Oaks Day

One person described Oaks/Derby Day as the modern ballroom.
I would so agree.
This is one of the most surprisingly fun days I've had in a long time. The weather was gorgeous, friends were in good spirits and the crowd was fun.

 Hats are the rage, both on guys and gals. I have several of mostly women's hats. Amanda's was a favorite. Sporting our favorite color of blue. Beautiful.

Matt was most handsome. He has a fun story of buying clothes for our day out. Matt had taken some slacks out of his closet to hopefully use by picking out a sports coat and tie for our day. When the salesman asked when and where Matt had bought his slacks ... He stopped Matt abruptly when Matt said 19... Yes anything bought before 2000 would not due in this guys opinion. Mind you Matt was not intentionally going retro.
Amazingly, Donnie had this perfect hat to match which he suggested the morning of Oaks. I come into the dining room with my breakfast (Amanda treated us to brunch) and Matt has his hat. Fun

 I have to tell you if you ever get the privilege of going on an adventure with Amanda you are set. She is a great planner and looks ahead to every detail. Beginning with breakfast, Amanda packed snacks and they had scoped out this amazing parking spot. Yes, we are right across from Churchill Downs!!

Here are our seats:
Amanda had won a box from her work for the day. We were on the finish line right on the first level. The atmosphere was a buzz. Everyone was decked out and full of smiles. It was like walking into a secret realm a world I had never seen before.
I could not believe it when Amanda called and invited us to go to the Race with her! What a treat! Matt nor I had been to any part of Derby and we really had no idea what we had agreed to.
Here's your Dandy. Cisa and her husband (Donnie's old roommate) shared the box with us. This is the definition of a Derby Hat

 There were cigars on the move, drinks and food to be had in the Paddock.

We could not have asked for a better day. What a beautiful spring day.

Amanda and Donnie knew all the ropes. Not only had Amanda scoped out the details of bringing food, Donnie knew everything about the races.

                                                       Here's my gangster.

 You see Donnie, his mother and grandmother would come to the track every year around his birthday. So after about age nine he would come all dressed in his slacks and tie to the track. He knew what the program meant in its entirety.

 Matt and I were just mesmerized by the whole seen. The track and horses were so close. The betting and cheering were loud and fast. The women were all beautiful in hats and dresses.

 Amanda put it well, "There are lots of women who don't eat here, or drink their food."

To top all of this off, Donnie's close friend was there working as a host and he and his wife had this ear piece and sports coats on that allowed them into all the well to do spots. We were able to walk up to Millionaire Row.

and on to the deck by the Steeples....

 This is my favorite pic of the day.

 Here you see the Paddock. This is the common area we were able to meet up with Adam, Pam, Sara, David, Abbey, Olivia and Garrett. They had tickets to tier three but you were not able to go into a tier that you did not have a ticket to. Anyone with a walking ticket was in this area as well. I would not advise to go on this ticket. It was hot, in the full sun and with no seat.

 Despite his complaining of missing work.... and Melanie what are we going to do all day at the track? We both had a great time.

 Here with my Lily (Drink of the day at Oaks)
This chick and I go way back to that 19... year that Matt was forbidden to discuss. Amanda was one of my first college friends at IUS and while I don't see her as often as I would like we always jump right into our friendship as if a day had never passed between us.

 Friends forever and blonds together. What a fantastic day!

My favorite hats in the booth right in front of us.

 Did we cash in on Oaks? No. We made two bets that day. And while we picked I'm a chatterbox to place we did not get a winning as she got third. This year a record 123,763 fans showed up to watch the Oaks at Churchill.It was cool that we could be counted in this number. Thanks Edlins