1951 postcard of Union Station, Louisville Kentucky

This postcard was sent from Louisville in 1951, showing Union Station in Louisville.

Louisville, Kentucky Wharf Scene Along the Ohio River

This nice older unused postcard shows a great Louisville scene....  the area looks VERY different now!

It shows the Belle of Louisville, the Renown, Delta Queen, and the "General" locomotive.

The Brown Hotel- Louisville, KY

Actually eating a Hot Brown at the Brown Hotel has been big on my list ever since we visited it briefly last year.

This is a spectacular hotel with a lot of history.  The restaurant here, J. Graham's Café, which is attractive and all.  I will say that the tables for two were a bit close together (you might bump elbows with the people at the next table).

On the day we stopped by we had below average service.  I think our waitress was trying, but we noticed the people beside us also ordered a hot brown.... after us.  Their's was brought out sooner (they had finished it before we got ours).  Our waitress was apologetic, telling us that a large order went in right before ours, and she offered free dessert.  OK, we will forgive slow service from free dessert.

Between the two of us, we ordered the famous hot brown and a not so famous burger.  The hot brown was ok.  It is unique.  I know they brag about being the place where it was invented and all..... but it wasn't the best hot brown I have ever had.

In their defense, our food was very hot when we got it.  I understand there are busy days and all...  and some wait staff put their orders in at different time....

We did get free dessert too, which was nice.

This is kind of a do it and check it off of your check list experience though.  I had the hot brown at the Brown.......  I am glad I did that but I will probably pick another restaurant next time I am in the area.

The Seelbach Hilton- Louisville, KY

We were able to swing through and spend a little bit of time at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville again recently!  Like my previous visit, we didn't stay here or anything, we just dropped by.

The hotel is beautiful, and simply perfect.  I think this is my favorite hotel in Louisville.  THIS is what a nice historic hotel should be.

On this visit, we took a couple of books along with us....  I thought it would be fun to read some of "The Great Gatsby" in here....  since F. Scott Fitzgerald spent some time here...  and modeled a scene from the book on the hotel!  Also, right at 100 years ago, an intoxicated F. Scott was tossed from the hotel!

I remember reading the book in school and not caring much for it.  Its just not my kind of book.  Still, I thought this would be a nice day......  and venue, for reading the book again.

There is a nice Starbucks here (I know, when I am in Louisville I almost always get Heine Bros.).  So we had some coffee and just enjoyed reading here.

The Galt House- Louisville KY

After a VERY brief visit to the Galt House last year, I really wanted to get back and check the place out again more thoroughly!

Luckily an old pal works there now and he offered to give us a nice thorough tour of the hotel!

If I understand things correctly, there are basically two buildings making up the hotel.  There is a very cool glassed in pedestrian bridge linking them.  That pedestrian bridge has lots of seating, a bar, a coffee shop, etc. in it.  There is also an enclosed area with birds in it!



This glassed in area has plenty of seating, and it offers some great downtown views.

The bar area is partially a fish tank.  Seriously.  See my photo....  but the place where you would put your drink is a glassed in fish tank with Cichlids swimming around.

Before our tour, we met our friend at Café Magnolia on the second floor for breakfast.  We had a very nice buffet of the standards and more here.  I had some great bacon, sausage and biscuits, fruit, etc.  I wish I had taken a photo.....  It was some quality grub!

Anyway, he took us all over the place.  I really was impressed with the views from some of the upper meeting room areas and restaurant.  In some of these areas, you can get some of the best views of Louisville.  I am putting several photos here because I was so impressed.  There is an upper area restaurant that doesn't rotate entirely, but there are two smaller sections that rotate slowly.  I have included a few photos of tables by these windows just to give you an idea of whats available.

The Galt House Louisville Kentucky

This old postcard, I am guessing from the 60s, shows Louisville's the Galt House.  It notes the hotel has 714 rooms, 3 different restaurants, 2 cocktail lounges, 24 banquet-meeting rooms, and exciting entertainment.

Coffee Tree Books and Fuzzy Duck Coffee in Morehead Kentucky

While on the road recently, I stopped by the Fuzzy Duck Coffee shop in Morehead.  It is connected to the Coffee Tree Bookstore.

I expected a very small bookstore, but it is roomy.  They have a lot of space.  In fact, there is a large stage there too!  I am sure this gets used from some interesting presentations in this college town.

The coffee shop was great too, with lots of room and all.  It looks like they use coffee from Coffee Times in Lexington.  We had some very nice lattes.

Hillbilly Hot Dogs Again in West Virginia

I know I have talked about Hillbilly Hot Dogs a lot here, but man, is this place cool.

I took my friend there after visiting Point Pleasant.  He ordered the Homewrecker and
got about two thirds of the way through before he gave up.  He couldn't do it.

I had a couple of Hillbilly dogs, and some fries.  We had some fries with cheese, ranch and some other stuff on them that were incredible.  Best fries ever.

My pal commented that Hillbilly Hot Dogs is obviously gimmicky... but, unlike most restaurants with such a gimmick, the food is great.

I agree.  It is fun stopping by here just for the strangeness...  but the food is great too.

Flatwoods Monster, Braxton County West Virginia

 Flatwoods has been on my radar for a long time.  In fact, we did stop there once before.  It was several years ago and we were driving to Maryland.  We saw the Flatwoods sign and stopped.  I knew a little about the legend of the Flatwoods Monster then, but not much.  AND, when we stopped, there was a "what now?" feeling.  What should we see while in town.

Well, at that time, the answer was "nothing".  The town really hadn't done anything to exploit their famous strange incident from the 50s.  I do recall seeing an odd monster shirt at the gas station that had a werewolf looking critter on it.  That was about it.

Over the last year or so, they have obviously worked hard to change that.  There is the chair trail, which is novel.  AND, in Sutton, there is the Flatwoods Monster Museum!

While doing the cahir trail, we stopped by this small but packed visitor center/museum and had a great time.  They have a lot of items relating to the Flatwoods Monster AND they a lot of cool merch.

There have been some interesting items made to look like the monster.  A local artist has been selling a cool ceramic lantern of Braxie for years.

Talking to the staff at the museum, we learned that they are really seeing the benefits of embracing the Braxton County Monster.  The museum and the chairs have attracted a lot of trtaffic to the area.

I personally couldn't leave without picking up a super cool green, glow-in-the-dark shirt (for a very reasonable $15!).  I bought a couple of resin figures too.  Guitar picks, postcards and stickers could be purchased for under a buck.  I also scored a VERY NICE large poster made from original witness descriptions.  The poster was FREE with any purchase!  The museum is trying to capitalize on their notoriety, but they aren't trying to price gouge visitors!

Oh, I forgot to mention that admission to the museum is also FREE!  I can afford that!

We also picked up several flyers about other things to do in the area.

Braxton County Monster Chairs in West Virginia

There is another STRANGE story concerning West Virginia......  The Flatwoods Monster is, in some ways, the mysterious cousin to the more well known Mothman.

The Flatwoods monster (aka the Braxton County Monster, Braxie, and other various names) appeared in Flatwoods West Virginia in 1952.  Unlike the Mothman, it appeared only once, and it was witnessed by just a fistful of people, mostly kids.

An object was seen going across the sky.  When the group went to investigate, they saw a a 10 foot tall humanoid creature that hissed that them!  The witnesses stuck to their story, despite decades of people trying to suggest that they saw something more earthly.

The town's of Flatwoods and Sutton (in the Braxton County area) are trying to attract tourists these days who are curious about the 1952 event.  I am certain that they are aware of the positive affects on tourism that the Mothman has brought to nearby Point Pleasant.

So- they have set up a small trail with five large and cool painted chairs.  Each is designed the same but painted differently.  If you visit all 5 chairs and get your photo taken with each one, you get a free sticker.

This is a nice way to spend a couple of hours, and we had a fun time doing the trail.  Along the way we saw a couple of nice small downtown areas, some deer, a gorgeous park, a cozy inn/restaurant, AND the fairly new Flatwoods Monster Museum (more on that later).

We were able to claim our sticker at the museum from the friendly staff there.  I have heard that the chair by the Dairy Queen is no longer there....  so at the time of this writing, I think there are just 4 chairs on the trail

The sticker is actually pretty cool.  AND, the only way to get this sticker is by doing the trail.

This area would make for a GREAT 2 or three day weekend trip to go along with a visit to Point Pleasant!