Road Trip

We just returned from a road trip to Kentucky...Lexington, Kentucky, the center of the Universe for Thoroughbred Horses...really any kind of Horse. Horse Heaven and the birthplace of Kentucky Bourbon.

It was a grueling 8 hour drive. Neither of us had been to Kentucky or West Virginia so it was a chance to see the countryside so to speak.

I am sorry, but West Virginia is a scary place. Coal Mining, Gas Refineries, Factories making unknown things...smokestacks spewing fire; we did not even want to stop for any reason. It's hilly and there were at least three if not four toll booth stops at a Buck Twenty five each; plus they had a couple of very long tunnels that cut right through the mountains at a couple of locations. The real fun part of West Virgina though is racing with the eighteen wheelers up and down the hills....NOT!

Kentucky is a whole other story...it was weird but as soon as the sign said Welcome to Kentucky, it seemed the environment and entire surroundings changed.

Lexington is a surprisingly cool city. Home to the University of Kentucky Wildcats and Rupp Arena where Kentucky has won more basketball games than any other college team in America. Triangle Park in front of Lexington Center has a really neat water fountain...in fact, there were numerous water fountains in the downtown area. While the downtown was a nice mix of tall modern buildings and historic homes, the outskirts of Lexington is what will blow your mind. Bluegrass galore and multi-million dollar Horse properties...one after another of HUGE mansions, "gated" drives and horse fences as far as the eye can see. One Horse Farm it took us a good twenty minutes of driving to just get to the other side of the Farm....BIG horse barns with skylights...tons of money and hundreds of beautiful pure bred horses...unbelievable. I think Joy thought she died and went to Heaven.

Equestrian fans from all over the world come to Lexington to see horses, buy horses and watch horses race...it is truly an international scene. The Bluegrass just enhances the beauty of the area...no wonder horses like it here! Joy spent the day on Monday at Keeneland Racetrack watching the trainers exercise the horses while I interviewed for a potential job. I am glad she was able to come along and see Lexington...we'll see what comes of the job--it certainly would be an interesting place to live. We are thinking of opening a Bed and Breakfast...that might be a great idea...catering to the Basketball fans and the Horse fans.

Piece of Horse trivia...Man O'War one of the biggest and most successful thoroughbred race horses of all time had a stride of 28 feet...wrap your head around that one. He is buried in Lexington, Kentucky.