LOO-ay-ville - four days of pleasure
Visiting Louisville and our Palmer-Ball cousins was wonderful.
We arrived late-ish on Tuesday afternoon at The Palmer Corporation (aka the plant) after a pleasant but expensive drive from Charleston. Judy Jenkins had recommended Cracker Barrel as a good value road-side eatery, and indeed it was. We had excellent soup and salads. The problem was the shop attached to it. Nicky has been looking for a quilt for our bed for sometime, but has been unable to find something at a reasonable price - until Cracker Barrel came to the rescue! We found a range of quilts in Queen and King sizes with a white background and a range of lovely patterns. We chose one with blue stars all over it to help us develop a new bedroom colour scheme, and a range of other goodies including calendars and cards. We managed to avoid buying rocking chairs for use on the porch (or deck), but it was a close thing.
Josh and Emily got us to the plant safely, and we were very warmly greeted by a number of the members of the family. After refreshments and comfort break we were taken to Mom and Dad's house by Chris to un-pack and settle in. Their house appears modest but is Tardis like and worth exploring. Helen Palmer-Ball gave us a wonderfully warm Southerner's greeting, despite being afflicted with an allergic reaction.
Chris and Ginny took us to the Uptown Café for dinner, which had excellent food and service, and we had a wee tour of some of LOO-ay-ville, on the journeys to and from.
We woke on Wednesday morning to a warm and sunny day, which became a hot and sunny day. Most of the time the temperature was in the 90's F, with direct or hazy sun. We needed various consumables and were directed to Target, a store which sold almost everything desired for household and clothes (it did have a small food section). It was in between Tesco's and John Lewis for quality, and very good value. We found wonderful soft bath towels at $5 each, so decided that we all needed new beach towels. These, along with the Cracker Barrel quilt were destined for a UPS shipment which the Palmer Corporation very kindly organised for us.
The afternoon was spent in one of LOO-ay-ville's shopping malls. Air conditioned, but more women's clothes shops than you can shake a stick at. However, we did find a shop selling spectacular panoramic view posters of cities and landscapes so bought a range as gifts. Claire bought a shrug but we can't remember in which shop (probably because we went in so many).
In the evening Helen (Mom) produced dinner for us and Connie's family, in traditional Kentucky style. Getting to know the family in small groups was very helpful, especially with the onslaught ahead!
We had asked if we could cook for them one evening, and Thursday was chosen. On Wednesday night Nicky started preparing a pavlova, but the oven had other plans. We spent most of Thursday exploring parts of Louisville in order to find shops to procure the ingredients which we needed. This gave us a wonderful experience of being in America, and not being sucked into tourist traps. We got so see the real thing, as far as we could tell.
Chris and Lawrence gave us a tour of the plant and an overview of the range of products. I have promised to do whatever promotional TV work I can for them in NZ if the opportunity should present itself.
The morning newspaper informed us that a new Apple store would be opening that evening at 6pm in the Oxmore Mall in Louisville. So Chris, Claire and I went along to make sure that the staff didn't feel ignored, but we shouldn't have worried - it was packed. I bought a copy of iWork and a world traveller power kit for Claire's PowerBook, and we all got free T-shirts. I tried to get more goodies by explaining that we had come all the way from England just for this event, but is didn't get me anywhere. It was good to see the new iPods, but the iPod Touch isn't out for another month so wasn't on display.
When we got back to Mom and Dad's, Nicky had been working hard producing vast quantities of salad and desserts, so I set to to produce smoked salmon and penné. Dinner was good and we were joined by Ginny and Lawrence and families.
We split up on Friday morning, and while Claire went shopping with Rosemay, Nicky and I had a tour of the farm with Chris. We planned a sail on the Belle of Louisville paddle steamer in the afternoon, but discovered when we got there that it had been chartered for the afternoon and wasn't sailing. So, we wondered round the water front area and up to 4th and 5th streets before making our way back home, ready for the big family party.
Even thought it seemed like half of LOO-ay-ville arrived at Mom and Dad's on Friday evening, I think only one person present wasn't an actual relative! I took loads of photos, had excellent food, and some nice long conversations with lots of different people. It was a great way to end the day and our visit.
I had re-arranged the return of our hire car which gave us more time in Louisville on Saturday, so we visited Connie and Ginny at home, and then finally Missy and got to meet her John and have lunch with them before hit the road for one last time and driving to Cincinnati airport.
It had been a wonderful few days - far too short, so much more to do, such fantastic southern hospitality. It gave us a real sense of seeing and being welcomed by America and its people. We really hope to get back there again one day, and that as many as possible of our cousins will visit us in NZ.
Rick
We arrived late-ish on Tuesday afternoon at The Palmer Corporation (aka the plant) after a pleasant but expensive drive from Charleston. Judy Jenkins had recommended Cracker Barrel as a good value road-side eatery, and indeed it was. We had excellent soup and salads. The problem was the shop attached to it. Nicky has been looking for a quilt for our bed for sometime, but has been unable to find something at a reasonable price - until Cracker Barrel came to the rescue! We found a range of quilts in Queen and King sizes with a white background and a range of lovely patterns. We chose one with blue stars all over it to help us develop a new bedroom colour scheme, and a range of other goodies including calendars and cards. We managed to avoid buying rocking chairs for use on the porch (or deck), but it was a close thing.
Josh and Emily got us to the plant safely, and we were very warmly greeted by a number of the members of the family. After refreshments and comfort break we were taken to Mom and Dad's house by Chris to un-pack and settle in. Their house appears modest but is Tardis like and worth exploring. Helen Palmer-Ball gave us a wonderfully warm Southerner's greeting, despite being afflicted with an allergic reaction.
Chris and Ginny took us to the Uptown Café for dinner, which had excellent food and service, and we had a wee tour of some of LOO-ay-ville, on the journeys to and from.
We woke on Wednesday morning to a warm and sunny day, which became a hot and sunny day. Most of the time the temperature was in the 90's F, with direct or hazy sun. We needed various consumables and were directed to Target, a store which sold almost everything desired for household and clothes (it did have a small food section). It was in between Tesco's and John Lewis for quality, and very good value. We found wonderful soft bath towels at $5 each, so decided that we all needed new beach towels. These, along with the Cracker Barrel quilt were destined for a UPS shipment which the Palmer Corporation very kindly organised for us.
The afternoon was spent in one of LOO-ay-ville's shopping malls. Air conditioned, but more women's clothes shops than you can shake a stick at. However, we did find a shop selling spectacular panoramic view posters of cities and landscapes so bought a range as gifts. Claire bought a shrug but we can't remember in which shop (probably because we went in so many).
In the evening Helen (Mom) produced dinner for us and Connie's family, in traditional Kentucky style. Getting to know the family in small groups was very helpful, especially with the onslaught ahead!
We had asked if we could cook for them one evening, and Thursday was chosen. On Wednesday night Nicky started preparing a pavlova, but the oven had other plans. We spent most of Thursday exploring parts of Louisville in order to find shops to procure the ingredients which we needed. This gave us a wonderful experience of being in America, and not being sucked into tourist traps. We got so see the real thing, as far as we could tell.
Chris and Lawrence gave us a tour of the plant and an overview of the range of products. I have promised to do whatever promotional TV work I can for them in NZ if the opportunity should present itself.
The morning newspaper informed us that a new Apple store would be opening that evening at 6pm in the Oxmore Mall in Louisville. So Chris, Claire and I went along to make sure that the staff didn't feel ignored, but we shouldn't have worried - it was packed. I bought a copy of iWork and a world traveller power kit for Claire's PowerBook, and we all got free T-shirts. I tried to get more goodies by explaining that we had come all the way from England just for this event, but is didn't get me anywhere. It was good to see the new iPods, but the iPod Touch isn't out for another month so wasn't on display.
When we got back to Mom and Dad's, Nicky had been working hard producing vast quantities of salad and desserts, so I set to to produce smoked salmon and penné. Dinner was good and we were joined by Ginny and Lawrence and families.
We split up on Friday morning, and while Claire went shopping with Rosemay, Nicky and I had a tour of the farm with Chris. We planned a sail on the Belle of Louisville paddle steamer in the afternoon, but discovered when we got there that it had been chartered for the afternoon and wasn't sailing. So, we wondered round the water front area and up to 4th and 5th streets before making our way back home, ready for the big family party.
Even thought it seemed like half of LOO-ay-ville arrived at Mom and Dad's on Friday evening, I think only one person present wasn't an actual relative! I took loads of photos, had excellent food, and some nice long conversations with lots of different people. It was a great way to end the day and our visit.
I had re-arranged the return of our hire car which gave us more time in Louisville on Saturday, so we visited Connie and Ginny at home, and then finally Missy and got to meet her John and have lunch with them before hit the road for one last time and driving to Cincinnati airport.
It had been a wonderful few days - far too short, so much more to do, such fantastic southern hospitality. It gave us a real sense of seeing and being welcomed by America and its people. We really hope to get back there again one day, and that as many as possible of our cousins will visit us in NZ.
Rick
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