Last Day of Vacation {Kentucky Derby Museum/Churchill Downs} Aug. 9th

Friday was our final day of vacation.  Mia was feeling better when she woke up and we all had a good continental breakfast.  We were worn out and we gave the kids the choice to just go home, but Churchill Downs was high on Mia's list of things to do, and we were right there so off we set for our last adventure.

We may have been a bit museum'd out but we tried to do justice to the historical place and enjoyed our visit to the track.

It was beautiful.  Sometimes I get cynical about consumerism at places like these - so much money for only a few days of racing throughout the year - but it really was lovely to see.  I also realized, when they showed us a video of Derby race day, that I don't like crowds nearly enough to ever go to a Kentucky Derby, but some of my kids think it sounds fun!

Secretariat's finish line pole...

The museum was two stories.  The younger three and I went through it a bit faster than Mike and the teens so I took them back downstairs to ride the race simulator.

$200 hats...

But cute!

Too heavy to be a jockey!

I would have loved to go to the cafe as they had a couple of foods that we learned about on Kentucky State Plate but we were wearing down and Mike said it was time to get on the road so we bid Louisville farewell and headed west.  

The trip home seemed to take forever.  As we drove Mike got a cough that would not calm down, my ankle was swollen, and we were all a bit crabby.  It seemed it took twice as long to get home as it did to get to Kentucky.  LOL.

We stopped at the dirtiest McDonald's I've ever been to (and that's saying something) in Illinois and then continued driving hard.  We didn't stop again until we were 45 minutes from home and had to stop for potty breaks.

But home we did get, and big thanks to the Big Guy for His favor.  We carried in only the essentials, showered, and headed to bed!

I'm thankful we got to get away.  I'm grateful to Mike for pushing to make this vacation happen, and I'm so glad we got to make memories with and for our kids.