It seems like it wasn’t that long ago when my wife and I departed our residence in North Carolina to return to our childhood home in Kentucky for a vacation and to enjoy the annual build up to the Kentucky Derby.   That trip however, was  five years ago.

You can’t keep a home sick Kentucky girl away from home when spring time comes and the first Saturday in May approaches.  Sherry has been madly planning this years trip and it makes our 2009 trip seem like a relaxing rest at the beach.

We will be hitting many of the events that we hit last time including the Great Balloon Race and it’s warmup, the Balloon glow, Dawn at the Downs, the bed races and more, but the big item on this year’s list is the Great Steamboat Race.

Last time, we watched the Great Steamboat Race from the banks of the Ohio River from Cox’s Park up-stream near the turning point of fthe race.  However this year, we scored tickets to actually be on the Belle of Louisville for the race…something that for years seemed out of reach to mere mortals.

Every day is packed with things to do and photos to take.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will fill this space with stories and photos from the trip!