I spent last weekend in Louisville, Ky., where a bunch of my friends had a work convention. Louisville is an easy five-hour drive from my home base of Chicago. While they were working, I took a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.

You immediately see the World’s Largest Baseball Bat, certified by Guinness World Records at 120 feet tall and weighing 68,000 pounds. There is also a Signature Wall featuring signatures of every Louisville Slugger contract player. There are a lot of hands-on exhibits which allow you to feel and swing bats of all sorts, some with historical significance, such as Johnny Bench’s bat. Dedicated in 1848, Cave Hill Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Cave Hill is known for its 500 species of trees and shrubs, along with a creek and a cave. Among the 120,000 buried here, Muhammad Ali might be the most famous.

No trip to Louisville would be complete without visiting a distillery such as Kentucky Peerless Distilling. Located downtown, Peerless is a grain-to-bottle distillery. Peerless offers tours of the entire process, ending with taste-testing, purely to complete the whole experience. The food highlight of the trip was our dinner at Señor Iguanas. We enjoyed tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas and plenty of great chips, salsa and a tasty Mexican ranch sauce. We also enjoyed several fruity, frozen margaritas. The ambience was just as good as the food. We were also on the lookout for cannoli and found some excellent ones at Anselmos Bakery and Bistro. The shell was crisp and the filling was rich and thick, as it should be. The accompanying berries were a fresh touch.

I also enjoyed the arts district, downtown and the river walk area. I even enjoyed driving around checking out some of the beautiful houses and architecture. I was really impressed with my first trip to Louisville. It’s got a big city vibe while maintaining a relaxed feel.

— John Wroblewski, online contributor