Vacation

I spent this past week on vacation with the DH. We didn't have a plan, so we headed to Kentucky. I wanted to visit Hancock's of Padacuh, so we went there. It was a big shop and they had so many fabrics. It was overwhelming. I'm sure I could have spent all day there, but only went through half the fabrics. I was afraid of how much money I was going to spend, so I had my fabric cut and got out of there. Maybe I'll visit again someday. The town as a whole didn't have alot to offer (at least that's what the locals said). The National Quilt Museum is there, but we didn't go. We did head downtown and visited another quilt shop. We tried to find somewhere to get lunch, but all the restaurants close after lunch and don't open again until dinner time. We ended up having sandwiches at a general store. The food was very good, even though it wasn't what we were looking for.

On Thursday we headed to Lexington. I was so overwhelmed at the beauty of horse country. I so want to live there. We found a hotel after driving around the area and then went downtown to a little bistro for dinner. The food was very good. They had a limited menu and it was quite expensive, but at least it was delicious.

Friday we went to the Kentucky Horse Park. I wanted to do a horse farm tour, but many of the vendors weren't offering tours on friday. It seems that busy is very slow in the late fall/winter time. We wandered the park and enjoyed the sights. I got to see two famous racehorses - Cigar and Funny Cide. They both reside at the park, so it was pretty cool to see two legends. The museum was pretty amazing as well. Next week took a trip over to Keeneland race course. I knew they were having their fall sale, so we stopped into the sale area. It was so cool! I've seen the arena in pictures, so it was kind of surreal for me to see it in person. We watched the sale for awhile and then DH left with one of nicest people I have ever met. She was working at the sale. Come to find out he went and registered as a buyer, so we could buy a horse if we so chose. I found a mare that I would have liked to have, but I wasn't registered as a buyer. She didn't sell and I found out that we could go talk to the agent and possibly buy the mare. I didn't jump on it right away and then after the sale was over we went down to the barn she was in. Come to find out they usually give the mares away if they don't sell. Now I know for the future. It was a great time hanging out watching the sale.

This is just one of the mares that sold friday. Most of the mares were in foal. I learned alot by spending the day at Keeneland. One of the auctioners said that the sale was brutal because most of the horses went super cheap or didn't sell. It was kind of sad. The highest price we saw was $37,000 (see 2nd picture). That's not much for a racehorse.

When my life permits I will have horses again. Right now just isn't the right time. Maybe the next time we take a vacation it will be during the sale and maybe the horse trailer will have to go with us.

We headed home after the sale on Friday and arrived back in Michigan around 11pm. It was a wonderful trip. I wish it would have been longer, but I was out of money, so it was good we decided to come home.

On Saturday night we went to the Napoleon Livestock Commission's monthly horse auction. They had 5 horses to sell. After all the tack sold they started the horses. The first mare was a registered Appaloosa. She didn't have any spots, but I really thought about buying her. She sold for $200. The lowest price was $50/each for two Hackney ponies and the highest was $350 for a Perchereon/Arabian cross mare. It was so sad. I think the same guy bought all of them. Hopefully he will just resell them.