Big Four Bridge

Louisville has a series of parks that connect like beads on a string, curving alongside the Ohio River. On a day which promised a patchwork of scattered showers, we hurried to explore the east end of these riverside parks. The parking lots were ample, nicely designed, with bathrooms you wouldn't mind using and a new feeling about them. If you go to your fair share of parks, then you recognize that these things are worth noting.

We walked along with the river on our right, heading towards the downtown Louisville area.

It's just pretty paved trails, with greenery on both sides. We passed a sparkling new playground, a water park and saw wide green areas. This is the same park system where the large fireworks event in the spring during Derby madness.

There's four bridges that cross the Ohio River here, linking Kentucky to Indiana, connecting Kentuckiana as they say. Two are for cars, one is for trains, and the last is for pedestrians.

It's the bridge shown to the left, known as the Big Four Bridge. Originally a railroad truss bridge finished in 1895, in recent years it was converted entirely into a walkway for feet and bicycles.

The winding ramp leading up to the Big Four Bridge has a steady 5 degree angle, making it handicapped accessible (and I bet really fun for cyclists on the way down).

The west side of the ramp offered a nice view of downtown Louisville with a green foreground.

By the time we walked all the way up the ramp, I had decided that this must be one of the top places locals pick to shoot engagement photos. At least I would if I was from here. It is so picturesque and iconic.

As we walked the span of the bridge, we stopped to read plaques about its history and of course take pictures. Occasionally we heard whooping and cheering from somewhere along the waterfront of the Indiana side.

On lazy weekends, it's become a frequent suggestion. "Should we go to Indiana today?" Because neither of us has ever been, and we know nothing about it, and it is just over the water. Walking along the bridge, we decided that today we would finally go, walk in fact, to Indiana.

As we crossed the halfway point of the bridge, I started sizing up the people around us, trying to determine if they were from Indiana. After so much talk, the neighboring state to the north had begun to feel a bit like a foreign country. Our first impression of Indiana was suitably unexpected - a handful of mennonites on a Sunday outing and this scene.

Below is the view as we descended the Indiana side's ramp. There is a tiny toy skeleton in one of the brick house's windows.

By the time we made it down the ramp, we both agreed that entering Indiana felt surreal, a totally different atmosphere than the other side of the river. It's like we were plopped down in the middle of some ancient, quirky neighborhood.

This is Jeffersonville, the birthplace of Papa John's pizza. We walked along the riverside road, West Riverside Drive, determined to reach the source of the cheering. It was the finish line of some marathon, located out front of a restaurant called Clucker's blasting '70s hits. We had seen runners with numbers pinned to the bellies on the Louisville side too, but hadn't connected the dots.

A little disappointed and a fair amount hot, we decided to head back. The sun had finally burned through and we felt satisfied with our mini adventure into uncharted territory.

A quick pause to marvel at the mysteries of the Indiana side. The strange wall that seems to cut a neighborhood in two, the powerful quiet that blankets the area.

We practiced our selfie skills and then headed back home. We had drank our fill of adventure for the week.

But really, I add this place to my mental list of Louisville gems. The Big Four Bridge seems to have the ideal balance of a perfect park - plenty of fresh air and nice scenery which melds the natural with man-made. One can enjoy some of the city scenes without actually having to get into its traffic.