My mom's visit to Kentuckiana, part 1

My mom came to visit last week. She flew in on Wednesday afternoon and flew out freakishly early on Monday and it was absolutely fabulous having her here. We spent Wednesday just hanging out and on Thursday, we saw Kentucky. First, we went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe (I've posted about that restaurant before) and it was hilarious. Mom bought a hat for Lindsey to be a Hillcrest Crazy - it was a gladiator helmet with a big red fuzzy top. I wish I'd taken a picture with it on. In fact, I forgot my camera on Thursday, so all the pics are just generic ones I've found.

After that, we went to Churchill Downs. This is where the Kentucky Derby takes place every May (which, by the way, I'm stoked to have happen). I decided I really want a Derby hat because they are super huge and awesome. It reminded me of Grandma Hall - she'd totally wear one. Anyway, we learned about what it takes to be a Derby racehorse, what happens on race day, and what it means to win both the Derby and the Triple Crown. When we got home later, we totally watched Secretariat and it was awesome to understand more about what was going on. It's a great movie, by the way.

We drove out and saw the temple. It was closed for the day, but we had to go see it. It's beautiful inside and out, and it was neat to take the drive out there. The Diet Pepsi we got on the way sure didn't hurt, either!

Then we drove past the Louisville Slugger Museum. Both my mom and I wanted to see the giant bat, but that was all we wanted to see of that. We don't really care about how they make them, but let's be honest: this bat is like 10 stories tall, so we had to at least see it!

We then went to see historic downtown New Albany. The homes down here have been around since before the Civil War, and some of them were involved with the underground railroad. We stayed in one of these houses when we first moved here. They are marvelous and beautiful and it's fun to get to see them.

One more unrelated thing before I end this post: I wanted to show off the cute basket I made my mom for her comfort here in her stay.  You know how when you get to a hotel, you get soap and shampoo? Well, I one-upped that one. And for those of you who follow couponing and freebie sites, I got everything except the mini straightener for free, and the straightener only cost me $5 thanks to a coupon. Double score!

 And since this post is really long, I'll save Friday/Saturday for the next post.