In addition to being Mother’s Day on Sunday, this weekend in our part of the country was Derby weekend. The Kentucky Derby is known as the greatest two minutes in sports, or at least, that was the title of the paper I wrote about the history of the Derby in 4th grade. Both of my parents worked as pari-mutuel clerks, and my mother still does. These are the people who take your bets at the track, assuming you go to the track (which fewer and fewer people do) and you place your bet with a person and not a machine. So, I grew up knowing horse racing some and going to a track–Turfway Park–on a regular basis. An uncle of ours who lives in Paris, Kentucky, knew some folks at Claiborne Farms, and we got to see, touch and get our pictures taken with Secretariat, the world’s greatest athlete, before he died. Pretty exciting.
With all that history, you’d think I would have been to the Derby at least once, but, sadly, no. Add it to the long list of things I’ve always wanted to do but just haven’t gotten around to. This Saturday, my husband and I did get to Louisville, but on Friday (Kentucky Oaks day, which is the race for the fillies–girl horses) instead of Saturday. We were far from the track, but we still saw ladies in their Derby hats and at Molly Malone’s, some guys checking out the racing form and planning their bets. They were chatting with a guy from Boston in town for the Derby.
On the way back home to Madison, I-71 ground to a complete halt. “Should we get off at this exit?” my husband asked, and as I was thinking about it as he pulled off on the Crestwood/PeeWee Valley exit. Now, I have a pretty good sense of direction in a car. My husband claims he can navigate perfectly when on foot. He’s certainly quite adept at finding his way around London, but he generally trusts me when we’re driving. I knew that a road called 42 runs about parallel to the interstate on the north side–it’s how folks used to get from Louisville to Northern Kentucky before the interstate. So, if we could find a road that cut north/south, we could get to 42.
Well, no big surprise, we got a little lost, and you can read the rest of the story at my answer to this week’s hop. But in celebration of our adventure, I thought this weeks’ Blog In Place Hop should be about getting lost. So this week’s question is, where’s the best place you’ve ever gotten lost?
Blog In Place is a weekly meme hosted by You Think Too Much which asks bloggers to tell us about the places they live. Everyone is welcome to join, but please link back to You Think Too Much on your own Blog In Place post and fill out the Linky List below.
Instructions for entering the Blog In Place blog hop:
1. Grab the code for the button:
Nice post! I remember driving aimlessly through the countryside surrounding Louisville when my husband was teaching there for a semester and it was really, really lovely. I liked the drive between Louisville and Bardstown especially.
Is Claiborne Farms also the home of Man o' War? That name seems familiar from when I was reading the Walter Farley book about Man o' War (who would have given Secretariat a run for his money). But I'm really jealous you got to meet Secretariat!
Some years ago we made it to the Maze at Hampton Court toward the end of the day. There weren't many people there–all the tour buses had left–and in the Maze was one couple with their waist-high daughter. This is the Maze that Henry VIII used to chase Anne Bolyn and we could see how difficult the chase might have been because we passed this family many times. My husband got grouchy because he could see us getting very late to our hotel in Stratford-on-Avon, but I remember it as fun to be lost in the Maze at Hampton Court late in the afternoon with the dungeons near-by. I would join your Blog in Place but I have no idea how to do it. Sounds much like Henry the VIII's Maze.
Hi, Robyn. I'm coming by from She Writes. Nice blog. I'm following you now. I can get lost anywhere. Believe it or not I got lost in my own development when I was growing up. In my defense the develop was a series of loops and dead ends. The best place I've ever been lost was in the underground caves in Aruba. Scary and fun at the same time. Also, there were no street signs in Aruba, so we got lost every time we went out.
Emily, I'm not sure if Claiborne is where Man O'War was. Good chance. They bred a lot of famous thoroughbreds there. I'm partial to it, but, yes, I think this part of the world is quite beautiful.
JeanK, great story about the maze. That does sound like a fun place to get lost. I wonder if I would start to feel claustrophobic there.
Kelly, being lost in an underground cave would definitely make me claustrophobic. Thanks for following.