Louisville, KY - Girls' Weekend 2015

Not sure if you know the whole story behind Girls' Weekend, but it's just an opportunity for all three Harris Sisters to get together in the same place for a few days each year sans husbands and kids. And no matter the destination (somewhere new each year), it always proves to be fun.

We just wrapped up this year's Girls' Weekend, which was in Louisville, Kentucky. And we had a fabulous time! (As we like to say, "We bring the fun with us!")

We stayed in a beautiful loft in downtown Louisville. It was in a converted glassworks building and had an industrial feel (exposed pipes, concrete floors). But at the same time, it had beautiful old brick walls, vaulted ceilings, beautiful chandeliers, and gorgeous chippy doors hung in the hallways. So the best of both worlds really.

The location was perfect for us because we were centrally located to many fun activities. The first night we were there, we opted to take our own walking tour of downtown. It's always fun to explore the downtown areas of cities!

Of course, we happened upon many things while we were out and about, including quite a few of the painted horses from the 2015 Gallopalooza Exhibit.

And some super schmancy cars at the 21C Hotel, including one jewel encrusted limo and one disco ball convertible:

The 21C Hotel is part hotel and part museum. One of their current exhibitions is a giant gold replica of Michelangelo's David. (They change out their exhibits periodically, so there's no telling what you might see in this location when you visit.)

On the way back to the loft, we passed by the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.

The next morning was probably one of the most memorable parts of the whole trip. Misty and I had seen this location on our road trip in and knew that it was a only quick 10 minute drive from the loft. The three of us made a special trip there to investigate.

Of course, when we got to 1737 E Frankfurt Avenue, we had no idea what we had happened upon. Was it an antique store? (Well, if it was, it wasn't open yet. And believe us, we couldn't resist knocking on the oversized Marley's Ghost doorknockers mounted on the doors!)

Was it a museum? (There was no sign to indicate anything other than the address.) So, we did what anyone would do today, we Googled the address and found out that we had arrived at Jerry's Junk - a must-see Louisville attraction!

And let me tell you, it was spectacular! If you are ever in Louisville, THIS is the thing you must go to see. It is like a real life Seek and Find.

We snapped 100s of photos and still probably didn't capture everything that is there BUT while we were snapping photos a nice older gentleman drove up with his brother and asked if we saw anything that we couldn't live without.

After a brief conversation, we figured out that we were talking to the owner, Jerry Lotz!

He and his brother were kind enough to take us around to all of the junk and point out many pieces and tell us how Jerry had acquired it. And would you believe that when we jokingly mentioned that they needed to get Mike and Frank (from American Pickers) down to Louisville to pick their stash, they answered "Oh, they've already been here and did a show with us!" (Sure enough, you can check it out for yourself, Jerry was featured on Season 2, Episode 20 The Emu Chase. (Jerry's part starts around 22:30.)

He sent us on our way with some of our very own junk that had been picked by Jerry himself!

Later that same day, we had reservations at Sisters Tea Parlor.

Of course, they encourage you to dress for the occasion and to don hats and gloves for lunch. We certainly gave it our best effort!

They serve individual pots of tea and either a two-tiered or three-tiered tray of tea sandwiches, savories, sweets, scones, and lemon curd. This was a very unique experience and we would recommend.

That night, we scheduled a horse-drawn carriage ride around downtown Louisville. There was a nice breeze in the air, which was a welcomed change from the heat we'd experienced earlier in the day.

We had the pleasure of riding with a pup as our navigator and she did a great job of making sure that none of the other horse-drawn carriages passed us while we were out and about. (We think she thought we were racing the other horses!)

And finally, after a morning of poking around at the flea market the next day, we squeezed in a quick movie and then got ready for The Main Event . . . literally. 

We had purchased tickets to see one of our favorite childhood bands. New Kids on the Block are touring with Nelly and TLC this summer in The Main Event tour. They performed at the KFC Yum Center which was only a couple of blocks from our loft. All three groups were great!

In other news, Coca-Cola has started their Share A Coke campaign again for 2015. We managed to find one commemorative bottle for the trip and it was New Kids' member: Jordan. :-)

So, that's about it. We sure did squeeze in a lot of activities into 2 1/2 days. And it was a lot of fun as always!