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Published: June 30th 2019
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Mary Todd Lincoln HouseDay 2 – mileage 271 - Ashland – Louisville Kentucky
We started the day early and the weather was good after the evening thunderstorms that went on forever. We loved the countryside. It consisted of green rolling hills, blue sky, and no traffic. It was truly peaceful. Our first stop was Lexington Kentucky. As we drove into town, we saw the many stately old homes. We stopped at the Mary Todd Lincoln house. As we were making pictures, we met a family with a 7-year-old daughter. Her goal was to visit all the president’s wife’s houses. She had a pinwheel of pictures and information for all the spouses. Our next stop was the Dixie Cup water tower. On the way we were on Hwy 421. It seems so weird to be on a highway many states away. Claire’s house is only ¼ mile from it in Carolina Beach.
From there we had our first WIN. Our next stop was Keeneland horse track. As we headed there, we saw the lovely green pastures which had the white fences. This was truly horse country. We drove miles and miles just seeing these pastures. We arrived at the track just hoping we
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Dixie Cup water tower might be able to see it and grab a couple of pictures. We first hit the store to get postcards for the grand-kids then we started wandering. As we were walking thru the gate to the track, Mike approached us. He had a badge on and asked us if we had questions… He became our personal guide. He told us about both the filming of Sea Biscuit and Secretariat. We can’t wait to watch the movies again and see the scenes. Mike then took us to the winner’s circle and told us all about it and explained that the jockey, weights and saddle all have to weigh 126 pounds. The jockeys weigh-in beforehand and after the race. The total weight can’t change by more than 1 pound (for sweet) during the race. He then took us up to the enclosed viewing areas. From here, you could see the entire track from above. The track has an outer track that is dirt and an interior track that is grass. He explained the poles along the route and much more information. He also showed us the corporate box area and the area where the owners eat and party. From there he took
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pastures with the fence us to the horse sale and auction area. Keeneland sells more horses than any other place in the world. They make 5%!o(MISSING)f the sell and routinely have horses that sell for more than $1 million dollars but last year one sold for over $8 million. The buyers are from around the world and you can buy a seat or series of seats for the auction. The Sheik of Dubai has an entire row. The auction is September 9
th. The one thing we loved the most about this place is everything is open to the public. To get into the track $5, do you want to go to the auction, no problem (you don’t have an interior seat, but you can sit in the bleachers), do you want to see the horses in the barn, no problem… it was so open, and it was refreshing.
Mike gave us all kinds of information, not only for the track but for things to do around the area. He told us about the barns, which we did visit, about the castle that was not far from the track and about the beautiful country roads to drive.
The castle was interesting but,
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The entry way for Secretariat.
there was a private event, so we could not get close nor take close up pictures. The country drive was wonderful. We saw the farms, the manicured pastures enclosed within white picket fences, where the major horse owners keep and raise their horses. Their barns are nicer than any of our homes.
We headed back into Lexington to find the big bronze cat but that wasn’t too exciting and then we headed onto Frankfort, the capital. We saw the capitol building, one of the most beautiful in the country, along with the floral clock which was beside it. We then headed to see Daniel Boone’s grave. Our next stop was the Vietnam Vets giant sundial. Pam and Claire did steps around it while waiting for the sun to get out from behind a cloud. We then drove through the historic district. We liked Frankfort too.
We left Frankfort and headed to Louisville. On the way we made a side trip to visit the world’s largest sausage – this was a loser. It was not exciting. As we arrived in Louisville, we stopped by the hotel and checked in. This is a big lose but more about this later.
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Mike our guide We changed clothes and freshened up and then headed into Louisville. We had lots of stops in Louisville to see unique items, like the large sunglasses, large bat, 30 foot tall golden David, large troll, largest vampire bat,… These items were all unique. The large clasping stone hands – loser – they aren’t there???
But our big win was Churchill Downs. Again, we drove in thinking we were going to get a picture from the outside. We hopped out of the van and headed to the front and noticed the gate was open and people were inside, we walked on in. We saw an area where a few people were and walked over to it. The jockeys were waking the horses around a small track, warming them up. Then all of the jockeys got on and paraded around the paddock area for the people wishing to bet. That’s when the “first call” bugle signal rang out that the race is about to start. We went what?? So, we turned and followed the crowd into the grandstand as fast as we could to find a seat for the race. “Yes, we were at Churchill Downs and we were going to
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The sisters in the winner's circle see a real horse race for free, no time to bet”. We found a seat and then the race started. You could see the race on the screen and Pam video’d it. Claire tried to get her camera to do continuous pictures - it didn’t work well. This was so exciting. We figured that they just opened the gate before the last couple of races and let anyone in, like us. There was one more race afterwards, but we had places to go and it was 95 degrees so we didn’t hang around.
It took us a while to find a dinner place downtown, but we succeeded with a nice seafood restaurant. We then headed to the river to see the bridge lights at night. Stephanie, the pedestrian bridge was a great view and wonderful colors, but the other bridges were dark. That part was disappointing. We all wanted to walk the pedestrian bridge, but we held back because of Susan. I know she had really wanted to do it. We then, headed back to the hotel.
So, this hotel. It’s a Staybridge suites a Holiday Inn type of property. I’m not sure if we have ever stayed
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The track from up above at one before, but IHG has a promotion going on to stay at different varieties and get lots of extra points (and we like points). So, we first got there and wanted to wash our hands, no soap. I found the maid “oh we don’t have any bars of soap”. What?? “I can give you a thing of conditioner”. What?? That is not going to help. “Can I at least get some of the bath gel?” “Oh, let me see if I can go find some…” The bathroom (toilet area) is so small. The door misses the toilet by less than a ¼ of an inch. You must stand as close as possible by the tub to close the door. The vanity sink is so slow draining that it almost fills up while you brush your teeth. But the worst was – Claire was going to sleep on the pull-out bed. She made it up but there was no blanket. She tried to call down to the front desk, but the phone had problems – it fell apart. The cord keeps separating from the phone. I finally get it to work and called down. The front desk lady said she
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Susan and Pam listening to Mike would bring up a blanket in just a minute. 20 minutes later, I call down again, no answer. 5 minutes later, I call again, no answer. Pam then calls 5 minutes later on the “outside line” and no answer. We never got a blanket. We had to separate the duvet into pieces so that we could share. There were several other problems as well, but we won’t go into them. Needless to say, this was the biggest loser of the day. I will let IHG know all the details and that I’m not happy with this brand at all. It was definitely a waste of money…
The winners of the day outweighed the losers by far.
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