Louisville has been named by CNN.com [4] as the top U.S. travel destination for 2013. Also on the list are Fairbanks, Alaska; Philadelphia; and American Samoa, among others. The brief CNN article [4] asks the question we've all loved to hate: Is Louisville the New Portland? Reasons behind the choice to make Louisville number one are clear: a fabulous foodie culture, the "emerging" NuLu district and the bourbon scene.
There are so many awesome and noteworthy things in our city, like the largest collection of restored Victorian homes in the country (Old Louisville), or the biggest fireworks display in North America (Thunder!), or the whole Derby festival! We have an amazing, championship winning sports team, and fabulous chefs like Levon Wallace and Edward Lee. We have the Slugger Museum and the Frasier Arms Museum. We have Bardstown Road, and NuLu, and Butchertown, and downtown, and Frankfort Avenue.
Louisville is just Southern enough to be hospitable, but not quite Southern enough to harbor too many trucks with the confederate flag painted on their roofs. Louisville is, as I've said before, the biggest small town in the world [5]. CNN is just confirming what we already knew: this place is seriously rad.
photo: Elizabeth Orrick