Galloping through Louisville

Gallopalooza

This past weekend I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to meet up with my cousin from Cincinnati. In addition to being a girls' getaway, we wanted to photograph Gallopalooza, an art display of painted horses, mint julep cups, and horses on top of barrels. Similar to the cakes that decorated St. Louis last year, these painted works of art will be sold at auction this fall to benefit lighting on the Big Four Bridge - a repurposed Ohio River bridge that is now for pedestrian and bike traffic only.

I had made reservations at a bed & breakfast, of sorts. While they provide the makings of a breakfast, you have to cook it yourself. Maybe they should call it a bed & groceries? At any rate, I knew that ahead of time, so I can't complain. The cottage is located on an old estate, and is separate from the main house. Originally we were both going to be there for two nights, but my cousin decided to drive over early Saturday morning instead. That left me on my own for Friday. I arrived downtown around 2:30, parked, and headed to the Visitors Center to pick up some maps. Bonus - one horse inside, and a mint julep cup outside. Two off the list of 70 or so sculptures. I had decided to try and photograph the ones that were located inside buildings that were only open Monday-Friday. I enjoyed walking around downtown Louisville, appreciating the integration of old and new architecture. I managed to get eleven pieces before grabbing some dinner and heading to my b & b.

two horses and a cup

The owner of the b & b indicated she might not be home when I arrived, but that the cottage would be open. That was the case, but she came to the door not too long after I arrived to introduce herself and see if I had any questions. Then she and her husband left to go see a movie. Around 8:00 I was on my iPad in the sun room when I saw a man with a flashlight come around the side of the main house. To say I was startled is an understatement. When I looked more closely, I saw that he was wearing a police uniform - as were the two other people that came from the front of the house. Yikes! I opened the door, and he informed me that the alarm was going off in the main house. He wanted to know if I lived there, and I explained I was a guest in the cottage. After inquiring as to whether the car in front of the cottage was mine (it was), the female officer wanted to know when I had arrived. I told her it was about 5:30, and she said the alarm went off about 7:30. I tried calling the cell phone of the owner, not expecting her to answer since she was at the show. Indeed, she did not, so I left her a message. In the meantime, the three cops (in three separate cars) got ready to leave me. They didn't see anyone around or any other cars, so they thought it was a false alarm. Did I mention that this place sits waaaaay back from the street? On 6.5 secluded acres? Nooooo, don't leave me! Haven't you people seen Psycho???

I locked the doors and closed all the blinds and sat in the sun room until the owner called me back shortly before 10:00. She said they would be home in ten minutes, and only when they arrived back at their house did I feel comfortable showering off the days sweat behind the shower curtain. As soon as I crawled into bed, the winds began, and I heard thumps on the roof followed by the sounds of things rolling. Heavy rains, thunder and lightning followed. I was positive something was going to fall on my car. Around 12:30 I was awakened by a new sound in the bedroom. What now? I turned on the lights but could not identify what was making the motorized noise. I turned off the air conditioner, but that wasn't it. Ear plugs and a pillow over my head did not squelch the sound. I didn't get much sleep that night! I later learned that the electrical storm shorted the pump for the septic system, causing it to run non-stop. It is located under the cottage.

After my cousin arrived in the morning, we took off for our horse-hunt. We were fairly successful in finding the ones I had marked on the map, but I sure missed the Facebook community I had on my Cakeway to the West journey in St. Louis. At any point in time a person could post a question and immediately get an answer. That was really helpful when the cake wasn't where the map said it should be. There were several horses that weren't where the map indicated, and a couple that were not on the map at all. But the city was easy to navigate, and we enjoyed seeing the sites.

Louisville Sites

The evening ended with a visit to an excellent restaurant, Pat's Steak House, which was a throw back to a 1950's supper club. The food and service were great, and we returned back to our cottage where, fortunately, there were no things that went bump in the night. We were able to rest up for Sunday's adventures.