The Louisville reunion is over and was a success thanks to Thorpe and Mary Ellen McConville. Unfortunately, Mary Ellen was sick and in the hospital during our reunion but was discharged while we were having our Farewell dinner on Saturday.
We had 33 people attending this year. The Meet and Greet was at the 25th floor of the historic Galt Hotel with beautiful views of the Ohio River. This day was also Wanda Luey’s birthday and everyone sang a Happy Birthday to her. There were lots of food to enjoy, dim sum, spring rolls and dumplings.
Thursday started with a bus ride to the Kentucky Derby Museum with a 360 degrees film of “The Great Race”, and a walking tour of Churchill Downs. After lunch at the Derby Cafe, the next bus ride was to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. The tour showed us how the famous baseball bats are created from choosing the wood to the final stage of personalizing them per the owners or teams requests. After the tour in the mid afternoon, we were on our own to decide what we wanted to do. In the evening, some people went to the Louisville Live on 4th Street where there’s a closed pedestrian only street with a live band playing. Another good location for dinner was on Main Street with a lots of nice restaurants and bars to choose from.
We did not have an early start the next day as two groups were formed to tour the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. The first group started at noon and the second group at 1 pm. We went back in time to the early days of how Louisville became a port city and how Bourbon came to be. We also learned about the process of making Bourbon. At the end of the tour, we had a tasting of 4 different bourbons. The two last ones costing $80 and $150 a bottle! In the evening, we boarded the Belle of Louisville for a sunset cruise. There was a band playing Rock and Roll and people started dancing on the dance floor, including some members of our group.
Saturday, was a free day to do whatever you want before the Farewell dinner at 5pm. We had a group photo before the 3 course dinner was served. After dinner, Thorpe made some announcements about putting a memorial on the website for our friends that had passed on, with Dave Sherman adding in the details and requesting assistance in completing the project. Then Thorpe introduced Sue and Ray Jones who are proposing Lake Geneva, WI for our reunion in 2023. Sue presented different resort possibilities and a variety of activities for the group. She also said that the possible dates would be before September 15 or after October 5. Wanda Luey also presented a 5 day cruise starting in Los Angeles to the Mexican coastal cities for the end of October. After all the pros and cons were discussed, a majority voted for Lake Geneva. Ed Hernsberger spoke about passing the maintenance of the Shanghai Expat email and Website control to Dave and Katie Sherman and Annie Yu-Gaertke. He also mentioned that Volker Gaertke is now working back in Shanghai and Annie would soon follow. Lastly, Ed presented to Thorpe a Louisville picture book signed by all attendees.
We hope to see you all next year in Lake Geneva, WI.
