First WA Horse Race

We invited a few friends to join us out at Emerald Downs for some horsey racing in Auburn, WA.

It was a bit more of an upscale experience than southern Illinois' Fairmount Park. For one thing, the prices were multiples higher. Sad.

Lydia and I's first trip together(2012!!) was to the Kentucky Derby so she gets all romantical when she sees those sweaty horses galloping around.

Washington is a big garlic producer, and garlic fries are a local favorite.

Them pinchy cheeks are also a local favorite.

We definitely came on the wrong day, unfortunately. Apparently sometimes they have a bunch of people in t-rex costumes race on the track instead of horses. Much more hilarious. I wonder if they still allow betting?

We took a peek at the local mall, the Outlet Collection Seattle.

They had a this fun store called Gotcha! where you pay to shoot your friends and enemies with Nerf style guns. Being able to shoot a million shots at each other and not have to worry about finding them and picking them up afterwards is priceless if you ask me.

When night fell we checked out something little bit off the beaten path. The LUSIO Lights Festival at Mary Olson Farm in Kent, WA was billed as an immersive experience showcasing several light up art installations. It was very cool and sometimes strange. It was also free which is a rarity for anything in the Seattle area so I had no complaints.

Horse Hooky Redux

The boys invited me to Horse Hooky in the middle of the day Tuesday and I instantly felt ill and called off work. Health really is one's greatest treasure.

Fairmount Park is now hideously known as FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing. Yuck. We used to take a bar shuttle out here in a package that included a buffet, but both of those things may have been killed by covid or by whatever change of ownership seems to have taken place when I wasn't paying attention. It's for the best though because that was a very sorry excuse for a buffet and I don't feel like punishing my body for any particular reason today.

Man I really like horse races. It's such a gentle way to gamble, and you get to be outside in the sun. Casinos by comparison are smelly caves devoid of both light and the horses that like to prance around through it.

I stuck to my expert strategy of betting on whatever horse has the best name and completely ignoring the odds. I think I may have actually walked away a winner this time which is unheard of.

After the horsing around had completed we went to a bar across the street and interacted with some of the lowest class people ever assembled. We were so pretty by comparison that someone literally bought us a round of shots not long after we walked in.

Barbados: Sea Turtles and Racehorses

The final day in Barbados. With Barbados being checked off my list my time in the Caribbean as a whole is drawing to a close. Saint Kitts and Nevis is the only one remaining. It's possible I'd return here someday after my last check mark but much less likely. For one thing the Caribbean is never really on the way to anything.

We booked ourselves a nice little snorkeling tour on the catamaran El Tigre.

Snorkeling tours always talk about how you're going to see sea turtles because everyone loves sea turtles but there are never sea turtles. Well this time I saw sea turtles! Our guides had bait that they were attracted to so we saw a couple. It was funny because the most efficient thing to do would be to swim up to the guide and just go to town on the bait. Instead the turtles acted like little underwater airplanes making little strafing runs. If they snapped at the bait during a pass and missed they hoped nobody would notice, kept swimming, then came back for another pass.

Me probably gazing out the window and ruminating about the fact I didn't have a friggin GoPro with me the one time I actually saw a sea turtle.

On the drive back to town we passed by Rihanna's house. I think there must be one story for each inch on her forehead.

Passed Rihanna Drive again. So much Rihanna.

Cuz's was walkable from the hotel. It was hyped as the best spot to get a flying fish "cutter". Pretty much a fried fish sandwich.

I think it lived up to the hype. I ordered mine with a slice of cheese on top which really tied the whole sandwich together.

Banks: The beer of Barbados. Tastes an awful lot like the beer of quite a few places honestly.

Returnable bottles are funny because they're so heavy that they always trick me into thinking I'm not done with my drink even when empty.

I was excited to see a Bajan horse race. It was fun that this one was so cheap and casual compared to the glitzy race we went to in Hong Kong.

I love how the Caribbean is littered with old cannons. My major complaint about the US is: not enough obsolete artillery lying around. Very boring.

Hit up the sliced pineapple man.

There was no way in hell I was going to miss the Crop Over Festival Raceday.

Garrison Savannah Racetrack is a real nice, laid back place.

I actually won one but the tickets were so cheap that I won like a dollar.

There were some cannons back at the hotel.

Had a little hotel dinner buffet to put a nice ending on our stay.

Our flight left at a nasty early time of day where we had to leave the hotel at like 4am. Sad.

I would have been interested in a Concorde experience. Oh well. I think maybe they have a decommissioned plane that you can scope out.

Time for some breakfast loungin!

Quiero acumular todos los puntos.

We had some time to kill in Fort Lauderdale so we stopped at Primanti Brothers. I think it started in Pittsburgh but the deal is you order a sandwich which consists of "grilled meat, melted cheese, an oil & vinegar-based coleslaw, tomato slices, and French fries between two thick slices of Italian bread". It was definitely a mess but it was a unique experience, I'll give it that.

Can you ever really have too many plane windows pictures?

The.

answer.

is.

no.