July 24, 2015 (Kentucky, Indiana)

Day 3!

I needed the jaws of life to get all of these sleepy heads out of bed this morning. In their defense, Mae and Mr. Bullington didn't get home from the hospital until after midnight. Her toe was was glued shut and bandaged and she is on the mend! And, Nurse mommy will be changing dressings at regular intervals. It looks like Frankentoe right now so I hope her dreams of being a Birkenstock model aren't dashed.

Mile 359-So this morning we are touring Churchill Downs! Let me tell you how this played out. A few months ago I was at a party with my friend, Amanda Seals.  We were talking about the trip and when I told her we were going to Louisville she squealed and said, I know a guy, let me make a few calls. Two days later, I get a call from a gentleman named Thomas Buckman. He is Amanda's husband's childhood friend's dad (did you follow that?). He is retired from Ford and works at Churchill Downs. And, guess what?  He offered to give us a private tour! Flash forward a few months.....
We met him at Wagner's Pharmacy for breakfast. It has been there since 1922 serving breakfast and lunch to jockeys, trainers, sports writers and whoever else is hungry. There is memorabilia all over the walls, and I do love me some memorabilia.

After a yummy breakfast, we headed over to the barns to check out the horses.

Neigh, I say!

From there, we received the most thorough tour of Churchill Downs ever. We saw it all! I did my kiddos a favor and did not take the tour bedecked in a fabulous hat. But, one was procured as my souvenir from Louisville. Stay tuned until Easter.

Mr. Buckman is a Churchill Downs Encyclopedia. (That's like the Google if you're a younger friend)

Glass sculpture of Churchill Downs created by glass artist Craig Colquoun. Comprised of 4000 individually made pieces. It is 30ft long and 10ft wide. I've never seen anything like it. Picture doesn't do it justice.  It's also hard to see in the picture the beads of sweat dripping off the brows of Mr. and Mrs. Bullington as Thomakazi is less than 3 feet from priceless glass display.

In the Paddock

Thousanaires being posers

Between the Twin Spires

Mile 463.4- After 3 hours of indoctrination in all things equine, we headed to Schimpff's Confectionary. The nation's oldest candy factory operated continuously by the same family! Here is a little back story...Thomas makes friends on vacation. For the last two spring breaks he has "made friends" with this sweet family from Louisville. I got to know the mama, my now-friend Kelli. This past spring break, we got to talking about Louisville and she recommended this place. She obviously "gets" me.

The Schimpffs

Mr. Schimpff making lemon drops on 100+ year old cast iron turny candy gizmo. We got to taste them while they were still warm!

AND, MEMORABILIA! My Fav!

Mile 465- Louisville Slugger Bat Factory-Home of the Largest Bat IN THE WORLD! En route to the bat, the kids viewed a huge Man statue sans clothing with all his parts out there for e'rebody to see. The bat was kind of a let down after that. We toured the factory and got a wee-bat to take home! WEEE! Headed to Columbus.

So dern tall! Couldn't even fit it all in the picture!

Mile 521- The girls make Mr. Bullington eat a rotten egg jelly bean (that's a real thing) and I almost wet my pants.

Mile 537- When I was chatting up Mr. Schimpff at the confectionary, he told me all about this other place in Columbus, Indiana. It is called Zaharakos and has been serving up homemade ice cream and other soda fountain delicacies since 1900! There is a museum attached with quite a collection of old soda fountains and a 110 year old Welte Orchestrion, which is kind of hard to explain. It's like an organ, but it also involves other instruments like banjos and drums. I couldn't figure exactly how they worked, bellows? witchcraft? ball bearings? PFM chip?

I heard that this soda fountain was originally at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, but I couldn't find anyone to verify. 

How does that float your boat?

Mile 571- hour three of navigating the back roads of Indiana on our way to Indianapolis.
There was a serious tractor trailer accident on I-65 that shut it down for the day because they had to re-pave part of it!  We got an insider tip from a friendly police officer who described the traffic situation as a "goat bang". I am totally stealing that.  Mr. Bullington LOVES traffic! He is pleased as punch to be stuck in this car with all these punch-drunk ice cream hungover kids!

Mile 620- Indianapolis, I throw myself across your city limits with defeat in my heart, a twitch in my eye, and a snarl on my lips. That was a harrowing 3+ hour tour with 3 frenzied children. I am reflecting on a mid-afternoon snack of ice-cream after lunch at the candy store as being a slight lapse in judgement.

Photographic evidence of Thomas the extrovert. This was minute #2 of us being in the hotel lobby. He started shooting the big boys with his mini-Louisville Slugger bat and they started shooting back with their fingers. He did a combat roll behind a fern.
Ice broken. 

Watching baseball from the room.

Note to self: next year pack a candle. The smell of feet in this hotel room is scorching my nose-hairs. Keens are both a blessing and a curse and I will just have to breathe through my mouth and spit often
during the teenage years. That is all.