Preakness/Family Weekend

Well it is now Sunday after Preakness and man it was a great weekend!

Preakness weekend is something everyone should experience. I have been to Preakness now I believe 4 times, and this was my first time sitting in the Grand Stands. After sitting in the stands it is the best way to watch the races.

On a side note, the infield has lost it's excitement from previous years because Pimlico has decided to ban outside alcohol being brought into the infield. Everyone I have talked to has agreed that this was the worst decision they could have made. Not only was attendance in the infield down (some of it might have to do with the economy), but they tried to substitute an all day drinking event with cheap alcohol with $5 pint Budweiser, and a concert with Buckcherry and Z.Z. Top as the bands. Both of the groups are good but Buckcherry hasn't had a whole lot of hits and Z.Z. hasn't had major hits in a few decades. But I digress...

The group that went was myself, Paparazzi Melissa, my mom and dad (from Cincy), my aunt and uncle from Long Island, and a bunch of my dad's friends he use to work with. We had great seats right on the back stretch of the track. Most of the starts, and the better part of the finishes we were able to see.

On the trip up Paparazzi Melissa and I were trading papers and picking our horses. She would read the blurbs on the horses and I was doing the number analysis first, then we would switch. I would say my top three and then P. Melissa would call her horse, I would then cross that off my top three and pick my own. Apparently though I should have just bet with her. She won I believe 50% of the races she bet, and walked away up for the day.

The other winners of the day were me, winning two races where each of them was a payout on a $2 dollar bet, winning of a whopping $2.40. Dad won I believe the Preakness race, winning around $5 dollars on his $2 dollar bet. Everyone else I believe wasn't that lucky.

Throughout the day we all enjoyed souvenir glasses of Black Eyed Susan's. If anyone wants to experience this drink here is a recipe:

1 - 1/4 cup vodka
4 cups orange juice
1 - 1/4 cup light rum
ice ring
3/4 cup triple sec
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
4 cups pineapple juice

For the most part the drinks were alright, but the one's Paparazzi Melissa and I had were a little watered down from the ice melting. Uncle Karl was there though to save the day with his "special" water a.k.a. Grey Goose! Made the Susan much better.

Post race was a great time at Tom Drum's house where there was delicious food and good laughs. Scary thoughts that Paparazzi Melissa and I were complaining about the same parts of our jobs as the guys that are in their 50s. We are definately the oldest 24 and almost 24 year old's we know.

I'm going to stop here so this blog isn't as big as the novel I wrote for the first one. Pictures from my new Nikon camera that I bought at Costco are up on Facebook. Eventually I'll have to get my own Paparazzi tutorial on how to upload pictures directly to this blog.

here is the link to my pictures :
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=588817022/a=667222022_667222022/