August2014 RoadTrip: Day 3- Lexington KY

We begin our second day in Lexington Kentucky very early and headed to Keeneland Race Track.  We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Track Kitchen

, frequented by various Owners, Trainers & Jockey's.  From the moment we walked in we were greeted by wonderfully friendly people.  The ladies who work here are so enthusiastic about their work.  They gave us wonderful tips for seeing the ground and even volunteered to take a photo of us. 

We will absolutely eat here again if we are in the area.

After breakfast we drove to the Grandstand parking area.  Visitors are allowed complete access to this track.  We did the self walking tour which included the Grandstand....

......the Clubhouse, The paddock, the Winners Circle

and we were allowed to watch the horses do their morning workouts.

What a treat!  It was an incredible morning!  The New Orleans Fairgrounds would never allow anyone to visit many of these places without paying for a tour.  Don't miss this opportunity if you visit Lexington!

Next we visited Thoroughbred Park.  The life-sized horseracing statues are amazing.

 It was a beautiful day with a gentle breeze so we spent an hour or so walking around the park taking photos and reading various plaques of horseracing history.

Next it was time to visit Kentucky Horse Park.

This park pays tribute to many star horses like Secretariat & Man O' War

but it is more of an educational type park with equestrian riding/competitions as well.

There is a museum on horse history, my personal favorite was the barn of horses from around the world.  The Norwegian horses were beautiful with multicolored manes.

Today was a wonderfully exhausting day.  We thoroughly enjoyed every exhibit and every park we visited.  Supper tonight was downtown at Joe Bologna's.  It is located inside a renovated church, you walk into the restaurant with its dark wood and stained glass windows and the aroma will have you drooling in to no time.  Hubby and I choose the lasagna and it was perfect!