If you could take just one photo: Lynn's Paradise Cafe

If there is one kitsch thing every Louisville native, transplant, and visitor should have, it’s a photo of themselves and friends poking their faces through the running fork and spoon plywood cut-outs at Lynn’s Paradise Café. This colorful (that’s putting it mildly) restaurant where tackiness has gone to die is the place where fun is alive and well. From the Ugly Lamp Contest champions to the Thoroughbread Toaster statue, Lynn’s zany, over-the-top décor gives patrons of all ages permission to be kids again. If your waitress is wearing a giant Mad Hatter top hat and you see adults playing with the toys on their table, consider it de rigueur. And as if the atmosphere weren’t enough, the Kentucky-influenced cuisine is absolutely divine. So order up a bourbon ball milkshake, try out some quirky sunglasses, and allow yourself to be dazzled!

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If you could take just one photo: Cave Hill Cemetery Company

Shake off those heebie-jeebies; nothing here can harm you. After all, when have human casualties been linked to a locale that’s certified by the U.S. National Register of Historic Places? Exactly. If you can think of a more soothing place for this experience you can have my homemade Derby-Pie® from Lynn’s Paradise Café… Exactly. You smell fried chicken? Say, isn’t Colonel Sanders buried around here? Anyway, so where do we lay down the blanket? The duck pond is too distracting, you say? Look, this place has 296+ acres to choose from; certainly there’s a spot we both can agree on. What’s that, somewhere shady? There are 500 species of trees and scrubs, so take your pick. This massive oak looks perfect. Who ever said good times and cemeteries couldn’t go together has obviously never been to Cave Hill Cemetery.

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As a photographer and a history buff, I find many places that allow me to explore both my hobbies. I never expected to find a place like Chuck Rubin Photographics. Chuck's inventory is a "who's who" of cameras. The shelves are lined with cameras representing nearly every year of photography from the very beginnings to the present, a true Garden of Eden for camera enthusiasts. What shocked me most about what went through my mind were the possibilities of history that these glass eyes had captured through their travels. Is it possible that a camera here captured images of sweat drenched thoroughbreds crossing the finish line at Churchill Downs during it's early years? Maybe the first swing from Muhammad Ali was seen by one of these marvelous black boxes. Time magazine, a Pulitzer Prize, Vietnam War scenes? Chuck Rubin's is truly a place of wonder and magic.

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Among the elaborate mausoleums erected by the Victorians as a symbol of their wealth, rest rows of symmetrically positioned small, white stone rich in history. Cave Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for soldiers who fought against change and their antagonists. Union and Confederate soldiers rest side by side in peace—most of the Union soldiers unknown but respected as a part of Kentucky’s history. The silence that the rows emit allows the mind to create stories and bring life to a name or the unnamed. Not only do the opposing soldier’s stories haunt the land but mysteries of a cave and historical buildings also inhabit this 300-acre cemetery. Guided tours are given to those wanting to walk among the symmetrical rows of white and dwell upon the past through stories that make the small stones monumental.

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The giant coffee pot outside Lynn’s Paradise Café foreshadows a lighthearted attitude that the interior, studded with disco balls, stuffed cows, and pajama-clad mannequin legs delivers. But what really shines at Lynn’s is the menu. Breakfasts of granola-filled pancakes, egg dishes served with cheese grits and biscuits, or burritos filled with homemade black bean chili draw lines on the weekends. Dinner can be as healthy as a grilled portobello mushroom wrap, or as decadent as a hot brown sandwich, laden with bacon and cheesy Mornay sauce. Don’t despair if you encounter a line; there are plenty of goofy souvenirs to shop.

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Standing under the overhang, I hear the bugle sound, the call to post. The crowd is thick, the laughter loud, in the distance horses bay. My senses are everywhere, it's all a blur, but thru it all I have one thing on my mind, and it grips not only my tastebuds, but my sense of smell. It's everywhere. Garlic. It's in front of you. A basket of french fries. It spills out of small windows inviting you to 'Come near' in a low whisper. Churchill Downs on Derby Day is a mass of people, horses and other food and one I enjoy on this weekend above all else is the Parmesean Cheese Fries. Fair food at its finest. I get an order and immediately get in line again and eat them while I wait to order again. So if your goal is to head to Louisville, KY in the first weekend in May and you've already got the winning ticket in your pocket, follow the smell, it will lead you to another prize.

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It doesn't matter if you're from out of town or out of the country; at the Waterfront Park, you are a part of the community. Filled to the brim with the laughter of running children at the park; the excitable shouts of Frisbee, football, and soccer players on the Great Lawn; and the secret smiles between lovers as they walk through the scenery; the Waterfront Park is for people of all ages to come together and have fun. Whether you want to catch the sunset on the Ohio River, dive into the cool air to catch a Frisbee, take your kids to a place where they can wear themselves out, or simply have a moment to relax, the Waterfront is for you, so live your life on the fun side.

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“I’m going to race them!” my toe-headed son said confidently as he lined up outside the fence next to the big green starting gate near Mr. Neil’s barn on the backside of Churchill Downs. And he did. The bell sounded its always-startling alarm and the gates flew open with ten simultaneous crashes. They were off – ten massive horses and one tiny boy. The grass, still wet from the morning dew, gave him no traction. Not that it would have helped. Traction, you see, wasn’t the only advantage the other entries in this race enjoyed. Centuries of breeding and a steady diet of Kentucky bluegrass and designer feed ensured they were almost unbelievably strong and fast, and although all were three-year-olds, the equine entries pulled away easily. My beautiful boy returned to me at a slow trot, eyes wide, looking somewhat defeated. “Those horses are fast,” he panted. Go see for yourself.

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The voices of ghosts from the early 1960s surrounded us, filling the room with the anger and passion that drove the civil rights movement. After walking a few steps deeper into the Muhammad Ali Museum, I forgot I was in downtown Louisville. I was transported to a time and place I didn't understand, the time that shaped the life and trajectory of boxing legend Cassius Clay. When you visit this museum, you'll appreciate Ali's dedication to spirituality and sports, however, my life was interrupted when I witnessed firsthand the struggle and pain of segregation inflicted on Ali and the millions of African Americans like him. Unexpected and amazing.

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