A Kentucky Tour

Like I said in my post earlier, Kim and I took a tour yesterday. Quota set it up and we were on a bus with about forty other Quotarians (and a few spouses).

We went an hour south to Old Friends, where former race horses go to retire. We got a tour of the facility and got to see many of the ninety plus horses they house there. We also got to pet and feed carrots to the horses.

I took pictures, so I'll have to post those once I get back home.

From Old Friends, we went to Midway. A small town full of southern charm along with train tracks that run straight down the middle of town.

We ate lunch there, I forget the name of the restaurant but I know it's in a picture, where we had Kentucky Hot Brown. If you don't know what that is I'll tell you. It's a piece of toast/bread (we never did figure out if it was actually toasted), covered with shredded turkey, diced ham, bacon, a rue with cheddar, mozzarella, and provolone, topped with a tomato and baked in the oven. It was delicious. This restaurant is also known for it's cobbler and we were all treated to apple cobbler a la mode.

From Midway we went to a vineyard called, Equus Run Vineyards. We got to sample a couple of their wines and then walk around and shop. The owner talked to us about her wines and her grapes. It was great; she was down to earth (she retired from IBM after thirty years to open the vineyard) and hospitable.

From there we came back to our hotel where we met up with other Quotarians to have dinner and ice cream. The local place to go for ice cream is called Graeters. I tried their Buckeye flavor.

In case you didn't know; there is a long running joke that between Michigan and any other state (in my case Indiana) the one thing we can agree on when it comes to sports and our universities is that Ohio State sucks, pardon my language. We have several friends who have lived in Ohio and have gone to schools in Ohio including my in-laws. But we are specifically talking about the Ohio State.

We also refer to Ohio as, "Land of Land". Have you ever driven through Ohio? You might agree. Especially after Kim and my drive down here Wednesday. We did not drive through the pretty side of Ohio.

So Ohio is the butt of jokes, at least around our house.

Which is why I surprised myself by trying the Buckeye flavored ice cream and then was shocked when I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that it may be my new favorite ice cream flavor of all time.

I know.

Okay, it could be my second because that Jersey Express with the chocolate fudge and peppermint that Hudsonville ice cream made a few years ago does take the #1 spot in my taste.

But still, second place. An Ohio named ice cream. Huh.

I told Shannon that statement because she had asked (or told me to) check out Graeter's. Her response is  very appropriate, "That is a statement with lots of research backing it!!!" How true!

My time is running short here at Panera where the lunch hour has arrived making it a busy place. Plus my laptop is going to die because I didn't bring my charger. I'll see if I can blog again while I'm in the expensive fancy hotel (wi-fi is free in the lobby I discovered). If not, you'll hear from me when I get back home.

Thursday's adventures from Dayton to Dayton...

Having been born in Michigan and growing up in Indiana I have mixed feelings about colleges. My Dad went to I.U. (South Bend), so we've been I.U. fans. Cyndi went to Ball State so we also became MAC fans. Then I met Bill who attended CMU (another MAC team). When people ask me which Michigan team I like, I typically respond with, "I don't care, we're a MAC family".

There is one thing that we can agree on.

Ohio stinks.

Across the board, whether you're in Indiana or Michigan, we all agree to root against Ohio.

Now that you know that I can get to the rest of my blog.

Jerry's oldest son is Dayton. You saw pictures of him in the post about our trip to the Children's Museum. On Thursday, we went to Dayton, Ohio. Cyndi had a meeting there so Skylar, Spencer and I went along.

It was a beautiful day, which was good because the meeting was held near the Occasionally Yours store at an outdoor mall.

Skylar took a picture of Spencer and me because he was wearing his "Cool like Auntie" onesie and his shades.

It was cute, until he started crying.

He's still cute.

Later that day, Mom and I walked to the local ice cream store. They had a new flavor, "Buckeye Classic". Since I had been in Ohio, I asked about it. It's peanut butter ice cream with fudge swirled throughout. It also had those peanut butter clusters dipped in chocolate that look like a buckeye. 

Of course I had to try it.

I had a very Ohio Thursday.