Louisville KY.

I am really glad to be back in Kentucky after being away for a long time. It is really nice going back to places I kind of remember from before, but that I haven't been to in some time.
My wife and I recently went back to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Louisville. We were in the area, and walked in.
As we set down, we realized we had not been to that specific spaghetti place in a very long time. Then we remembered, it was right before our first real date (away from campus, without a group of friends). We drove to Louisville one night for a Natalie Merchant concert, and this was where we went before the show.
Louisville previously seemed big and intimidating to me. It was a REALLY big city that you only went to when you had to, or whenever a good concert was in town.
I had to fly out of Louisville a couple of times in college. I remember the 1st time. My mom and aunt drove me up from Owensboro. Many pictures were taken at the airport, it was part of the adventure.
Louisville seemed to me to be too big for Kentucky. Back then I thought that, maybe Kentucky could trade Louisville to another state. You know, like they do in pro-sports. Maybe we could trade Louisville to Indiana for Evansville and a couple other towns? Tennessee might entertain a swap for Gatlinburg. Of course, Kentucky would have to keep the Derby.
Of course now I wouldn't think of trading Louisville away. I love Louisville, its a great place. And, after spending a lot of time in a town like Cleveland, Louisville doesn't seem big and overwhelming at all now. It's still a nice friendly town, its just bigger than all of the others in the state.
I have been back recently, really for the 1st few times since leaving some time ago.
Back in the early 90s, I do remember hanging out on Bardstown Rd. some with my cousin. The place seemed to go on forever. It seemed there were many neat little novelty stores. Bardstown Rd. was the area to go.
I went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe right off of Bardstown Rd. recently. AND, of course, I went up and down Bardtown Rd. some too. I am going to have to spend some more time there again.
I remember the Shelbyville Rd. area being cool 10 years ago, and it seems even more cool now. For mall lovers, you have St. Matthews and Oxmoore right next to each other! They are both pleasant, active malls. St. Matthews has that cool "A Taste of Kentucky" store. I love these type of shops.
There is a lot going on right around the mall too. My favorite book chain, "Half Price Books" has a shop close to the mall too. I can browse there for hours. I think Lexington and Louisville are the only Kentucky towns that have stores from this chain around.
A couple miles behind the St. Matthews mall is a really cool, almost hidden stamp shop. Not a rubber stamp shop for scrap book people, but an actual, well stocked shop that sells collectible postage stamps! The hobby seems to be dying, and there are fewer placers to find cool old stamps, but this is a great place for a collector to visit! The guys running the place know their stuff and are fun to talk to. Its a small shop in an old apartment type building. Its not for the claustrophobic. 4012 Dupont Circle #313.
Another great Louisville only chain that I just found out about is Heine Brothers Coffee. Holy Carp this is some good coffee! And they have cool locations. One off of Bardstown, connected to a cool local bookstore (this one has been crowded every time I have been in the area though). I just realized there is one on Shelbyville Rd.
I had some time to kill, and went in to this one to relax. It worked.
The weather has been a bit nicer in Kentucky the last few days. This isn't a big coffee shop, but they have a sliding door patio type area near the front door. It was open, and created the perfect atmosphere. The place was just nice. I stuck around and read a lot longer than I originally planned to.
I am really looking forward to my next trip to Heine Brothers. My only problem with this chain is that they haven't branched out more.
I do hope locals start showing their appreciation for places like this too. I passed a crowded chain coffee shop to get to this Heine Brothers. I see this in a lot of towns too. There are a lot of cool, cozy, quit independent coffee shops right down the road from the bigger chain guys.