A hotel isn't usually the first place we look for cutting-edge contemporary artwork, but 21c is not your average inn. The Louisville, Kentucky hotel uses original art throughout the building and guest rooms. There's lots to be learned from the way they integrate art and interior design.

I have some friends in Los Angeles who I've been telling to come visit for a while now. They keep saying they're coming but they haven't shown up yet. Now that their own hometown newspaper is telling them how great Louisville is though I expect to see visitors' itineraries in my inbox any day now.

We had come partly to see the well-regarded 32nd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at of Louisville. Because I'm an Ohioan - Cincinnati - who was born in Louisville, I wanted to find out what was happening downriver along the Ohio.

Overall, I discovered an intriguing, funky scene and a good-humored, pop-culture-savvy populace . . . plus more. Louisville has an avant-garde, contemporary-art edge. In 2003, the city and county governments merged, increasing Louisville's population to 694,000 from 256,000. Now there seems to be a fresh, invigorating self-image - the "Possibility City," it calls itself.

I'm going back to Louisville for the 7th annual Kentucky Art Car Weekend (Friday and Saturday), sponsored by the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and featuring a parade of hand-decorated vehicles, among other events. The Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center, a partly open-air converted meatpacking plant, will turn into a drive-in theater for one night and host a party on another.

Beyond this week's Art Car event, I also hope to make it here from Sept. 25 to 27 for IdeaFestival, now in its ninth year and offering presentations by creative thinkers and problem solvers from around the world. And maybe again Nov. 21 to 23, when the Mellwood hosts its third annual Good Folk Festival, featuring outsider visual artists and "primitive" musicians such as Daniel Johnston.

And who knows what other festivals, cool events and art installations will be revving up in 2009? In Louisville today, anything seems possible.

Earlier this week at its regional conference in Knoxville, Tenn., the American Water Works Association named Louisville's water the best-tasting in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Louisville Water Co. won the national title earlier this summer at the national AWWA conference in Atlanta.

With high fuel prices affecting summer travel plans, many people are considering vacation destinations closer to home.

May I suggest America's whiskey country?

I visit the area primarily because of the whiskey distilleries, but there is a lot more there to enjoy. Louisville has long styled itself the Gateway to the South. The area has much history and a unique regional culture.

Although whiskey has been one of Kentucky's main products since the 18th century, local boosters have only recently recognized its tourism potential. The Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau has just launched the Urban Bourbon Trail to complement the Kentucky Bourbon Trail recently created by the Kentucky Distiller's Association and Kentucky Department of Tourism. They're both following the lead of the Distilled Spirits Council and its American Whiskey Trail.

The purchase of Wayside Christian Mission's properties will be a catalyst for East Market Street to coalesce into a destination for Louisville's emerging creative class -- a hub for the arts, cuisine, locally produced food, the green building movement, commerce and retail.

That's the quickly evolving vision of the main investors involved in recasting East Market Street's art galleries and restaurants district as a larger zone dubbed "NuLu."

Those investors, in several partnerships, include Los Angeles-based actor and Louisville native William Mapother, contractor Tim Peters and filmmaker Gill Holland and his wife, Augusta BrownHolland.

With the pending purchase of the Wayside property 10 buildings total from 800 E. Market through 820 E. Market  all of the pieces of a dramatic redevelopment puzzle are now on the table, waiting to be assembled, Holland said.

a city reshaping itself around the arts.

Of the 5,453 hospitals evaluated for the 2008 report, 170 received scores high enough to qualify for rankings in the 16 specialty areas. Also ranked were the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital in Lexington and St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Covington.

Jewish Hospital was ranked among the best in heart and heart surgery; neurology and neurosurgery; and respiratory disorders. This is the fourth year in a row for heart care, three years in a row for respiratory disorders and second year for neurology/neurosurgery.

GLI will be hosting their 2008 "Louisville Reunion" event on July 24 from 6 - 8:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Tampa Hotel International Plaza. Louisville Reunions invite guests with a relationship to Louisville - such as attending school in the area, working here previously or having locally-based friends and family - to a free reception to reconnect with other former Louisvillians, meet new "friends of Lou" and find out what is happening in "Possibility City."

Reunion guests will be treated to an evening of complimentary hors d'oeuvres, libations and a distinctive networking opportunity. Leaders from Metro Government, the regional business community and GLI will be in attendance to welcome guests and provide insight into our community's outstanding quality of life and affordable cost of living as well as updates on job opportunities.

In addition, those attending will be eligible to win Louisville-themed prizes such as tickets to the 2008 Ryder Cup being played at Valhalla and the 2009 Kentucky Derby. Invitees are welcome to bring along friends that may not even have a direct connection to Louisville.

Louisville, a hub for higher education, horse culture, and bourbon distillation since the 19th century, never quite hit bottom. But this independent-minded, even-keeled city on the Ohio River--it's not quite the South,not quite the North,and not quite the Mid-west--took a turn for the worse in the '70s and '80s,when locals fled town for the 'burbs and urban rot set in.

As luck would have it, though, back in the 1890s prescient city fathers hired landscape guru Frederick Law Olmsted's firm to design more than 1,500 acres' worth of urban parks. In 2005, longtime mayor Jerry Abramson announced ambitious plans to create 4,000 acres of new greenspace and link all city parks with a 100-mile walk-and-bike trail. To date, 23 miles of the Louisville Loop have been completed, winding through woodsy, historic neighborhoods dating back 150 years. The cyclist mayor has also added 40 miles of bike lanes to city streets and required that all new roads be built with designated lanes. Downtown is rebounding with a vengeance, fueled by a surge in the local logistics business--UPS moved some of its operations here in the early '80s, and in the past decade more than 100 other companies have followed--and over $2.5 billion in new construction.

THE LIFE: Proof on Main, in the new 21c Museum Hotel, is the city's hippest address, with contemporary art on the walls and 50 Kentucky-made bourbons on the menu. Located almost entirely within city limits--who knew?--6,200-acre Jefferson Memorial Forest offers easy access hiking, fishing, camping, and horseback trails.

Demonstrating their intent to lead the commercial sector in green initiatives, Hosting.Com, a web hosting and co-location services company, is purchasing 208 Green Energy blocks - 1,000 kilowatt hours each - monthly for the next 12 months. To put that in perspective, that is equivalent to planting approximately 1,310 acres of trees, or removing 304 cars from the road.

Nationally, data centers consume up to 1.5 percent of all energy consumption. "We believe it is our social and business responsibility to offset our carbon emissions. Our industry is one that must take a close look at its energy consumption and the impact it will have on the environment," said Darren King, CEO of Hosting.Com.

King added, "We hope to set the industry standard on environmental stewardship. To that end, we have built one of the greenest data centers in the country, virtualized our server environments to optimize usage and output, and set up a program to reimburse all employees that participate in such programs."