Louisville, Kentucky: Adventure awaits

Louisville, Kentucky was an adventure in every sense of the word. I was miles from home. I was embarking on an ultrasound travel assignment in Maternal-Fetal Medicine (aka high risk OB ultrasounds) after a 13 year hiatus from my first MFM job in which I worked about 8 years, with many years in private office work as an OB/GYN sonographer sandwiched between the two. This was the beginning of my re-entry into MFM and as such, posed 3 major obstacles: I was new to travel work. I was starting a job in an area of higher level OB scanning, in which things had changed somewhat since I left it previously. I was working in an area of the south that has one of the highest rates of obesity in the country. Needless to say these three things resulted in the perfect trifecta for creating a challenge in obtaining quality images in the time slot given. I struggled a bit in this job as a result, but in the end, learned a lot of valuable information – as I do with every new assignment – to help me to become sharper and more skilled in each subsequent job. Travel sonography is great for doing that. With every new adventure, you learn something more than you knew the day you walked in the door. The field is always changing and new things are constantly being introduced to any sonographer in this field, but especially so when you are experiencing different offices and different ways of doing things and different mindsets and talents, as a travel sonographer does. Learning and growing is an inevitable, but beneficial side effect of a travel sonographer’s job. But at the end of a long workweek, that is when the real adventure kicks in! Time to explore your surroundings.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favorite thing to do in Louisville was to check out Churchill Down’s. I won’t continue to elaborate on that, since I previously went into a lot of detail about it, however I would like to share one thing that I forgot to mention, of which I found interesting. Anyone interested in horse racing would remember the race horse, Barbaro. Barbaro was the horse who sadly broke his right hind leg during the Preakness Stakes a few weeks after winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby. After numerous surgeries and casts, he suffered an infection and eventually many months later, had to be euthanized. The image below is of a statue of Barbaro which is situated in front of Churchill Downs and the adjacent Kentucky Derby Museum. His cremated remains were buried under that bronze statue. This memorial is a fitting tribute to a horse that was so beloved and that everyone was rooting for, for months, to pull through and overcome his injuries.

In addition to this very interesting museum and racetrack, Louisville has a beautiful waterfront area that is a popular spot in the summer, with the Ohio River which flows between Kentucky and Indiana. Louisville offers fitness minded individuals the opportunity to cross over the river from the Waterfront Park into Jeffersonville, Indiana via a pedestrian bridge, known as the Big Four Bridge. Music is piped into the centermost part of the bridge, which at night is lit up with colorful LED lights, to make it visually appealing as well. Located on E. River Road, this 1/2 mile long bridge, along with the ramps on both sides that are each 1/4 mile long, provide pedestrians an opportunity to not only get their exercise, but also take in the skyline views of Louisville in the process. If you have a couple hours to spare, I highly suggest spending some time walking the bridge and checking out the various trails and historical statues along the beautifully manicured and very green waterfront. Additionally, Wheel Fun Rentals is located at Waterfront Park and you can rent a bike (or a Surrey) by the hour or more to explore the waterfront area, which is extensive. If you are hungry, cross the Big Four Bridge into Indiana, and directly across the street from the end of the ramp, you will see a pizza place called Parlour offering New York style pizza, cocktails, and craft beer, with both indoor and outdoor seating and if you’re lucky, some live music to boot. The pizza was flavorful, crispy and delicious – and is right up there with some of the best I have ever tasted. In fact about 2,000 others gave it nearly 4-1/2 stars in their google reviews, so don’t just take my word for it!

If biking is your thing, rent a bike on the waterfront in Louisville and cross the bridge into Indiana, then make your way westward onto the Ohio River Greenway Trail. En route, stop at Widow’s Walk Ice Creamery in Clarksville, Indiana, for a delicious ice cream cone. Across the street from this ice cream shop are some benches with a beautiful view of downtown Louisville, across the river. This is a great way to take a break from the city life and to spend an afternoon seeing the more rural sites from the trail in Indiana.

Stay tuned for more Louisville fun ideas in my next blog! Until then, get out there and enjoy the fun in the sun around the Ohio River … I promise, you will be glad you did!