After looking at exhibits for a few minutes we gathered with about 20 others for the tour. The guide took us past the some of the 1400 betting windows that are open on Race Day to serve the 150,000 people who are there. We were early enough that there were still horses out on the track. They run until about 10am. After that it is too hot for them. So cool to see them actually run.
The track is worked on for 6 hours each day. The proper amount of water in the track helps keep the horses from injury when they are running at 40mph and makes for a fast track. When the tour was over we spend some more time looking at the exhibits. The theater had screens that were on the wall in a 360 degree oval like the shape of a track.
There was an area that taught you how to place a bet and they had a simulated race on the video screen. Two winners and a loser (yours truly).
Our 2 hour cruise on the 1914 steam-driven paddlewheel Belle of Louisville was schedule for noon. We arrived early to get a parking space in the shade on another 90 degree day. We were able to board when we arrived and proceeded to explore the boat that we had previously been on in 2003 during the Tall Stacks celebration in Cincinnati.
The boat consists of 4 levels. The boiler and engines are on the first deck. The huge open dance floor area is on level 2. They had tables and chairs set up for the lunch buffet. The 3rd level is also covered and had chairs and 6’ long tables set up for us to sit at while we cruised. We opted to just buy lunch a la carte, picking and choosing what we wanted to eat. We spent $12 for the two of us on 12 little corn dogs, bread sticks with mozzarella cheese in them, and a large diet coke. The top level is the pilot house.
We cruised an hour upstream to near some island and then went back to the dock. I don’t recall a running commentary on what we were seeing either a history of the boat and river boating or what was on shore would have been nice.. Mostly a disc jockey was playing music and commenting on it. Doug went down and talked with him and mentioned that he just had is 45th wedding anniversary the week before and that “their song” was “Sherry” by The Four Seasons. The guy played it a little later and dedicated it to them. Betty was so surprised. It was very nice.
The boat was not air-conditioned so that had these big fans blowing all over the place. If you really wanted heat you headed down to the engine room. It was completely accessible and you could really see all of the workings of the arms that drove the paddlewheel. The boilers that heated the water to create the steam were noisy and very hot. Working conditions were hard down there.
We had tickets for tonight’s Cincinnati Reds vs. San Francisco Giants baseball game at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, so immediately after getting off the boat we programmed the GPS to take us the 90 miles back to our motel room in Florence for a shower and a change of clothes.
The downpour started at precisely 5pm just as we got back into the van after getting ready for the game. We found some covered parking but the distance to the stadium was about 100 yards. Waiting for a lull in the rain we got pointers from some other fans on the best entrance to use since we could not see it from our location.
We managed to slog our way into the stadium with all us of getting somewhat wet except Karen who had remembered to take her rain jacket with her despite the fact that the forecast was 90 degrees for the two weeks we were on vacation. Is she a planner or what? Our intent was to see the Cincy Hall of Fame but they wanted an additional 10 for us to see it and we weren’t THAT big of Cincy fans AND Ken Griffey didn’t play for them anymore so decided to have dinner instead.
Our choices included hot dogs, hamburgers, philly cheesesteaks, chicken burger, pizza, and something else. We walked past the food talking about it and looking at it. There wasn’t much of a crowd still at this point (about 6:15pm) because it was still sprinkling. We sat at the top of our row and struck up a conversation about the weather and the likelihood of the game being played with one of the ushers. Betty asked him for a dinner recommendation and he said to get the chicken sandwich with the fries – so Karen and I did and we split it. Doug and Betty split the philly cheesesteak.
There is a structure in the outfield that resembles a steamboat. Pretty neat looking.
The rain stopped, the game started as planned, and the home team won 11-7 in a very entertaining game from a couple of 4th place teams.
Oh, it should be noted that Betty and I were interested in the GAME and bought tickets 30 rows up from first base. Karen and Doug were interested in the VIEW and bought tickets as high up in the stadium as they could. She took pictures of the Ohio River throughout the game and really enjoyed herself.
They came down with a couple of innings left to join us.
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