The Ups and Downs of Being a Tourist

  Mom and I have been having a wonderful time here in Kentucky this week! We took the two Alli's back to the horse park on Monday morning for some shopping/trade fair time. William Fox-Pit was in the Bit of Britain tent and nearly ran into one of the Alli's, who managed to gasp "He's so tall!"- no kidding! She wasn't the only one, however- one of the employees managed to stutter a request/demand for a signature before she helped him find what he needed... The brushes with fame are frequent, and usually amusing- Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum nearly ran me over with her bike, riding in the "pedestrians only" corridor of the road, and I have nearly been backed over by self styled "important people" in golf carts more times than I can recall.
  Mom and I had show jumping team final tickets on Wednesday night, so we spent most of the day at the horse park. We were both shopped out, so we ventured off to see some of the demo's put on in the equine village. Chris has been working with the American Connemara Pony Society and the Irish Draught folks and they are doing one demo a day, which might include jumping, dressage, or driving. One day, the demo included a "trick pony" who managed to jump the arena fence and gallop off around the warm-up rings, completely evading capture. We have also been introduced to the sport of tent pegging, where competitors spear little pieces of rubber with a lance, sword, and skewer, all while traveling at 800 meters per minute. Exciting doesn't even begin to cover it! Chris has, of course, made friends with the tent peggers, who have traveled from India. They are evidently giving her a sword, so if you live near Chesterfield, this is your warning- there will be a tent pegging team coming your way! Start practicing your war cry- this is, after all, a horse martial art...
  Day after day of the horse park is quite draining, especially if you don't have event tickets. Mom and I have been playing tourist. We have been to the art college at Berea, which is really neat. I have now Christmas shopped for the two hardest people on my list- thank god for local artisans... On monday we had an unexpected detour to Bardstown- we didn't get to any distilleries, but we did drive the Blue Grass Parkway- it is gorgeous as the leaves are just changing. Yesterday we went to Mammoth Cave and did the 4 mile "strenuous" tour, where we ambled along at the world's most leisurely pace. The cave is amazing- so unlike the caves at home. It is mostly a huge, dry canyon with some narrows- it looks surprisingly like Southern Utah- only with a roof. The final quarter mile had some gorgeous draperies and other formations. Oh, and there is a dining room in the cave. And toilets. Weird.
   Today, Mom and I are off to the Woodford Reserve distillery, and then we go to driving marathon tomorrow. We are headed home on Sunday in the Subaru- Mom has a concert rehearsal to get to, and I'm anxious to get back to my own horses- who knows where they will be in four years time when the next WEG comes around in Normandy, France!