Since I've not been able to travel as freely these days, I'm going to take you on a 'tour of a detour' from a past book tour trip. After this fascinating structure was built, I always wanted to stop and see it on the way to visit relatives in Kentucky. We never seemed to have the time. Last September, hub and I decided to pull off the interstate and take a look. Have I mentioned that detours are good?
You can see the building from the interstate. It looks like a space ship, and grabs your attention to come and explore. Pulling up felt like entering the set of the Jetsons. It's the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They are currently closed due to covid 19, so don't jump in your cars quite yet.
I'm not a huge car person, but I'm fascinated by cool buildings with stories. On February 12, 2014, a 30 foot deep sink hole opened up and swallowed 8 Corvettes in the wee hours of the morning inside this building. It was caught on the security camera footage and went viral! The museum turned that lemon into lemonade and added a cave exhibit to tell the story and attendance soared. We had to see it. It did not disappoint. I found a Corvette made the year I was born, we shook our heads in amazement at the cars damaged from their plunge into the Earth, registered for a car giveaway which we did not win, and hub played in the kiddie area. (no surprise there) Well worth the admission.
Afterwards, we traveled south to the Franklin exit to visit a horse track. Growing up, I'd gotten off at this exit many times because my uncle, aunt and cousins lived there. Kentucky Downs wasn't built until much later, or we might have loaded up and gone to see the horses run after a family lunch! The horses only race six days a year there, so I doubted we'd do anything but walk around. Pulling in, we found the parking lot packed. It was race day! Woo-Hoo!!!!!
The "European-style" turf track is simply beautiful. Admission is free, you bring your own lawn chairs and sit where you like. We were not prepared, so the first thing we did was buy a couple of $20 fold out chairs. We got a program and made our picks. Now we are not racing connoisseurs, but most of the folks at the window were patient with us and our measly little wagers. We spent a glorious hour or so pretending we knew what we were doing and watching magnificent thoroughbreds run. Parting to get back on the road was definitely sweet sorrow. I will pre-plan trips around their racing schedule from now on.
I'm ready to get back on the road. As soon as "I'm Not Weird, I'm Wonderful" is released and the quarantine is lifted, we'll be off on our next adventure! Until then, here are some pics of the museum and the track. We saw two magnificent things built for speed that day. The Corvettes were beautiful, but the horses were my favorite. Go baby, GO!
p.s. We won nothing. Oh well.
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