Kentucky? Why?

When I told people that I was going on vacation to Kentucky, the most common response I got was, "Why??!!" But really there is so much to see and do there, it was so much fun!

The first day we were there we went to Keeneland Race Track. There were no races going on that day, but we got to watch the morning workouts. We got to see what the horses do to train and we got to talk to some of the trainers and jockeys.

They were so nice and would stop and chat with us for a minute as they rode by. We were practically the only ones there, so we got a lot of personal attention. My favorite part was when one of the riders rode by and said, "If I get bucked off this horse, I might need some CPR!" It was hilarious.

We made friends with this guy, Bob, who works at the racetrack. He was great and gave us all sorts of interesting information.

My cute little cousin, McKay, came with us to the workouts. He was so fun to play with and he loved watching the horses. Here we are outside the Keeneland gift shop. So one thing about Kentucky is the gift shops are either non-existent or completely lame. So needless to say I didn't get any good souvenirs.

The track and the property were just beautiful. I loved it!

We also went to the Kentucky Horse Park. It actually was kind of lame. But we did get to see Man O War's grave, which is like the Michael Jordan of horse racing. He only lost one race (to a horse named Upset, which is where the phrase upset came from) and many of his descendents went on to become great racehorses.

My favorite part about the horse park was that we snuck behind the barns and met some of the horse owners and trainers. One lady was so excited because she had just won her first blue ribbon. We saw them washing down the horses and feeding them and stuff, which was interesting.

Then we went on a tour of some of the local horse farms. This is where the horses are bred, raised, and trained. One of my favorite parts of the trip was just driving around amongst all the horse farms...they were amazingly beautiful.

I learned more about horse breeding than I thought I ever wanted to know. But seriously some of these horses really live in luxury. This is one of the barns we saw. I didn't even know it was a barn!

We got to see some of the famous racehorses, which was really cool.

And we got to see a lot of the baby horses. So cute!

This horse scale was in one of the barns we went to. The three of us standing on it didn't even make it move. Now that is my kind of scale!

We also visited the Louisville Slugger Factory and went on a tour of their production facilities. It was a really great tour. We got to see how they make the baseball bats and all the different kinds and stuff. Apparently a lot of the major league players custom order their bats from this place and so they make them differently for each player. We got to see some of the bats being made for some of those big name players. Pretty cool.

They also have a little museum where you can hold a piece of history! Here we are holding real bats used by the major league players in games. I'm holding Mickey Mantle's. The other ones I didn't recognize their names!

Here I am with the Babe. We also tried our swing at the batting cages and we got a little miniature Louisville Slugger bat to take home. It was great!

And then we got to the real reason for the trip...Churchill Downs, Home of the Kentucky Derby!!! We were so excited when we actually saw it.

We learned so much about the Derby and about racing in general. It was so great. There is a tunnel that goes underneath the race track that we drove through, and we got to see the media houses, the barns, and my favorite part...the jail! They have little jail houses there that they put the hooligans in until after the Derby is over and they can take them to the real jail.

We even saw the barns where Mine That Bird (winner of the Derby) and Rachel Alexandra (winner of the Preakness) were housed. We think we even saw Mine That Bird himself (he was sticking his head out of the barn!) Anyway, it was really cool.

We then had lunch at the Derby cafe and had the Kentucky Sampler so we could try all the local favorites.

And then the races began! It was so exciting. We got to see the horses being prepped to go out to the racetrack when the bugle sounded. We even saw the jockey who won the Derby and the Preakness and he waved at us. He rode in three races that day.

Emma picked the winning horse every time! She won $20. Anne won a whole 20 cents and I lost $4. I guess I don't know how to pick a winning horse.

This is when my camera died. At Churchill Downs of all places...it was so sad. But the races were really fun to watch.

The next day we went to a local Civil War site, Waveland Estate. We had the best tour guide I think I've ever had. She was great! Anyway, it was fun to see all this stuff that dated back to the war.

We also went to a Shaker Villiage. It was really interesting to learn about the Shakers and what they believed and how they lived. Apparently there are only 3 left now and they live in Maine. But this village was apparently thriving back in the day. It was a gorgeous property.

We learned all about woodworking, sewing, weaving, and broom making! Apparently the Shakers make the best brooms around that are supposed to last for 30 years. The trick is to make sure the broom can stand up on its own.

We met this crazy cooper who educated us about the difference between a pail and a bucket.

Here we are sweeping with our Shaker brooms and hats.

McKay wanted to be a Shaker too!

We got some Shaker pie at the village. It was pretty weird. It had whole lemon slices in it.

We saw the home where Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's wife was raised. And this is also where Abe stayed when they would come visit his wife's family. It unfortunately was closed so we didn't get to see the inside.

We really liked just driving around and looking at the beautiful countryside.

I thought this was hilarious! It was at one of the racetracks.

In honor of Memorial Day we decided to pay tribute to Daniel Boone's grave. He was apparently one of the key people in settling Kentucky. The cemetary had a gorgeous view of the capital city of Frankfort.

We also drive across the bridge to Indiana and had lunch there overlooking the river that separates the states. We saw the place where Lewis and Clark shook hands and started their exploration of the West.

We also saw the second largest clock in the world. (Big Ben is the largest.)

And what's a trip to Kentucky without paying tribute to the Colonel?

Anyway, so that is why I wanted to go to Kentucky. It was so much fun. We also hung out with my cousin Rachel and her family. It was really fun to see them. When she announced last year that she was moving to Kentucky I told her I would be coming to visit and to go to the races and see the sites. What a great trip!