Kentucky - Part Two

Saturday and Sunday we had tickets for the races at Keeneland, probably the most beautiful horse track in America.  Every Saturday during race meets Keeneland has Sunrise Trackside, an experience not to be missed.  Fans are invited to watch early morning workouts, eat breakfast with the jockeys and the trainers, tour the facility and get an up close and personal view of the horses.  Even though it was literally freezing cold we had a great time.  Keeneland Kids Club was set up inside where the kids could meet the mascot Buckles, play pin the ribbon on the horse or dress up in jockey silks.

The Budweiser Clydesdales were making an appearance on Saturday.  We had a photo op with one of them that morning. 

Also available for photo-ops is the official bugler of Keeneland, Bucky.  He announces each race with a blast of his bugle.  

Keeneland hosts races twice a year, in the fall and in the spring, but what it is most noted for is it's sales center.  Top tier horses are auctioned here for mind boggling amounts of money.  The auction house and extensive barns are open for visitors to wander through at their leisure.  Ryan and Tessa watched this beautiful horse, Lilly, get her bath before the races started.

The first post time was 1:05pm but the bars opened at 11am.  They serve a drink here called the Keeneland Breeze which is made of Maker's Mark bourbon, Cointreau orange liquor and Ginger Ale.  It was unbelievably good.  We ate lunch and pored over our betting guides.  By the first race we were all feeling very good and very lucky.  Of course, for each gray horse we spotted we placed a $2 bet in honor of Nanny.  True to form, the gray horses did not run well but we smiled every time we bet for her.  Tessa was remarkably good at picking winners and absolutely loved the excitement of the races.  While it was fairly quiet in the stands before the first race, by the time the ninth race rolled around, the place was jam packed.      

The Coolmore Stakes was the big race of the day with a winning purse of $200,000.  The appropriately named winner, Winning Cause, was one of the many horses that won us money.  I was disappointed when his trainer later decided not to enter him in the Derby, that would have been cool.  During the previous week, Keeneland had hosted the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes which sent its three top finishers, Java's War, Palace Malice and Charming Kitten to the Derby.  After the races we celebrated my mom's birthday with a fantastic steak dinner.  She said the whole day was a great birthday present. 

On Sunday, we had tickets for the Phoenix Room a lovely dining room overlooking the paddock.  After the excitement and the crowd yesterday, it was nice to be inside at a comfortable table.  Lunch was served buffet style before and during the races and our waiter kept us stocked in wine and drinks.

 

This is my mom's favorite room and I can see why.  Before each race the horses are walked around the paddock.  It's a great time to observe a horse and speculate on how he or she will run.  Jockeys then mount up and head through the tunnel to the track.  This leaves just enough time to place a bet at one of the private betting stations set up just for the diners in this room.  For those of us that still like to see the race live, there is a balcony viewing area.  No surprise Tessa wanted the excitement of watching from the balcony.

Here she is having collected her money from one of her many winning bets.  You can see we were playing with big money, wink, wink.  At the end of the weekend we did come out ahead which is a little bit amazing.  There is a method to the madness of how we pick horses, but mostly it just comes down to luck.  We shopped in the Keeneland store and spent all of our winnings plus more.  Because this is such a ritzy racetrack the shop is pretty fabulous.        

Gampa and Daddy had to leave Sunday night to be back at work on Monday.  But we three girls stayed one more day.  On Monday we visited Nanny's grave again.  It was a beautiful day and we spent time looking at the graves of our many relatives buried there.  Tessa waited patiently, seating herself on Grandpa's foot stone and reading a book.  Being an avid reader his ownself, he would have loved that.  We visited other cemeteries where different relatives are buried.  Then we drove out to the Woodford Reserve Distillery.  If you are going to take your daughter to gamble, you might as well take her to a distillery too.     

Making bourbon is an interesting process of distilling corn into moonshine and then aging it in burned barrels.  I know it doesn't sound appetizing, but the end result is delicious.  The tour guide credits the Kentucky limestone water as the key ingredient.  As luck would have it, we toured the warehouse on a day when they were uncorking barrels to be bottled.  Back at the gift shop we were encouraged to taste the bourbon and sample candies made with bourbon.  We bought both a bottle and boxes of chocolates to take home.              

It was time to for us to return to South Carolina.  While definitely an unconventional way to have a funeral, it was perfect for our family.  Nanny may be buried in her Old Kentucky Home, but we all know that she is really in Heaven along with Grandpa, Nannan, Papa and other loved ones.   

Kentucky Part One

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Nanny passed away.  She was here with us in Greenville but our family does not do funerals.  Instead we traveled to Nanny's hometown in the heart of the Kentucky Bluegrass.  She is now buried there between the father she adored and my grandpa, her loving husband of 58 years.  No matter how many places she lived in her life, Kentucky was always her home.  So, in her honor, we toured the horse country and bet on the horses for her.  I think she would have loved that.  Our first stop was Berea, the town where my grandparents were married all those years ago.

We ate lunch at the Boone Tavern and then walked the small town and college campus.  It's a very artsy town with shops full of mountain crafts.   

The tulips were absolutely gorgeous, I have never seen such beautiful bulbs.  The redbuds and the dogwoods were blooming too.      

The next day we took a tour of some of the local horse farms.  Kentucky is world renowned for its thoroughbred horses and is one of the top breeding places in the world.  People pay thousands and thousands of dollars in stud fees for the horses we saw.  And, this may be too much info but I found it interesting, there is no artificial insemination or in-vitro in the thoroughbred world.  That means, horses travel from all over the world to physically visit breeding barns like this one.

Our tour guide is a native, a trainer and a horse owner so he could answer any of our questions about horses.  All of the barns were clean and immaculately kept.  These are some prize animals.  This is Henny Hughes, a descendant of Secretariat and a former Triple Crown contender.  His first year in retirement his stud fees were $40,000!   

We were lucky enough to be there during foaling season.  Many of the mares had already delivered and we were able to see them out in the pastures with their babies.  Kentucky is ideally suited for horses with mild weather and miles and miles of pastureland.  It's claim to fame is the limestone water and mineral rich Kentucky bluegrass.  The typical diet of a racehorse is mostly only those two things.      

One of the farms we stopped at encouraged us to pet the horses and really interact with them.  Nanny was always fond of the grays and would consistently bet on them.  She would have loved this horse.   

Tessa loved the foals.  This little guy is only a couple of weeks old.  The farm manager we talked with hadn't slept in days because he had so many horses foaling.  But he only had one pregnant mare left so he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We may well have seen some future champions.

Our tour included drive bys of movie scenes.  This farm, Donamire, is featured in the movie "Dreamer" a heartwarming horse film with Kurt Russell.   

The next day we went to the Kentucky Horse Park, a park devoted to all kinds of horses, not just thoroughbreds.  They host lots of events including Rolex, a huge cross country hunter jumper event.

We were there on a quiet day and, because the weather turned cold, we had the park mostly to ourselves.  Tessa could not wait to ride.  We visited the Children's Barn where kids learned about caring for horses, including how to groom one.  We also took a horse drawn tour of the park and learned more of its history.     

One of the great features of the Kentucky Horse Park, is the Hall of Champions.  We were up close and personal with some celebrities of the horse world including Cigar, Da Hoss, Funny Cide and Go For Gin. 

Even though my mom had lived here and I had visited before it was great to be a tourist, we both learned a lot about the horse business.    

Karaoke

Oh my goodness did we have a fun Sunday School social.  We catered in dinner and did Karaoke.  It was hysterical.  Most of our group can sing, and sing well actually.  And those of us that can't were belting it out like we could.  Ryan and I did a song from Grease, "You're the One That I Want."  You can almost hear me singing oooh, oooh, oooh HONEY! 

As a group, the girls did "I Will Survive."  A song which I did not know nearly as many words as I thought I did.

Most people took a turn with the mike and we all had some good laughs.  It ranged from Elvis, to show tunes to old country.  We hated to call it a night after so much fun but we didn't want our babysitter to think we had abandoned her. 

Aunt Kristin & Kids

My friend Kristin brought her kids and came to visit us.  I am sure it's not easy flying with two kids but we are so glad they all came.  We did lots of fun things while she was here.  Our first trip was to the Atlanta Aquarium.  We had never been there before and it was awesome.  Practically the first thing we did was go to the dolphin show.  I love dolphins and this show was incredible.  

It was a little chaotic since it was spring break and March Madness was in town.  But we didn't lose anyone and the kids had a great time.  We saw all kinds of sea life including this Beluga whale, seahorses, jellyfish, and much much more.  We also got to pet sting rays in one of the touch tanks.  I didn't think we would ever get the kids away from that attraction. 

When Tessa's spring break was over, we took Kristin's kids to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day so we played at the park and had a picnic too.  

 I hadn't seen the baby giraffe, Kiko, yet so I was excited too.

On another day we rode the train at our local park.  The conductor couldn't believe I had never ridden before.  Well, I'm a girl mom.  Tessa would have liked it though, maybe sometime I will bring her.   

The kids played so well together.  With Ryan in France and Kristin around to help me with everything, I had plenty of time to relax even with two extra kids.  It's handy having a wife!

On Friday, we went to the Children's Museum.  Tessa has grown up so much since the last time we were here.  It was way more fun this time.  There was a craft station outside where they got to paint and make kites.  I think we explored every room with the farm always being a popular stop.    

Over the week-end we hiked Pearson Falls.  I say hike, it's really more of an easy walk but with three small kids that's perfect.  We've had so much rain this spring, everything was green and beautiful.

 

 

The kids played dress up, aren't they just adorable?!  

I love this picture, but it makes her Daddy groan when Tessa kisses boys.  She is such an affectionate kid.

We are so glad that our friends could make the trip and we were sad to see them go.  We are heading to Texas this summer so we will get to see them again soon.