my-God, I just love your accent!” You can never tire of that phrase. I might even get a t-shirt saying it. I was gonna get a T-shirt with the design I Heart Kentucky, in the same design as HK or NY, but with KY being the abbreviation, well, perhaps not.

Gratz Park Inn in Kentucky

The Gratz Park Inn

I’m staying at the Gratz Park Inn (http://www.gratzparkinn.com/photoGallery.html), a converted old Victorian mansion home in deep downtown, a refurbished grand Victorian property with a classical piano taking pride of place in the lounge/reception. The bedroom is vast, dominated by perhaps the comfiest double-poster bed I have slept in. After the missed connection at Detroit, I need some shuteye. A lush four-poster bed kinda helps.

DAY TWO

Come on, when in America, it’s best to track down some little corner of Americana, which is kinda hard to find in refined, Victorian Lexington. Take one step forward, the Parkette, a fabled old 50s drive-in diner just off the junction to Winchester. Hidden in a sea of drive-in shops, motor malls, fast-food joints and other assembled anomalies, sits the Parkette. The huge towering sign shouts Shrimp boxes and fried chicken.

Sign outside Parkette

You simply pull in, drive up to a bay with a speaker and menu and order, the waitress will then come deliver. Sounds simple, but it aint – for starter, you have to make sure you park driver-side next to the meNu and ordering machine. Secondly, you have to make sure that particular bay machine works. On the third attempt, my face as red as burger ketchup, I succeed.

Gloria rolls out with my “poorboy”, a $2.99 Big Mac double beef ground sirloin, with red onion, tomato, special Parkette sauce and mustard and pickle. It’s not bad for $2.99, redolent of a Big Mac, but less processed, which kinda figures, cos apparently, the Parkette used to be an original McDonald’s. Hee they offer shrimpbozes, tender shrimp, deep fried, or chicken, deep fried, apparently it’s famous, it’s deep fried in lard.

Parkette Owners

Nowadays, the Parkette host 50s retro nights, where, I guess, people in long ra-ra skirts bobby socks, ponytails and pluco-quiffed guys in baseball jackets re-enact the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies in their old cadillacs.

Photo of Yellow Plymouth Duster

Next up, the drive to Louisville, through Georgetown, Frankfort and Shelbyville …
(“Oooh, there’s a cow!)

The World’s Biggest Beatles-Inspired Festival – Ever!

Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in What’s on

It’s Louisville, not Liverpool, which hosts the World’s Largest Beatles-Inspired Music Festival.

Performing in Louisville

Held from May 27th to 31st 2010, Abbey Road on the River comes to the Kentucky city of Louisville, also famous for the Kentucky Derby and Muhammad Ali.

Join 50,000 other Beatles aficionados at this five day festival of everything ‘Fab Four’, including 50 of the best international tribute bands. Other acts include Hal Bruce and the Hard Dazed Knights performing all 214 Beatles songs and in the order they were originally released – a feat no other artist has accomplished. Food and drink are available throughout, and festival goers can even participate in the biggest Beatles song singing contest ever, free guitar lessons and a ‘Summer of Love Day’.

A Five-Day Best ticket costs from £132 per person and includes all outdoor shows, a Single-Day Best ticket costs from £43 per person. Book now at www.abbeyroadontheriver.com, for a Louisville equivalent of the ‘Summer of Love’.

Outdoor Kentucky

Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in Highlights

At 40,000 square miles big with just 4 million people, there’s a vast natural landscape out there for you to explore and enjoy, all captured in superb, sprawling national parks. Kentucky is home to the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the Lower 48 states, some 90,000 miles, host to the highest per capita number of deer and turkey in the US and home to the largest free-ranging elk herd east of Montana.

With all this space, visitors can choose from myriad fun activities, ranging from whitewater rafting to ATVing on quad bikes, from caving to kayaking, hiking or horseriding. If you prefer to drive, just roam the scenic driveways. Or if wildlife is your thing, take an organised spotting tour; watching for elks and eagles. There’s really something for everyone.

One unmissable experience is Mammoth Caves National Park in central Kentucky, the longest cave system known in the world, a World Heritage Site with a confirmed 365 miles of passageways. Take a lit-up tour of amazing natural phenomenon such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man’s Misery, or venture on your own paraffin-lamp tour or really get adventurous on a  “wild” tour. Gawp at the bats but don’t eat the indigenous cave shrimps. Well, you can, but where you gonna cook ‘em!!!

There’s the Red River Gorge, full of fast streams and towering sandstone cliffs, best sampled by kayak, and don’t miss the mysterious Moonbows at Cumberland Falls, the only place in the western hemisphere to admire regular lunar rainbows above the waterfalls spray. It’s best seen near a full moon. The only other place on earth just as good is Victoria Falls in Africa.