i am working a four day volleyball tournament April 10-13th.

I have never been there before. Currently traveling solo but will have people who may want to do things before and after thius tourney

Will be driving so will have a car and coming from Hot Springs Arkansas after dropping off my dog

On the way there I can take my time getting there to see things and make stops for places to eat or things to do but will be solo on those

What things to stop for on the route there?
Been to Nashville a couple of times so will likely bypass unless something interesting about the time I am driving thru

Places to eat and things to do while in Louisville.

Plan to hit up a minor league game as that is my current sports bucket list of ballparks both major leagu and monor league...other then that i am open to suggestions with bourbon trial in mix with a couple of officials if timing works for them otherwise not sure i want to do that solo and save for another time

grab a steak at Jeff Ruby's. Cool spot downtown with great people watching.

Check out Churchill Downs. The Derby is the following month so should be a lot of horses/activity there.

We did Maker's Mark last time I was over there. It's a beautiful spot and one of the best tours, but it's a haul.

Old Forester is a great tour.

Get a reservation at Hell or Highwater, it's an awesome speakeasy.

Serious question - are you going to The Blind Squirrel?

If not, be sure to make that a stop for the food and volleyball.

https://blindsquirrellouisville.com/

Louisville Slugger Museum, there is a riverboat casino on the IN side. 4th Street Live for downtown tourist stuff. Maybe LouisvilleAg will chime in.

Fort Knox has a cool Armor Museum

Thanks for all the stuff so far

Never thought of Fort Knox but on my radar now ...How much time to allow?

Blind Squirrel looks interesting for bad type food...recs on food?

Churchill Downs was a plan as well

Bowling Green Corvette Museum on drive up there or back along with minor league Hot Rods game which would have to be on way there

Mammoth Caves how much time is good for this National Park

Not sure how this tourney does food per diems at this time but recs for breakfast and dinners for before and after scheduled work ?

I enjoyed The Eagle Food and Beer Hall. I had fried chicken there.
Churchill Downs is definitely worth the visit.

I want to say 1/2 day minimum plus the drive for Ft. Knox

I have spent a lot of time at Fort Knox with and without a vehicle.
First, I love Jeff Ruby's. Some of the best steaks I've ever tasted. It's a relatively small chain and you can also find one in Nashville.

If you enjoy wine or whiskey, Huber Winery just across the river near Starlight, IN is a great spot. Huge distillery, farm and farmers market. Probably a 20-30 minute drive from downtown Louisville.

There's several bourbon distilleries literally minutes from
Louisville in either direction. I don't drink bourbon so I can't recommend any in particular but it's a relatively easy day trip to visit a few. Check to make sure they don't require advance reservations for tours.

As for Fort Knox. They don't let anyone into the gold vault but the Patton Museum I heard is pretty cool. There's nothing much else to do around base, unless you want to visit the corvette museum in E-Town (which is another 30 minutes down the road). If you're going to go that far, I'd suggest going to Bardstown instead.

Blind Squirrel - was there two years ago for work. Food was great as far as bar/restaurant food. Since you're going for volleyball, I figured you'd enjoy the fact that there is a sand court with tournaments.

During my time as a soldier at Fort Knox (1993-1994), I did the following:

• Louisville Slugger Factory Tour - bring money to get a personalized bat with your name on it. Order at the beginning of the tour, pick it up at the end of the tour.
• Corvette Factory Tour (the museum was being built - the first time) - This is down in Bowling Green off I-65 so you can catch it coming or going between Nashville and Louisville. The coolest thing I saw there was a couple guys who had ordered a Corvette were able to see their Corvette being assembled.
• Mammoth Cave - this was a good drive south of Louisville and it was pretty impressive. I had already been to Carlsbad Caverns but Mammoth Cave was impressive due to the vastness of the cave network whereas Carlsbad was impressive for the depth. That was also the first time I saw a little kid with light-up shoes which was hilarious in the dark depths of the cave.
• Jim Beam Distillery - In my era, it wasn't that special but it's worth going. Of course today, there are tons of distilleries so choose whichever one you like.
• Patton Museum - The number of vehicles is impressive both indoors and outdoors. Seeing the cutaway of the armor on a Tiger tank is amazing. Also, seeing Patton's Cadillac was cool. One of the things the curator told me about the armored vehicles they have - "if it drips, it runs". I'd allow a good 45 minutes to drive down 31W from Louisville plus additional time to get on Post. I don't know what security measures they might have in place nowadays.
  
  One thing I can tell you from my failed attempt to go to the Cavalry Museum at Ft. Riley, KS 20 years ago is - be sure to have all of your vehicle's paperwork in order. And from the last Army Post I went to - Ft. Rucker a couple years ago, be sure that everyone in your party has identification, etc.

As far as food, I'm not a big fan of pork since I grew up in Saudi Arabia but, Mark's Feed Store in Valley Station was pretty good for BBQ.
https://marksfeedstore.com/locations

Grind - burgers
The Eagle - pizza, fried chicken, beer
The Fat Lamb - great burger
Jeff Rubys - steak
Blue Dog Bakery - best bread ever
Blind Squirrel - it's decent bar food and vibes are fun if good weather and people are playing volleyball
Ice cream - Leige & Dairy or Greaters

If you are bored, a drive through Norton Commons. Used to live there, cool neighborhood designed by the Seaside developers (Truman Show).

Pic I took at The Eagle.

Just got my assignment schedule and hotel.

Work starting at 12:00 on Thursday. Any good place for brunch before that ??

Staying at Towne Place Suites Louisville North. Will look it up later but what things are close to there worth doing

How far is it from the Expo Center ??

Still trying to come up with a few more ideas

Blue Dog Bakery for breakfast.

Literally nothing in Louisville is more than 15 minutes away.

If you like baseball, the Louisville Slugger tour is interesting.