Ravings of a Textual Deviant

I’ve lived in Indianapolis long enough that when someone mentions “the track,” I automatically think of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So, when Housemate asked me if I’d like to go to the track with him and his family, I’m afraid I gave him the sort of look that passes for an answer when I’m wondering if I’ll have to check the questioner for signs of pod-person-ness.

Well, housemate is from Louisville, and when someone mentions “the track,” his mind automatically goes to Churchill Downs. I’ve never been to a horse race—mostly because I’m not terribly fond of horses–but I thought, why not? An opportunity is an opportunity, and I can usually salvage at least a good blog post from any adventure.

Turns out that it’s a very nice venue, and my lack of interest in horse-racing was a very minor matter. There are lots of video monitors with replays, live feeds, and info screens hanging around the room, but otherwise, it looked like a nice restaurant with big windows overlooking some ambitious landscaping. The races are about 20 minutes apart, so people would occasionally excuse themselves to make bets, and there would be a few minutes of yelling and cheering during the race. Housemate’s aunt had a good day, winning most of her $2 bets, and Housemate ended the day 50 cents up on his single attempt.

I even went outside to watch one of the races in person; I was high up in the stands, so I can’t speak to the experience at field level, but I did enjoy the real thing much more than the video feed. The food was good, too, especially the enormous piece of carrot cake that got shared around generously when its owner wasn’t looking, and the bread pudding with bourbon sauce that Housemate split with me.

I also let Housemate’s mother and aunt talk me into letting them teach me to play golf. (Housemate just started learning in February and goes down to play with them once every couple of weeks.) That, I’m sure, will be the source of many a good future blog post, and it might even help my croquet game.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 25th, 2006 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Daze in the Life of.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.