Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, Kentucky (ana)

so this whole trip i really wanted to go to Kentucky. i don't know why, maybe because i like the way Kentuckians (?) talk. or maybe because of the history. or maybe because the shape of the state. i really have no idea. but i wanted to go there, and so my mom found this place in Lexington called the Kentucky Horse Park.

bridge!

mei is obsessed with horses. as is mary. like, freakishly obsessed. like when they found out where we were going one of my eardrums burst obsessed. it's annoying.
we kept it a surprise, until we got there.
on the way though, we stopped at this healthy grocery store. we each got to get a treat, and i got this to die for raspberry-chocolate scone. it was yummy.
so we left there with some nice, healthy food, and mary with her yoga cat calendar (i still don't get why she bought that), en route to Kentucky Horse Park.
we drove for another hour or so, and when we got there we went to check in.
this campground wasn't like the other ones we had been to. for starters, there were way more people. people and horses and golf carts and trailers the size of small houses.
it was also more expensive, and nicer. it had a pool, and the bathrooms were actually not all that disgusting.
so we got our site, which was nice, and we didn't have any neighbors on one side (the biggest side) so that was good (more space).
we set up camp, then allana and i went the longest way to the bathrooms. it took like 10 minutes to walk there (i may be exaggerating), which is way too long in my opinion. like seriously? you want us to walk that long to a bathroom? it might make us not happy (i have also been known to be impatient though).
so we came back (the short way, i might add) in our bathing suits, and for some reason we didn't go to the swimming pool for the longest time (again, impatience), but when we got there it was worth the wait.
the swimming pool was really nice. it got really deep though on one side, and some of the people in the car could not go there.
after messing around with us a bit, my parents went inside to take showers. yours truly got left in charge. (even though allana is a grade above me, i'm the better swimmer. not to be cocky or anything, but it's true).
it was really funny when one of the lifeguards asked us where we were from, casue our voices sounded different. when we told her we were from jersey, she goes, "oh joisey. like the jersey shore, right?"
nice to know we have a good reputation. and just for the record, we do NOT talk like that. thank you very much.
anywho, we sadly had to leave the lifeguard (hey, she had a weird voice to us too.), and we went back to  camp. we roasted marsh mallows (sorry for spelling it wrong until now, some of our followers care (you know who you are)). unfortunately, we ran out of chocolate somewhere in the black hills or one of those places (they're all the same to us now. kidding), and the graham crackers got finished in utah. so it was just marsh mallows. i got sick of it after the first one.
it was yet another hot night in the tent (ugh), so we were all grumpy. it's not fun when you have a tent full of annoying, sweaty people, for future reference.
the next morning, we had to get up at like, 8:30! for god's sake, it's summer! let us sleep. but we had to got to this horse thing in the actual horse park (well, duh) at either nine or nine thirty, so waking up early was required.
when we got to the horse park, we were grateful for the air conditioning.
does it really have to be so HOT in the summer? like really, why can't it be pleasant weather. like spring. that would be nice instead of scorching hot days.
we paid for admission, then went back outside. grr. we saw a nice statue of Secretariat and some other famous horse when we were walking to this tram ride thing. we waited on line for a short while, and then got on the tram. we got a tour of the park, and they pointed out this hall of fame thing for horses. (who knew?)
after the tram ride, which wasn't so long, we went to a presentation at the hall of fame thing. we were a little late for us, so everyone stared at us when we walked in (awkward).
the presentation was actually really interesting (and not the bad kind). they brought out the horses that they were talking about, which was cool. and don't worry, mary took like, i don't know, a billion pictures of either the horses mouth (is it a snout?), or the side, or the leg, or the butt. they're might be one of the face. but they're pretty horses.

famous horse

they're were a few Kentucky Derby champions of the 5 or 6 horses we saw, including one really famous one who's name i don't remember. they showed us the videos of the horses winning various races, and it is just amazing to watch how fast they can go. i would not want to be on the back of one. knowing me, i would fall off or something. i would be freaking out to much.
anyway, after the presentation, we went to another corral or horse stadium or whatever they're called, and watched another thing where people ride around on horses from different countries, wearing the native costumes. that took a while, and the entire time, there was this huge beetle sitting on this british lady's butt next to allana, who was next to me.

irish horse

we were starting at it (which sounds gross, but trust me, she was like in her 50s) and then after like 20 minutes (i'm also not good at telling time. it could of been 5 for all i know. this show was very long), i tap her on the shoulder and tell her that there is a bug on her crawling up the back of her pants, near her belt. i tried to say it in the least awkward and most polite way i could, like i-have-totally-not-been-staring-at-that-bug-on-you-for-the-past-10-minutes type of thing. i don't think i succeeded. i really still don't know if she spoke english, i mean, she seamed british or australian, but you never know. she did seem to understand in the end though, and brushed the giant bug off her pants.

spanish horse

then this australian guy came out with four horses, who all obeyed him so well it was crazy. they were the most well trained horses i have and probably will ever see. they did all these tricks, and while the guy was a little bit of a braggart, the stuff he did with horses were amazing.

they rode like this the entire time

there's also a horse under the top ones

after the show, we walked around a bit, and saw the horses, which mei got to pet, and which my mom made allana and me pet too (yay). then we went to this tack shop of some sort, and we got water, which was my favorite part of the day.

mei was very happy

you can see how much allana was too

i love water.
then we went to one of the barns, where some really huge draft horses were. that was cool, but it was time to go.

giant lawn chair

yet when we got back to the building, mei and mary spent a long time in the gift shop picking gifts out for a few friends.
we left kentucky horse park, and headed for somewhere in west virginia, a few days away from getting back home.