Lev Lazinskiy

Frankfort Kentucky

Trip Dates

December 29 – 30 2016

How We Got There

I was visiting my family in Ohio for the New Year, and my brother drove me down to Frankfort which is roughly 90 minutes away from his house in Liberty Township, OH.

Driving Through Kentucky from Lev Lazinskiy on Vimeo.

How We Got Around

I was lucky enough to have my brother with me so we mostly drove around to various places in his car.

Where We Stayed

Frankfort is a pretty small town without a whole lot of options when it comes to accommodations. We stayed at the modest Fairfield Inn which was about 4 miles outside of downtown Frankfort.

What We Did

We showed up in the frigid and empty downtown Frankfort in the late afternoon on Thursday and grabbed lunch at a Mexican restaurant downtown. The food was delicious and the server kept it authentic by calling me and my brother his amigos. Afterwards we stopped by a local coffee shop and book store around the corner. We then checked in to our hotel and returned downtown to walk around. We took a bunch of pictures of some neat old buildings. Downtown Frankfort has an abundance of churches, banks, and law offices, but not much else.

Once the sun went down we drove over to Buffalo Trace Distillery and checked out their holiday light show. We were lucky enough to be able to squeeze our way into the ghost tour without making prior reservations. The tour was nice, and we ended up walking away with $200 worth of liquor. We grabbed a late dinner at a chain Italian restaurant and then called it a night.

The next day we got breakfast at Rick’s white light diner which served some of the best beignets that I have had since I went to New Orleans a few years ago. We then visit the Capitol City Museum, Kentucky history museum, and the Kentucky state capitol. We grabbed lunch downtown and made one last stop at a covered bridge before heading back to Ohio.

What Was The Fuss?

Frankfort is a sleepy town that most people drive past. Nestled in between Louisville and Lexington, which are both far larger cities, it is clear that Frankfort does not attract a significant chunk of the tourism industry. Frankfort is the type of place that you have to visit deliberately since it is so far out of the way from any major airport.

Despite being off of the map, it is definitely a place worth visiting. The people are terrific, the rolling hills of Kentucky are beautiful, and every where you turn in the city there is a sign detailing the historical significance of a house, road, or piece of land. Kentucky has always been an important state in the history and development of the United States and played an especially interesting role during the Civil War. It was great to learn about the history of the city and the state and I only regret that I have lived so close to Frankfort for so long without ever visiting before.