Louisville, Kentucky

Before I go and update you on our trip to Louisville, Karl wanted to make sure that everyone saw that he and Cody finally finished the milk house painting. Well, Karl supervised and Cody sprayed and sprayed and sprayed! Not only do we have a white milk house, but we also have white grass, white weeds and white trees. We did have good time with Cody and it was a good time surprising him when his dad showed up for the weekend.

Now for Louisville (or as it is pronounced Lou-a-vul). We went to attend the Blue Knights Intenational convention where Karl is the West Coast chairman. For those who have no idea who the Blue Knights are, we are a Law Enforcement motorcycle club with world wide members. Every year there is an international convention held somewhere in the US that we usually ride our motorcycle to. This year we didn't have the time so we ended up flying. We arrived on July 19 at midnight after a 3 hour delay in St. Louis. When we arrived at our hotel we were informed that we didn't have a room reserved. Fortunately they weren't booked up and we got our room and crawled into bed around 1am. Karl had to be up to attend meetings starting at 9am for the whole day. Since most of the guys were in meetings that day the hosting chapter gave the women a pamper day including manis, pedis, massages, facials and make-overs. It was rather restful (for me at least!) Finally at 5:30 Karl is done with his meeetings. We end up going to dinner, a little social time and fall into bed around 10pm. The next morning we didn't wake up until 930am! I guess we were tired. Since Karl didn't have any more meetings we decided to do some sightseeing. But first we had to straighten out our room problem. Come to find out the hotel cancelled us since our reservations were made by International and they thought we were arriving on Sat instead of Sun. It was soon corrected.


Our first day we went to Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. It was a very intersting 4 hours! Did you know that the Kentucky Derby has been running continuously at Churchill Downs for the last 135 years? There are only 6 horses actually buried on the grounds - the newest one is Barbaro where he is buried under his statue at the entrance of the park. When they are buried the only parts saved for burial are the head, heart and hooves. In 2009 there was $30 million spent on bets and it is a CASH ONLY wagering system. Can you imagine setting down $10,000 in cash for a wager? Think you would like to go to the Kentucky Derby one day? For hotel reservations think two years in advance. For seating think $40 for infield standing (bring your own chair). Want to spend a little more? Bleachers are $100 per seat. Want more? A box, which holds six seats are in a very nice location, but each seat costs $150 and you MUST buy all six seats. Want millionaire's row? Fuggetaboutit. If you have to ask you can't afford it. Last year over 120,ooo attended the races (13 in all, of which #12 is the Derby). When you take the tour of the facilities you see the 135 winners all posted around the paddocks and you see most are in white, but some are in gold - those are the Triple Crown winners. Another intersting fact - of the 135 winners of the KD, 122 were born in Kentucky (they think it's in the water). Even 2009 winner, Mine That Bird, who hails from New Mexico (Yay!) was born in Lexington, Kentucky. Now, the day before the derby they have another derby called The Kentucky Oaks that draws about 100,000 people. Then after that derby is run the grounds crew has only 11 hours to redo EVERYTHING before the KD. That means new landscaping, new flowers (from tulips to roses), seating cleaned, restocking concessions stands, grooming the track, etc.

For more photos click on link under PHOTOS.

Our next stop was the Louisville Slugger Museum. Later!