cheezz

bluegrass1 - thank you for all the suggestions! In the final plans, it turns out we are doing much of what you suggest, although Versailles never came up on all the "must-see" things I read about...will have to look into that more.

We are going to see a horse farm. I hadn't heard of the Kentucky Castle so will have to look into that too. Also will check out Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve as those didn't come up on my radar before either.

I also got reservations for the dinner train - excited about that. We have done caves on previous trips - we have great ones in California. We are staying at Wendt's Wildlife Adventure so will get to do the zoo thing but up close and personal.

cheezz

Our lunch excursion on the Old Kentucky Dinner Train in Bardstown was cancelled for April. I can rebook for the dinner train but what can you actually see at night?! Has anyone taken the evening train?

bluegrass1

The famous horse farms, race tracks and bourbon distilleries in the Versailles area didn't come up on "must-see" lists, but Wendt's Wildlife Adventure did??

That place is out in the middle of nowhere, so you'll at least want to take a few day trips to Central Kentucky...
- You absolutely need to book a tour of Claiborne Farm in Paris, which is only ~15 miles from the wildlife place you mentioned.
- Go to the Versailles area to see Keeneland, the Castle, at least 1 bourbon distillery and 1 other horse farm.

bluegrass1

It looks like the dinner excursion is from 6pm-8:30pm.
The sun doesn't set until around 8:30pm that time of year, so it won't be "night time" when you are on the train.
In fact, it will probably be a perfect time to see the sights.

cheezz

Based on what we heard, we booked the dinner train! We both love trains, so we are really looking forward to this.
Thank you!

cheezz

HA! No, my daughter heard about the wildlife stay from a friend who had been there - it still doesn't pop up on any of my searches! We do plan on using that as a base to do day trips to the surrounding area. I'm going now to look at Claiborne Farm. Thanks!

bluegrass1

If your daughter loves animals, then you'll both love Claiborne. It is an absolutely beautiful setting/scenery and you'll get to pet & feed multi-million dollar horses, depending on which tour you take.

bluegrass1

It looks like your trip was planned for the end of March.
How did it go?

cheezz

What a trip!! I can’t wait to go back to Kentucky – what a beautiful state! We flew in to Cincinnati airport, picked up a car, and headed to the Holiday Inn in Florence. We wanted to be near The Creation Museum for an early morning start.

Day 1: Creation Museum
We we’re glad to have bought the combo pass ahead of time as there was a line to purchase tickets and we were able to get right in. It was quite well done, taking you through history with dioramas and stories of creation. It spent about 3 hours before we were ready to leave. If you weren’t familiar with the Bible or wanted a deeper understanding of creation, I could see spending up to 6 hours. We headed back to our hotel for an early dinner and movie.
<https://creationmuseum.org/bible-history/noahs-ark/>

Day 2: Noah’s Ark and Georgetown
we checked out and headed to Williamstown for a full day at the ark. This was definitely worth a full day, just taking in the immensity of it and discovering all the quite logical ways life on the ark could have been dealt with. It was so beautifully done. We had to break for lunch at Amzara’s Buffet as our friends suggested…think ‘Vegas’ on a smaller scale. There was so much to choose from…no holding back on calories or fried food though. By the end of the day we needed a rest and headed to our “Spotless and Cozy Rental” AirBnB in Georgetown. It was a lovely 2 bedroom apartment that I would highly recommend, with all the amenities including a washer/dryer. We are used to having lots of restaurant choices but not here. There was 1 diner we ate at twice.


Day 3: Georgetown
it was cold and a little drizzly so walked around a bit then headed back to pick up pizza, make coffee, and watch a movie.

Day 4: Bardstown
we had a leisurely morning then headed to Bardstown in the afternoon. We shopped around a little then boarded My Old Kentucky Dinner Train for a 2–1/2 ride through some pretty scenery. Dinner was quite yummy and I was ecstatic to get pimento cheese and bread for appetizer…my southern roots coming through. I arranged ahead for my daughter to get the chocolate choo choo for dessert and she was quite happy too We disembarked at 9pm and headed back to Georgetown. Let me say, I’m forever thankful to have had gps on my phone giving directions as it was dark, the ones are narrow and one–lane.


Day 5: Lexington
Regretfully we checked out of our cozy apartment and headed to Lexington to tour Megason Farms, a horse farm that breeds all white thoroughbreds (suggested by our b&b hostess). The horses and farm were lovely. It’s a small farm so you get to nuzzle all the horses, hold the newly hatched baby chicks and play with the farm dog. After that we had time so we drove around to see what Lexington was all about. I must say, I don’t know if we just couldn’t find the nice areas but it was dreary and congested, and we couldn’t wait to get out. As we headed out of town we spotted Peddlers Mall, an antique mall (YAY) and spent a couple of hours there, with a lunch break in between.

Day 6: Carlisle
From there we headed to a farm stay – Hilltop Retreat at Wendt’s Wildlife Adventure in Carlisle. WOW! It was the loveliest place I have ever stayed. It was behind the host’s house, on a hilltop with 360 degree view of the Kentucky hillside. Obviously built for family to stay in, not strangers as everything was top of the line, including a coffeemaker in the fridge door! Large windows, front and back patios with rockers and bird feeders. I have never seen so many wild birds and got many pictures. The owner, Julie, was an absolute sweetheart and so helpful. I was so glad I booked this for our last 4 nights. Be sure and visit Wendt’s if you’re in the area (https://www.wendtswildlife.com/about).

Day 7: Maysville and Carlisle
After breakfast at Dick’s on Main (the only place to eat in Carlisle and some darn good food), we headed to Maysville for the rainy day. Cute little town with a museum of miniatures. Very well done and we spent quite some time there. Just before we were to leave, I spotted an area upstairs I hadn’t seen and was told it was the genealogical library…WHAT???!! Okay, I could’ve spent the whole week here as I have Kentucky ancestors. Rats….I got about 30 minutes before it was time to leave but will remember it next time around.
back in Carlisle, we had about 30 min to visit some animals at the retreat before they closed.

Day 8 & 9: Cynthiana
this was a cute little town but most of the shops were closed so we ended up getting coffee and walking around to see the few that were open. We went back the next day to see more that were open. I’d go back again, but on a weekend when everything was open. Back to Carlisle to visit the wildlife again.

Day 10: Goodbye Kentucky
we checked out and headed to the airport, leaving plenty of time to drive slowly on the roads and see the scenery.

We probably did about 15% of what we intended to and what you all recommended so that will be on my return trip!