Louisville Day One

Today my friend A and I left for our conference in Louisville, KY. We had to get up at 4 to get to the airport in time, but we made it with plenty of time and our flight left on time. We were lucky that we flew Delta. Not only were our tickets super cheap, but we avoided that mess with American Airlines.
When we arrived in Louisville, after a short layover in Cincinnati, we rented a car for the day to go down to Mammoth Caves. We had a great time. The caves are huge and in order to get down in them we had to descend 350 stairs, some of which you could see many feet below you. It was quite the workout and we were down there for 2 hours. I wish we could have gone on the lantern tour, but it was sold out, as was the tour of the historic town inside the cave! We asked lots of nerdy questions about archaeology and preservation because we are that kind of people. It was nice to be the one asking the questions though instead of receiving them. I also asked about my relative who is created as the first European to discover the caves, John Houchin. I was a little disappointed because they didn't say a lot on the tour or when I asked and they didn't have any books for sale about him in the tiny gift shop. I will have to see if I can find something around town.
After the caves we arrived at our hotel exhausted from the early hours and walking, so we took a nap. Two hours later we finally willed ourselves out of bed and went to a pizza and pasta place a few blocks down. The food was awesome and the price was cheap. We split a calzone and a salad and we still had some left over.
On our walk down we noticed lots of older buildings in the area that have been rehabilitated or renovated. We also saw a movie palace that had been beautifully restored that I sat and drooled over for awhile. (I will post pics when I get home since I didn't bring my cord for the camera.) So far we have been really impressed with the city, and I can't wait until we can explore more of it in the daylight.
The only downside to our trip is that tomorrow our two other roommates show up and it will be crowded in our room. Our room has two double beds, so we are going to be nice and cozy at night. Hope no one snores or kicks.