Last Updated: August 6, 2026
Louisville sits on the Ohio River and is the largest city in Kentucky. It was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and named after King Louis XVI of France, in thanks for French support during the Revolution. It exists because of the Falls of the Ohio — a two-mile run of rapids that was the only major obstruction on the whole river between Pittsburgh and the Gulf of Mexico. Everything going downstream had to stop and portage, and a settlement grew up around the interruption. That is Louisville.
Kentucky offers something for everyone: outdoor recreation, caves, lakes, state parks and the Appalachian Mountains, plus a heritage built on horses, bourbon and moonshine. For me it is also personal. I did my anesthesiology residency in Louisville and stayed on for a year as an associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Louisville, teaching mostly cardiothoracic anesthesia and pain medicine. I miss the place and the people I met there. In the end the weather is what moved me to San Diego — but Louisville will always have a piece of me.
