they're offfffffffffff

Well they weren't when we were there, but we did have a nice time! And Vovo Betty I was looking everywhere we went in Louisville for that ring ~ sorry but I didn't find it!

The other tour we did when we were in the Louisville area was Churchill Downs ~ seems if you're in the area you've got to do this tour as well as the Louisville Slugger factory tour. Of the two, well Slugger was more interesting to me, but that's because I don't really have a clue about horses or horse racing. On top of that the tour we did at Churchill well it was "interesting" but was a bit rushed and I didn't get the pictures I had hoped for...

The first photo here is the "twin spires" (which I guess are landmarks in Louisville and a big deal in the racing (???) circuit?) photo taken from the van we were in for the tour from the opposite (seriously!!) side of the track.

The photo just above is a shot of two horses in their stables ~ these guys are the ones that lead the race horses out to the starting gate. Speaking of starting gate........ UGH, the ONE photo I wanted was a shot of a starting gate - we did go by the gates while we were in the van doing the tour and I asked the guide if we could get out and take photos - I was told we would on the return ~ well do you see a shot of starting gates .... ummmmmmmmm NO, well the tour was "running late" so we never stopped on the "flip side" ...

Above is a shot of a poster that was posted throughout the property which I DID find interesting about shoes for those horses ... I don't understand the poster but it IS about horse shoes - also we did pass a farrier on the tour, and he stated he had shod (??) four horses that morning. According to our tour "guide" a horse at Churchill gets new shoes about once a month (so seriously, does that make them Imelda Marcos of the equine community?)

One of the things that truly struck me about this property was the beauty of the grounds. Gorgeous flowers and gardens all around - even outside some of the stables the owners (I guess it was the owners who put them there) were nice hanging flower baskets.

There is a Churchill Downs Museum here, but because of a serious flood in August of this year (seven inches of rain in 75 minutes!!!) the museum is closed for repairs!

I'm glad we did this tour, although if we did it again I think I'd opt for a different tour (there were four or five to choose from, but how DO you know which you want?)

So with all that said, let me add this - I am trying to do a catch up here and post of our travels over the last week or so - yeah yeah yeah I been slackin' so now for the Indie time (but since these post reverse of how I do them you will have read about Indie, and perhaps St. Louis before you get to this post - I don't determine the order ya know!!!)