Thursday, June 11, 2015

Trip to Kentucky - Baseball Game - Toyota Factory Tour

(Frankfort, KY) Hi 93 Lo 68 -- Our move from Tennessee to Kentucky on Tuesday was smooth and uneventful, the way we like it. The weather was great, and we're glad we waited the extra day to leave to let the storms clear out on our route. We made good time and saw beautiful scenery on the way. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)









This narrow road ran for about three miles and connected between two major highways. It was very pretty, but the trees were brushing the AC on the roof and the road had a drop off on each side, so it was pretty tight when another car came from the other direction. It was a little nerve wracking, and we were glad when we got to the end. If we come this way again we'll take an alternate route.










Elkhorn Campground is a nice park. We stayed here in 2010, our first year on the road. The Elkhorn River runs around the park.















Our site. There's no one around us right now, but the park is expected to be full this weekend.
















The Elkhorn River.










Yesterday (Wednesday) Jim drove Cincinnati, OH to see the Reds take on the Philadelphia Phillies at The Great American Ballpark. He's trying to visit as many major league ballparks as he can during our travels. Here's his take...

Well, another ballpark checked off the list. Cincinnati is a good baseball town, and coming from a St. Louis Cardinals fan like myself, that's high praise. The city is on the Ohio River, and this is the view of the city from Kentucky where I parked. I walked across the river on a pedestrian bridge.












I always get a cheap seat, usually high up. But I really like the view of the game up high and behind home plate.











This is the view from the concourse of the stadium.











If the stadium is not full (which it rarely is), I like to walk around and "seat hop" for different views of the game. This is a nice view, and would have cost a LOT more than what I paid.











I paid $10 for my ticket. Major league teams nowadays have dynamic pricing, which means they change the ticket prices depending on the opponent, the day of the week, etc. The Phillies aren't a very good team, the game was on a week day, and I got a senior citizen discount (hooray for getting old!), which all combined for a pretty cheap ticket. Also, I found free parking over on the Kentucky side of the river. It was about a mile walk to the ballpark, but it was a beautiful day and it was good exercise. And to top it all off, I found a vendor selling hot dogs and sodas for $1. So my day at the ballgame cost less than $15 (not counting the fuel for the 80-mile drive each way). The Reds fans are very friendly and love their team. All in all I had a very good time, and the home team won. Now, back to Dee...

Today we went to nearby Georgetown to take a tour of the huge Toyota factory.
We've taken a lot of factory tours in our travels, but we've never toured an automobile plant. The Toyota factory produces 2,000 Camrys, Avalons, and Venzas PER DAY! The tour took about an hour and we rode on a tram all through the different parts of the factory. It was very impressive, especially watching the robots weld the bodies together. We saw the whole process, from seeing the huge rolls of raw stainless steel, right through to seeing the cars roll off the line at the other end. From beginning to end it takes 20 hours to build a Toyota. The whole thing was amazing to see, and kind of awe inspiring! Sorry we can't show you any photos, but photography wasn't allowed, and we couldn't even bring our cellphones in. Click here to learn more about the tour.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. We'll tell you about it in our next post in a couple of days. Thanks for stopping by.

4 comments:

Bob and Jo said...

Great that you added another ballpark.

owensontheroad said...

That would be very interesting to take a tour of an auto plant. Didn't know you could!

Tom and Marci said...

When you get up to Michigan, as I know Jim has yet to visit Comerica Park, home of the Tigers, you can also tour the Ford Rouge Plant -- now THAT is a state of the art plant! I don't think Jim will get off quite as economically at the ballpark, though!! :)

Anonymous said...

You two should've visited the Corvette factory in Bowling Green. Now that's a fun plant to see them. Tracy got to be a lucky one to start one up the first ever time. Linda

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