Red Bull Flugtag

Eccentric flying machines built by novices hurled off of a platform over the water. From the moment we first heard of Red Bull Flugtag, we knew it was an event worth checking out.

This is the same Red Bull that makes silver and blue canned energy drinks, famous for sponsoring impressive dare-devlish stunts like the Stratos space jump - where a sky-diver jumped from the edge of space and broke the sound barrier during his record-breaking free fall.

The Flugtag ("flight day" in German) may not be quite as epic, but it is a lot of fun. It was first held in Austria in 1991, and since then Flugtags have been held around the world. It's a free event and the contest is open to everyone who dreams of building their own man-powered flying machine (size and weight restrictions apply).

This year, Flugtag came to Boston and Louisville. It look place here on the edge of the Ohio River, the same Waterfront Park which hosts many of the city's outdoor events.

The contestants and their creations were lined up near the ramp's base - posing for pictures, answering questions from the curious crowd, and making last minute adjustments to their crafts. The entries varied - from quirky ones destined-to-fail to more serious gliding apparatuses.

As you can see, each team chooses a theme for their craft and costumes. Many chose Kentucky-related ideas showing off some hometown pride. Two of the cutest: the Colonel and his chickens and a bourbon barrel glider.

Bonus points if you can find Isaac in the panorama above.

In the end, the Mad Max themed craft on the right side of the picture below took home first place.

Mentioning who won doesn't seem like a huge deal, since this competition is more about the process - the fun along the way - than the results. There is no cash prize - first through third place winners receive the opportunity to do other Red Bull-ish feats like skydiving.

We made our way to the water to get the best view of the crafts crash landing. Blaring speakers and large screens showed the emcees as they interviewed contestants and the judges about today's event. Then the fun began.

The judges are paying special attention to three categories: distance, creativity and showmanship. After pushing their craft onto the platform, there's about 30-60 seconds time in which the contestants dance or perform a skit to a song of their own selection. It can be hard to see from so far away, but the big screens provided a closer look. In the end, everyone's fate was the same. Pushing as fast as possible, off the edge, into the water.

And since the event takes place on the Ohio River, some of the crowd was able to watch from the comfort of their own boats.

Which was fine until the wind picked up, causing the boats to shift and squish together, and then drift well past the boundary line into the stretch of water marked as the "landing strip".

It delayed the event for around half an hour, the big boats especially unable to easily move out of the way. Some people on the shoreline became irritated and started "booing", one of the boaters responded by mooning us all. It was a bit of a mess and we were eager to watch more ridiculous crafts take the plunge. Eventually, police boats towed the larger boats well out of the way, towards the center of the river, and event staff pushed the boundary buoys back further just to be safe.

These guys below got third place in the end.

Flugtag was entertaining, but we decided not to stay the entire time We were getting hungry and wanted to avoid the mass exodus and traffic at the even'ts end.

The forecast also called for 20% rain on Saturday. Which in these parts, we've learned does not mean that there is a 20% chance that it will rain. Rather it means that 20% of the day, it will be raining.

I snapped this picture on our way out, some gloomy clouds moving in from the west. Sure enough, that 20% got us as we walked back to our cars.

It's such a quirky event - watching strange craft fall to their demise and laughing along with strangers in the crowd. Red Bull Flugtag was well worth the walk, the wait (and the wet).

Kentucky State Fair

It may be just the end of August, but the Kentucky State Fair has already come to town. The smell of grease wafting in the air, littered pavement, screaming children. We weren't too tempted by its arrival, until the local news reminded us that fairs also mean animals, lots of animals. And the weather was just too perfect - not humid, low of 64 and hi of 82 - so we went.

Instead of setting up booths, roller coasters and haunted houses in an empty paved lot for just a few weeks, the Kentucky State Fair is a seasonal collaboration of permanent facilities. The Kentucky Exposition Center has over 1.2 million square feet of indoor space, which is boasted as the largest used for any fair in the country. It's an L-shaped cluster of buildings with polished hallways, exhibition spaces of all varieties, an indoor arena, horse barns and a football/baseball stadium out back. Kentucky Kingdom is an amusement park located next door, with a water park, rides and all the junk food you can dream of. These two entities team up to make the Kentucky State Fair.

Visitors buy tickets separately - paying for the fair will get you onto the grounds, into all of the exhibition buildings, but not onto the rides. For us it seemed perfect. Although picturesque, the Kentucky Kingdom side of the street was everything about the fair that we wished to avoid.

There was still a smattering of the junk food stands available in the Exposition Center parking lot.

Above - hamburgers made with fresh donuts. Below - fried desserts like twinkies, oreos and cookie dough.

But these kind of places seemed much less popular than the alternatives available.

Below - ice cream churned with a little John Deere engine.

Many stands offered food from local farms like beef, pork and dairy. The prevalence of such options was a novel idea for me but as Isaac chomped on his steak burger, it started to make sense.

This is probably what fairs originally looked like. A gathering of farmers and producers from all around to share and sell their goods. As we continued exploring the fair, and those 1.2 million square feet of space, this same pattern continued. We've seen animals at the fair, and blue ribbons, but never in this capacity and with such variety.

There were more rabbits than even I care to look at. And more goats, pigeons, chickens, cows, horses, mules, sheep dogs - huge numbers of breeders displaying their wares or prize animals. And these spaces change ever few days, making way for others to come, show off and sell some of their farm animals.

Regarding blue ribbons, the range of categories was beyond what we had ever seen before. There were the familiar garden roses, giant pumpkins and pound cakes. But categories went far beyond that. Blue ribbon bee hives and hay bales, fairy gardens and aquariums.

This blue ribbon gold fish was one of our favorites. He was everything a gold fish should be - chubby, energetic and adorable.

Judges must develop a special eye - for I have no idea how to judge a bunch of hanging tobacco leaves or bunches of the dried stuff.

Honey jars and hay bales - divided by class and type. Wildflower, clover, alfalfa, timothy, on and on the divisions went.

It really was a treat to walk around and see. And there was plenty of the typical flea market stuff too - vendors selling things like hunting knives, bake ware and blankets with sports logos. But overall the fair gave off this feeling of old fashioned local spirit. Buffalo Trace Distillery had a large tent set up with special drinks and bourbon barrel tables and Ford had an exhibit about their local assembly plant complete with 2017 models.

And although we picked a perfectly cool day to visit, I imagine all of that indoor air-conditioned space is really appreciated on a more typical sweltering August day.

Just a few more of our favorite highlights. An endless barn of milk cows, some with hips as high as our heads

The farmers had tents or simple cots set up next to their animals, in the small lot they're calling home for the next couple of days.

Below is the blue ribbon lionhead rabbit - the same kind as our pet rabbit. I can't help but think that our Cookie would have won if she had been there. See for yourself. :)

Below is an English lop - a large rabbit bred to have long ears which drag the ground. 

A horse show - we watched some dressage and carriage pleasure driving.

It was the first time we had ever heard of that portion of competition - "carriage pleasure driving".

We were ready to head home before seeing it all - skipping the horse barns altogether. Our timing seemed pretty good too. On the way back to our car, at a convenient lot across the street which did not cost $8, we strolled past just the beginning of the incoming traffic. It was a fun visit and although we didn't see everything, the endless idling cars made our departure a little easier.

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.