Landing In Lexington

Lexington, Kentucky has a few claims to fame! They are the horse capital of the world, there are nine bourbon distilleries located there AND our daughter’s very best friend moved there less than 2 years ago. Because of that last reason, we make a trip to Lexington each summer so they can be reunited.

A couple months back, we made our arrangements for a trip to Lexington. This included purchasing our airline tickets, booking the hotel and renting a car. Our flight was to leave the Friday before Labor Day. Little did we know when we made these plans that a hurricane was forecasted to be hitting Florida during that weekend! And not just any hurricane, Dorian was at one point a category 5!! Well my husband, who had been in Miami for Hurricane Andrew and Port Charlotte for Hurricane Charley, went right into action getting our home prepared for a hurricane in our absence. Our flight out on Friday took off on time. We were just unsure at that point if or when we would be able to fly back home. But hey who doesn’t love an adventure!

After arriving in Lexington, we hopped in our rental car and we were off to get settled in at the hotel before picking up our daughter’s bestie! We got a suite so the girls could have their own room because teenage girls who haven’t seen each other since Christmas……. well let me just say there’s a lot of squealing and laughter involved around the clock. And this mama needs her beauty sleep!

Lexington is the second largest city in Kentucky. I was surprised at the size of the town and all it has to offer. During this trip we saw a lot more of the town than we did last year. We then picked up Bella’s friend and headed to dinner. I didn’t put too much research into this meal as I knew the girls could care less about the food and just wanted to hang out. We ended up at a place called Saul Good restaurant. It was a Friday night and there was no wait. Usually that would concern me, but I was starving at this point so we just went with it.

The girls did their teenage thing and ordered chicken tenders and fries. No one has ever accused Bella of being an adventurous eater. My hubby had a Breakfast Burger. It was basically a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg served on 2 slices of waffles instead of a bun. He said it was pretty good but they could have jazzed it up with some spicy maple syrup.

I went with their Hot Brown Flatbread. What in the world is a Hot Brown, you may ask. I find it a valid question because a hot brown doesn’t exactly sound tasty! And if you aren’t asking, you are either from Kentucky or way more brave with your food selections than I am! Anyways, a Hot Brown is a dish that was created in Louisville in 1926 at the Brown Hotel. Traditionally, it is a hot, open faced sandwich with turkey, bacon, mornay sauce and sometimes tomatoes. It’s very decadent due to the heavy mornay sauce. The first time I had it was last summer and I didn’t love it. The idea of it being on a flatbread intrigued me though and I found myself on Team Hot Brown!

Since it was our first night of vacation, we had to celebrate with dessert. But hey, I don’t need to be celebrating anything to order dessert if I’m being honest. Soon we found a chocolate fondue platter being placed at our table and it was every man for himself! It looked super yummy but after we all starting dipping, we came to the conclusion that it was just warm Hershey syrup. That was disappointing. We were all stuffed and the teenage squealing seemed to subside so to the hotel we went, the girls in their room and Nelson and I in ours. Tomorrow our plan is to head to Kentucky Kingdom. As I am dozing off, I once again hear those squeals of girly laughter. Hearing their joy made this trip worth it even though we were a bit worried about the Hurricane and glued to the Weather Channel.

Have you ever woke up in a hotel room so refreshed and feeling like you had a magical night of sleep? That’s exactly how I felt when I woke up on Saturday. I checked the weather and our town was out of the cone of concern for the hurricane. We felt so relieved! We grabbed some biscuit sandwiches from the restaurant at the hotel and hopped in the Jeep! Louisville, here we come! I have never been to Louisville before. Full disclosure, as much as we love to travel if Bella’s BFF hadn’t moved to Kentucky, we would never have come here. But here we are and to Kentucky Kingdom we are headed!! I know, I know, you’re wondering what is Kentucky Kingdom? Is it some castle or horse haven? No and no! It is an amusement park and water park all in one! Since we live in the land of the Mouse (you know the one, Mickey), we know how expensive amusement parks can be. We were floored when we saw how reasonably priced Kentucky Kingdom is! It was a mere $30 per person to get into BOTH parks!! And it was huge! We were impressed with how clean and safe the entire place was! There were police officers and security officers throughout both parks.

There is one way to enter the park and from there you can get into both the amusement park side as well as the water park. The only rule was once you entered the amusement park side, you had to have shoes and regular clothes on. You couldn’t walk around the amusement park side with your wet bathing suit on. Which is greatly appreciated because who wants to sit on a roller coaster in a seat that is already wet? Not this girl!

The admission price also included a wristband that got you free drinks all day! And you can’t imagine how surprised I was to see tubs and tubs of SPF 50 sunscreen out for everyone to use. As someone who has had skin cancer, I applaud Kentucky Kingdom for offering this to their guests free of charge!

Now listen, in my old age, I don’t seek out a thrill ride. No, you can find me at the exit of the roller coaster holding everybody’s things. That is my role when we go to amusements parks. But hey I’m on vacation too and even though it’s Kentucky it’s still warm out and I don’t want to stand at the end of the rides. So my sweet Nelson was on board with getting a cabana and let me tell you that was a great decision! It gave everyone a place to meet up, to relax, to eat and to cool off. We rented a large cabana and it came with a cooler of ice and bottles of water, a locker, 2 fans, 2 lounge chairs, 4 chairs and a table. It cost $169 and was worth every penny!

If you find yourself in Louisville in the summer, I recommend that you check out Kentucky Kingdom! The water rides were so much fun! There were way more rides than I had expected! And many of the water rides were multiple riders so that added to the fun! There were over 20 quick service food options with a few bars scattered throughout. The amusement park side had a nice variety of rides for young children as well as thrill rides. We were there for over 6 hours and didn’t even do half of the rides. They offer a 2 day ticket for $40 but this girl had a bourbon tour to get to the next day!

After Kentucky Kingdom, Nelson and I were hungry but we were also wore out so we had dinner at the restaurant at our hotel. It’s called Horseshoes. See I told you… horse capital of the world! I love a good theme and well I was in Kentucky so another Hot Brown it was for me and Bacon Jam Burger for my main squeeze! Both hit the spot! Being the sweets lover that I am, I brought a slice of derby pie back to the room to enjoy while watching TV in bed. Ahhh yes, it’s the little things that make me happy!

Sunday morning we head to church and then to a cookout at Bella’s friend’s house. We had a great time catching up with her family. That afternoon, Nelson and I had a date night. First stop was James Pepper Bourbon Distillery Tour. Last summer we did a tour of a different distillery. In Lexington, there are 9 bourbon distilleries. We had a great tour guide who seemed to know anything and everything about bourbon!

After sampling a few bourbons, we went to Downtown Lexington. This is where we stayed last summer and we love the area there. It’s quaint and just a sweet step back in time. We spoiled ourselves with dinner at Carson’s Food and Drink. I would eat here again in a heartbeat! The interior was very woody but open, very unique! As this was our only real adult meal, we went all in! We started with baked goat cheese which in our book, you can’t go wrong with goat cheese! And it was rich and creamy! We also had beer cheese because…. Well you know I like a theme and beer cheese was invented in Kentucky. Now beer cheese in Kentucky is not a nacho cheese type consistency. Instead, it is thicker and it’s spicy. Some places serve it with bread or pretzels, some with veggies. We have it served both warm and cold. We were not fans of the cold version. At Carson’s it came with loafs of pretzel bread. YUM!

Ever since our first trip to New Orleans a few years ago, Nelson has developed an obsession with soft shell crabs! His favorite being a soft shell crab po’boy. But we are in Kentucky not Louisiana so I picked this restaurant  based on the fact that they have a soft shell crab BLT. So we split that as our entrée because we had 2 appetizers that were both bread based! This was my first time trying a soft shell crab. It was a tasty sandwich but I struggled with recognizing and eating ALL the parts of the crab. For me, it was a one and done.

Now I am pretty sure that my name in some language means “lover of all desserts”. I have no proof of this, it’s just a hunch! So next stop on our Lexington date night… Crank and Boom Ice Cream Lounge! There are 2 locations but the Lounge one serves liquor with their ice cream, Hello!! Nelson threw in the towel as he was full from dinner but not this girl! Ice cream and liquor, count me in every time!

We were welcomed with a very long line. No problem with me, I took that as a good sign! As my turn approached, I became nervous about which flavor combo to choose! I ended up confidently ordering the Berry White. With excitement and my Berry White in hand, we went up the stairs to a seating area that had a beautiful view outside. Okay, so this Berry White is Kentucky Blackberry and Buttermilk ice cream topped with amaretto and rum along with a fruit jam. I’m going to pause here so we can all take a moment to wipe the drool! It was dreamy! The ice cream was smooth and full of flavor and the amaretto and rum added a nice kick! If Bella’s friend ever moves out of Lexington, I may still have to visit just to go to Crank and Boom! We then headed to bed in a full food coma!

Happy Labor Day and final day in Lexington! We head to a local dinner accurately named Lexington Diner! I was looking forward to this place because the breakfast menu was creative. There’s nothing I enjoy more than struggling to decide what to order because there are multiple delicious options. Again, it’s the simple things that put a smile on my face!

The girls went with standard breakfast options: waffles, eggs, sausage. No living on the edge for them! Nelson went with the loaded home fries. This is exactly what I guessed he would pick when I saw the menu. I knew this because it had chorizo and whenever chorizo is an option, it is always the winner! This dish had home fries (obviously) with chorizo, mornay sauce (the cheese sauce from the hot brown), peppers, onions, pico de gallo and eggs. I had a bite and it was a great combination of all those flavors! The country clucker was my breakfast of choice. It also starts with home fries but loaded on top and I mean loaded was fried chicken tenders, country gravy, cheddar and biscuit crumbles. I felt like I ate this for hours and barely made a dent. It was heavy and rich and very tasty! But would have been tastier on a cold morning! The food was great here but the service was slower than slow so not sure I would return.

After breakfast we headed to a local mall. You can’t have teenage girls together for 4 days without hanging out in a mall. It was actually a fun mall with a good selection and variety of stores. We shopped and walked off our breakfast and then the girls said their goodbyes or rather their see you next time. They have gotten good at not making their goodbyes dramatic and tearful. I’m convinced this is because they talk on the phone every day! Off to the airport we head. I was relieved to see that our flight was on time. I was concerned with the outer bands of the hurricane and the winds it would bring that we may not have an on time flight. Thankfully that was not the case. And by Labor Day evening, I was at home doing all of our vacation laundry, good times!! We enjoyed our time in Lexington and squeezed a ton of fun into a 4 day weekend but I know it won’t be our last trip there. So until next time Lexington, adios!