The Neilson's: Kentucky Derby

I mentioned that we were out of town for Dexton's actual birthday, the reason was because we went to the Kentucky Derby for Todd's 65th Birthday! Going there was on his bucket list and Debbie decided to try to surprise him with a trip there and invited all of us kids to come along. I felt a little bad being gone over Dexton's birthday but because the Derby was only on May 7th, there wasn't much I could do. I explained it all to Dexton and he was pretty good about it, he was only a little upset.

It was a quick trip, we flew out of Friday, the Derby was on Saturday, and we went to the Louisville Slugger factory on Sunday and then flew home! The Derby was an interesting experience that I only care to experience once in my life time. First of all, the parking was hilarious! People would have you park on their lawns and in their driveways, they would double and even triple park the cars in their yards. We parked on some guys lawn and he charged $50 a car, we had two cars! I guess that's one way to make some extra cash! I was shocked at how dirty the stadium was and how trashy the people were. It was like sitting in a filthy outdoor casino with a bunch of loud mouthed drunks! Our seats were in the lower section, because we thought the closer to the track the better. Well the problem was, it was hard to see over the fence/wall around the track and we were on benches. In order to watch the race we had to stand on the benches to see. This all sounds fine, until you take into account the trashy men sitting behind us who were all drunk. The Mint Jubilee, the famous Derby drink, was served in a glass cup. People would just throw their glass on the ground thus there was broken glass everywhere! Much to my misfortune, the men behind us were not drinking Mint Jubilee's they were drinking Bloody Mary's. It had been raining early that morning and it was a little chili out. I had bought a new dress and a white trench coat to match before the trip. When the sun started coming out at the track and it began to warm up, I decided to take off my coat. Because the stadium was so dirty I decided to fold up my coat and stuff it into the bag that had our souvenir's in it and placed it under the bench thinking it would be safe. It didn't take long for me to find a cup in the bag and the remains of a Bloody Mary all over my white coat! I was so mad! It was as if they had purposely dumped it into the bag! Well Channy and Nikki were helping me clean off my coat and we kept looking back at the men in disgust. One of the men spoke up asking what our problem was. This opened up one big can of worms! Nikki started getting into it with them, then Kevin and Darren jumped in. Once they started insulting Kevin and Darren, Lacey jumped in. Channy and I were just praying that a fight wouldn't break out! Thank goodness Todd was walking around the stadium with Debbie or one might have! Luckily, one of the drunks calmed things down and we all had a good laugh. After that things were a little better until Nikki caught the dirty old man behind her trying to lift up her dress with the program! Channy said she thought she had seen him trying to do it to mine before the fight! WOW! What a crowd! We ended up having a great time and even bet on a horse. Unfortunately, none of the horses we bet on won the race! It was definitely an interesting experience!
That night we went and ate at an old stake house that was literally in an old home. The food was really expensive and just ok for the price we paid. The atmosphere was really cool though! The next morning we went and had breakfast at this crazy restaurant, which was really good! Then we went and visited the Louisville Slugger Museum. It was pretty interesting, we took a tour to see how they manufactured the bats. Kevin ordered himself a personalized bat with his signature on it. It was a fun trip and a trip to remember that's for sure!