day at the races

while my familial readers will know this, others may not know that i LOVE horses.  i attribute it almost entirely to my maternal grandfather who was not only a large animal veterinarian (horses, cows, etc.) but also bred and raced quarter-horses.

as a child, summer vacations to the farm always included horseback riding, and visits to the racetrack.  every year, i'd select one of the race horses and claim it as my own, then get regular updates from grandpa as to the success (or failure) of 'my' horses on the track.

i've never been entirely certain whether i literally inherited some of my grandfather's 'horse blood' or if it's just a passion that resulted from experience, but regardless, any opportunity to be around horses is a good opportunity.

after mentioning to my friend vicki that i'd had the chance to go the breeder's cup a couple of years ago, she asked if i'd be interested in driving down to go to opening day at the del mar racetrack with her.  i immediately took her up on her offer, and it went on the calendar, along with my vacation request.

and the day finally arrived!

i've actually been in san diego quite a lot in the past couple of weeks for work, but this time i was actually excited to make the hour+ drive.  vicki and i met at the nearby outlet malls for lunch before heading down to the track.  what should have been a 15 minute drive took an hour, 45 minutes of which was spent on the exit ramp. fortunately we'd given ourselves enough time so as not to be too concerned.

we met up with vicki's friend tim, who works 'the gate'.  in this case 'the gate' means the starting gate, and tim is on the team responsible for getting the horses loaded into the starting gate.  he had gotten us free tickets and entrance to the backside of the track.  we caught a lift on the back of a pick-up truck, and when we got to where we were going, i straddled the tailgate and hopped out.

that was when i heard the sickening 'pop' in my knee.

roughly 14 years ago now, i had a bad landing off a lay-up during a basketball game, which resulted in severe acl, mcl, and meniscus tears, and required surgery, physical therapy, plus about six months of recovery time.  when i heard that pop, i recognized it. and it was not a happy remembrance.  i took a second to collect myself and gingerly determine whether or not i could actually walk.  i could. barely.  which was better than the last time.

for better and probably worse, i decided i was going to ignore the severe pain i was in, and make the best of the situation.  i hobbled along with vicki and tim as we headed into the grandstand and tim 'dropped us off' with plans to meet up again later.

i won't bore you with the details and challenges of actually finding a place to camp out for awhile, or mention how miserable i was, or how many times i cried, just trying to find a place to sit down for awhile, other than to mention one my favorite conversations of the day.  it came after we had been wandering around trying to find a seat, and one of the ushers told us we were probably going to have to stand.  the pain, coupled with my feelings of pure stupidity and not wanting to have ruined this experience for myself, or for vicki caused me to have a total emotional breakdown.  (poor usher didn't have a clue what his response would yield!):

Vicki: I can go get an EMT. Do you want an EMT?
Me; No
Vicki: Seriously, I can go get one.
Me: No. I didn't shave my legs today.

and with that, i pulled myself together - as best i could anyway- and we made our way downstairs where we (thank heavens!) found a place to sit right in front of the fence.  we watched the first four races from that bench, with vicki making periodic runs to place bets or get diet cokes and ice cream.  it should be noted that while we did make a few small bets, the only ones we 'won' were races we picked but didn't bet. figures.

the first self-portrait of the day. post 'knee-gate',
and i'm so happy to be sitting down!

after the fourth race, tim called to say that he would probably be able to take us out on the track before the 6th race, so after the 5th, we slowly hobbled along to meet him.  for those of you not familiar with a racetrack, typically the dirt track (in this case, shredded carpet) is on the outside, so spectators can see easily, while the turf track (faux grass) is on the inside.  a race day typically includes both type of races, and turf races are a little harder to see since they are on the inside.  the 6th race was a turf race.

me, tim, and vicki in the winners circle

we met up with tim and he walked us over to the winners circle, where we waited for the horses to come through the tunnel before making our way across the dirt track to watch the next turf race from the inside.  as you might imagine, this is not part of the 'standard' race track experience. you absolutely HAVE to know someone, and lucky for me, i knew someone who knew someone!

before making our way to the fence, and just minutes before the horses would take their positions, we walked through the gate, where tim snapped a couple of pics for us.  super super cool.

we watched the six race and headed back to the grandstand for the 7th and 8th, before rejoining tim on the 'backside' of the track for races 9 and 10.  again, we were almost on top of the gate, and it was pretty spectacular.

my knee was still killing me, but i was pretty proud of myself for hanging in there.  and with the final race concluded, tim put me in a car with a couple of the other guys so that i wouldn't have to walk back to their rv.

as i would learn, this crew of about 12 guys work together pretty regularly during the race season.  they are mostly from other parts of california, but for the duration of the season, they'll bring trailers in and set up their home away from home.  i wasn't complaining about the ride, or the fact that one of the boys was pretty cute.  'cause hey, bryan or no bryan (and there's no update on that) i can still appreciate a supercute boy.  especially one with a country twang;)

we hung out at the trailer for awhile, killing time, waiting for the place to empty out, and just chatting.  while there, a miniature man came over to say hello to the two tims (our host and the supercute boy), and introduced himself to us.  as you may have surmised, he's a jockey by the name of tyler baze, and he'd had a pretty good day.

after a little while, we started smelling something delicious from the trailer next door - the owners of which, are also a part of tim's crew.  the smell was followed by an invitation to join them for dinner, and we happily accepted.  boy were we in for a treat!  bbq'd spare ribs, corn off the grill, watermelon, potato salad, and coconut cake for dessert.

the food was insanely good, and i was just so.....content.  i've mentioned before that periodically the 'country' side of me needs satisfying, and this absolutely fit the bill.  i was grateful for the events of the day and for the opportunity to  experience this obviously tight-knit community from the inside.

today, this came:

i know, i know. i am way behind this trend, but i spent the last year waiting for the ipad, then deciding i wanted to wait for a second generation ipad so they could work out the kinks from that first run.  and when a stinking good deal on the kindle crossed my path, i decided it was worth it, even if i only use it for six months before buying an ipad:)

what makes this purchase so exciting is the decreased weight in my carry-ons and luggage.  and trust me, that's really exciting.

and not only that, but thanks to tamara's suggestion, i can now finish reading 

which is teaching me that i'm pretty much doing everything wrong when it comes to dating.  oddly enough, that's remarkably refreshing!

opinion poll

okay, answer me this:  when the boy you are supposedly 'in a relationship with' (his words) doesn't call you for a week, nor respond to a text message here or there (not even remotely close to stalking), do you:

A. cut him some slack, knowing that he is simultaneously dealing with a family crisis and traveling for his work,

or

B. RUN

if it's not obvious, this is the strange and unexpected predicament i now find myself in. and before you ask, there is no great big bad thing that happened between us that would warrant the silent treatment, nor any minutely tiny bad thing, as far as i know.  so now i'm torn between wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt and not wanting to be the stupid girl who just isn't getting the hint.

so what say ye, A or B?

on a whim

still feeling in a funk, and having spent entirely too much time alone yesterday, i decided today, on a complete whim, to drive to santa barbara to hang out with my friend jesse.

the two and a half hour drive took me only two hours (and i was barely speeding) and gave me the perfect opportunity to test out my brand new car stereo.  it sounds grander than it is, but up 'til now i've been using an fm tuner to listen to my ipod/iphone in my car.  the trouble with that is that it is nearly impossible to find a 'clean' station in this area, so my music and audio books are usually accompanied by a fair amount of static.

my boss made an offhanded comment about how inexpensive it was to install an auxiliary port and with a car stereo place just up the street from home, i stopped by, and found that he was right.

it was BLISSFUL to make that gorgeous drive sans static. and while without pics, the time itself was a much needed respite.  maybe i didn't even realize HOW much, and it made the 4+ hours on the road so completely worth it.

the good stuff

good stuff #1: seattle is a tricky city.  when you visit in the summer, on a good weather day, it seems as though there is no other city that could rival it.  with all it's green and water and art and music and food, it is not hard to be convinced that it's the country's best kept secret and you should move there immediately.  the trouble is that those good weather days don't last, and if you fall for the trick, you'll spend the large majority of the year thinking that 'good weather day' was just a figment of your imagination.

long distance relationships are similarly tricky.  the befores and afters are miserable, but the durings can be quite amazing.  this during was no exception.  it began with a fantastic hug in an airport and ended with a fantastic hug at a train station.

the during was focused on just spending TIME with one another.  this time around i've made it a point to avoid focusing trips on activities.  while activities can be quite enjoyable, they can also be somewhat distracting. in a long distance relationship, you're at a disadvantage.  you have very little opportunity to learn about someone's 'normal' habits, routines, and perspectives if either of you treat the visit like a vacation.  vacation rules are different rules, and i want to know if he's going to drive me crazy in a grocery store or enjoy my music or be as happy sitting at home watching a movie as he is 'going out.'  as a result, this trip, much like the last, was...normal.

during no. 2 included movies. we watched percy jackson, and the haunting in connecticut, and the mummy, and iron man, and yes, he even took me to see eclipse (the best of the bunch, by the way).

it included books (at least for me it did).  between travel time and bryan's basketball practice.  i finished off the last fablehaven (thanks to nicole for sharing) and started jumping in to the girl with the dragon tattoo. i came home with one of bryan's books, and i may have even read the first chapter of his new acquisition; pride and prejudice and zombies.

it included meeting the parents.  yeah - that was a good one. we went to their ward and over to their house afterwards for some barbecuing and some movie watching.  i'm happy to report that i liked them and i'm pretty certain the feeling was mutual.

it included food.  i was able to meet up with my long-time friend leah for breakfast, and bryan and i, who are both fans of the food network show diners, drive-ins, and dives, were excited to check mike's chili off the list.  

and it included the one 'activity' i did want to check off; a ferry ride across the puget sound.  bryan chose bainbridge island as our destination because they have a bookstore he was sure i would love.  and i did. i also loved the shops and the art and the bakery.  by the time we had finished lunch, the sun was shining in a cloudless sky, and the return ferry ride was spent taking photos and enjoying the blue brilliance.

the trip was perfectly balanced. we had downtime, we had fun time, we had talking time and singing time and silent time, and most of all we had a GOOD time. then there was goodbye time. and that was kind of rough.  

but not as rough as the 'after' i'm in now. did i mention the after is kind of awful? it's probably enhanced by the fact that it's been a difficult couple of days for other reasons, but wow, long distance is no-good-very BAD! i don't know if it's worse this time around or if it just feels worse, but wow.  combine that with my memory of good-weather seattle, and my general lack of enthusiasm for my job, and the idea of packing up and leaving is very tempting.

i'm far too practical for that, of course, but the idea is...definitely...tempting.

good stuff #2: the only thing that made saying goodbye somewhat tolerable was the fact that i was heading to portland to meet my (brand) new niece.  when the trip was planned none of us knew when the baby would arrive, other than that she would probably be late.  

she was indeed late, and by the time i arrived, she was a whopping 8 days old.  newborns grow so fast that you forget how small they are until you have one in your arms.  

and while i know there are many who prefer babies when they've gained 'a personality', i love love love newborns.  i especially love newborns who 'belong' to me. her name is adele jane, and she is my second niece.  since kendyl just turned 6, it's obviously been a long-time since we've had this kind of occasion to celebrate. and the short time i spent with dylan, kelly, and adele was precious.  as you might imagine, it was very low-key, with the big adventure being the walk to the neighborhood market on the corner. 

i guess some might be amused to learn that i met up with my ex, spencer, for breakfast while i was there. he even treated.  it was a good breakfast with good company and i enjoyed the opportunity to do some catching up.  

but mostly i enjoyed holding adele. and of course, the time flew far too quickly.  i'm ready for another vacation and the pacific northwest is calling!