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Posted
18 hours ago, TxEx84 said:

Identify yourselves! 
 

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We were upstairs. Great trip, but the traffic was a nightmare from Friday afternoon on. 

Posted

Just made it back to Austin. Great trip. I need to sleep for the next 2 days. Lexington cannot handle a football game, Keeneland, and the Fasig-Tipton October horse sales on same weekend. Lex also has no freeway in town, so traffic was a nightmare most of the weekend. Kentucky fans were extremely nice and wanted to talk (mainly about Arch) and share at tailgates. They kept saying we would destroy them, but I figured it would be close for 3 quarters before we pulled away. Well I missed that last part.

Except for the traffic and the game, very fun time.

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Posted (edited)

Some final thoughts. 

Kentucky as a whole almost feels like a different country. Everything is kind of dirty, out of date, and in slight disrepair. There seems to be a lot of understaffing, undersupply and just general poor organization. Even compared to states like Arkansas, Louisiana or Alabama that I've been to. (okay probably not compared to Louisiana now that I think about it)

I think mainly it's just an observation of economic circumstance. Maybe someone that knows more could chime in. It is what it is.

Louisville is a nice little city with quite a bit to do - not that we got to do much. It kind of struck me as like a Rich Man's version of Little Rock or Memphis et al.

Lexington reminded me a decent amount of East Texas. The neighborhood between campus and wherever the Bear and Butcher and Charlie Brown's are was beautiful to walk through a couple times. The campus itself is nice but unremarkable. Everything seemed pretty new like 15 years ago they tore it all down and started over? 

The fanbase was both better looking and less... Appalachiany... than I thought. There was a dose of redneck in the stands but I didn't see anything nasty or physical.  Which brings me to a larger point that the people as a whole are utterly pleasant. It's like a cross between Southern fake-politeness and Midwestetn earnestness. I'm not sure what happens when you cross the border to Ohio. Everyone has some unsolicited story or information to share and acts as if you're the first person they've seen in a week. 

The stadium itself is almost as classic as it gets. Really great environment and the fans punch above their weight. Anyone that didn't want to play football in this conference is a fucking moron. Texas fits in beautifully and it was very cool to see the stylistic contrast between the fans, cheers and band. Especially standing for UK's alma mater and then singing The Eyes.

Overall - great experience - and left a very positive impression of UK fans and Kentucky as a whole with me. My mom has some friends that live an hour outside of Lousiville so maybe I'll need to come back for SMU hoops or football or Texas basketball. Also makes me want to check out some more SEC destinations. 

🤘

 IMG_20251019_1627342.thumb.jpg.6a5de2f9b4a0a0db209a90e4f910bcfa.jpg Edited by ztejas
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Posted
2 hours ago, ztejas said:

Lexington reminded me a decent amount of East Texas. The neighborhood between campus and wherever the Bear and Butcher and Charlie Brown's are was beautiful to walk through a couple times. The campus itself is nice but unremarkable. Everything seemed pretty new like 15 years ago they tore it all down and started over

The fanbase was both better looking and less... Appalachiany... than I thought. There was a dose of redneck in the stands but I didn't see anything nasty or physical.  Which brings me to a larger point that the people as a whole are utterly pleasant. It's like a cross between Southern fake-politeness and Midwestetn earnestness. I'm not sure what happens when you cross the border to Ohio.

My daughter graduated from UK in 2016. The campus is almost unrecognizable since then. Not sure where the money is coming from, but a lot of demolitions and new construction.

Good observation on the Southern thing. Kentucky desperately wants to be considered part of the South. There's a mural downtown that says "Lexington - where the South begins". And it is funny, once you cross the river into Cincinnati, it immediately feels like the Midwest. My daughter and I always laugh as we never would consider Kentucky "the South".

The Louisville to Lexington area is beautiful with rolling hills, green grass, and horse country. And liberal. It's a blue dot in red Kentucky. But once you leave this area, oh boy.  Appalachiany is a good description.

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Posted (edited)
54 minutes ago, TxEx84 said:

My daughter graduated from UK in 2016. The campus is almost unrecognizable since then. Not sure where the money is coming from, but a lot of demolitions and new construction.

Good observation on the Southern thing. Kentucky desperately wants to be considered part of the South. There's a mural downtown that says "Lexington - where the South begins". And it is funny, once you cross the river into Cincinnati, it immediately feels like the Midwest. My daughter and I always laugh as we never would consider Kentucky "the South".

The Louisville to Lexington area is beautiful with rolling hills, green grass, and horse country. And liberal. It's a blue dot in red Kentucky. But once you leave this area, oh boy.  Appalachiany is a good description.

My first major observation upon moving here was that it is a unique crossroads, especially in the Lexington region: the start of the South but not quite and the transition from east to Midwest. It has elements of the rust belt and the Bible belt but is not really either (though probably closer to the latter than the former), then, as you mentioned, Appalachian influences without the abject poverty, since they all moved here to get away from those circumstances. The beauty of the horse farms and rolling hills gives the area a special character. Glad everyone seemed to find things to enjoy on a beautiful fall weekend. 

Edited by KYHorn
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