LEX Horse & Bourbon Do IV - April 4-6, 2014
 

UPDATE 3/28/14: See post #213 for tentative schedule info, always subject to change; nothing is mandatory.


karung99 has a room reserved for Fri/Sat nights, but cannot come. PM him if you'd like to take it over; otherwise he will cancel.

Likewise for cocobird.

Ride-share/carpool offers:

mile ho Updated: From CMH 11 am Thursday, to CMH 8 pm Monday
Ashasan2005 From LEX 4/4 11:45 am; to LEX 4/7 6:00 am flight
toomanybooks From LEX 4/3 11:45 am; to LEX 4/7 ~15:30 flight

Ride-share/carpool requests:

Mbcijim10

Sunday April 6 is Military Day at Keeneland. Active duty, Reserve, vets, and families get in free! Some free food/music as well. If you qualify, bring your ID.

http://www.keeneland.com/calendar/military-day-races

AIRLINES SERVING LEX: http://www.bluegrassairport.com/airlines.html

If you cannot get award space or a good fare into LEX, keep trying. At least on AA, it opens up often. I usually use Avios.

There is an airline club at LEX, with access for the following:

AA Admirals Club
DL Sky Club
UA Red Carpet Club
"Day Passes," presumably Priority Pass (?) and maybe for anyone

Other airports to consider (all easy access via interstate, 3 hours max):

SDF, CMH, CVG, DAY, CRW, IND

Well, after we skipped an October 2013 LEX DO (except for Herb687 all by himself), there seems to be quite a bit of interest in repeating in April 2014.

For those not familiar, what we have done in the past is:

1. Go to Keeneland (http://www.keeneland.com) including breakfast on the backstretch (one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world)
2. Hit a couple nice restaurants during the weekend
3. Consume some adult beverages, perhaps at Country Boy (http://countryboybrewing.com) or the Beer Trappe (http://www.thebeertrappe.com/)
4. Visit a horse farm or two (mile ho is in the "horse bidness")
5. Tour one or more bourbon distilleries on the KY Bourbon Trail (http://kybourbontrail.com)
6. Have a Saturday eve party/reception at my parents' house
7. Dinner somewhere like Billy's BBQ (http://www.billysbarbq.com/) or City Barbecue (http://www.citybbq.com). Or maybe somewhere else for a KY specialty like a Hot Brown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Brown)
8. Finish up Sunday with a big southern brunch at Stella's (http://www.stellaskentuckydeli.com), where we completely fill the space under that red awning at left. Mmmmmm, Bourbon Ball Coffee and Bourbon Vanilla French Toast. And proper Southern Biscuits and Gravy, none of that Hampton Inn-type stuff.
8. Some folks go to Keeneland again, with LEX conveniently across the street for a last-second departure.

Lexington is very easy to get around, but you'll need to have a car or share with someone. The airport tends to be a bit expensive to fly into/out of, but Avios redemptions work well. Or you can fly into one of the alternate airports given above and rent a car; some beautiful scenery along the way. bk3day scored a nice UA bump out of LEX last time she attended.

Party Central is the SPG 4 Points, a category 2 hotel on the north side of town. Low redemptions, near I-64/I-75 intersection, and a Waffle House across the street for those 1:30 am munchies. I suggest you reserve right away if you think you might want a room at the 4Pts. 3000 SPG points per Fri/Sat night (cancelable) vs. up to $169 (all-in) per night for a cancelable reservation. 5+ cents for a Starpoint! Too bad it's no longer a cat. 1. UPDATE: Friday and Saturday nights are sold out; karung99 and cocobird have reservations you can take over.

Most folks arrive Friday. mile ho will do his best to line up visits to a mare farm (where he has a mama horse and usually a foal boarded) and a stallion farm where the action happens, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

Youtube channel for Lexington, with some nice material: http://www.youtube.com/user/LexKyCVB?v=oxkjCDpXdkY
Bourbon news from the Lexington "Herald-Leader": http://www.kentucky.com/1354/

Previous threads to give you an idea of what goes on:

April 2013: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...-7-2013-a.html
October 2012: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...-kentucky.html
April 2012: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...ington-ky.html LOTS OF USEFUL LINKS IN THIS ONE.

Please post if you are definite or maybe. Tentative schedule appears in post #213.

Attending/very likely:

toomanybooks
ORD-TGU
Sweet Willie
HPN-HRL
bk3day
KMA26
mile ho
ElmhurstNick
thegrailer
livingthedream99
arollins
GrizShel
Mbcijim10 + 1
Melville + 1
Herb687
GG
LexPassenger
rxgeek + 1
mhnadel
Santander (+1?)
Ashasan2005
John Rxman + 1
iris30
iolairemcfadden + 1 (TOBB)
makersmark
WanderLuster

Maybe

HPN-HRL's + 1
polkacat
USHPNWDLUA + 1
luvtworce
bynxnjynx
mommafrica +1

Maybe (from TOBB ["The Other Bulletin Board"]):

Denro
TAHKUCT

Can't make it

CubsFanJohn
PV_Premier + 1
karung99 + 1
FindAWay
Flying Machine (+1?)
dinasoar
cocobird

Interested.
Will book 4points at 3k night on weekends.
Double room.

I'm in barring any unforeseen issues.

Room reserved at Four Points LEX.

Excellent. Will put you both down as confirmed, subject of course to change.

as with previous years, I'll be driving.

Right now, my plan is to leave on Friday sometime, subject to change if I can't get Friday off (which at this point I don't see being a problem)

Put me down as interested. I haven't booked flights yet and can't get there until late on Friday in any case, but I have reserved a room at the 4Pts for the time being.

I'm interested and 4Pts booked.

Now for the eternally, infernal search for the best of nothing but bad flight options.

Great news. Tell your friends!

Please put me on the list. I'm looking forward to attending my IVth consecutive H&B Do next April. Reservations made at the 4 Pts.

I'd like to again be riding with you sir. And hopefully we can make a stop at Sun King in Indy on the drive down. My growler will need to be filled for the Do! :)

Just returned from Lexington. Sold the colt that last year's DO attendees saw for 30k. Pleased.

Also found a new cajun spot called Gumbo Ya Ya. Wow, was it good.

Tried Country Boy Brewery, too, on Toomany's recommendation. Mighty fine and worth a visit next Spring.

The filly that was in High School Skinny's belly will be auctioned Nov 12. I'll be there and will be glad to entertain anyone who might show up.

She's nicer than the colt and I expect a bigger price for her. We'll see.

And of course I'll be at the Spring DO. We'll visit the mare farm again and we'll see some great stallions, too. I'll work to get us into some of the great horse racing venues in that area. We toured Three Chimneys last year.

Great times for sure. Love Lexington.

Oh yeah, and we saw a live cover last year!!!!!! if anyone else knows what that means! I think most thought that was pretty cool. (Horse sex for all you noobs)

Let's not have any more unforeseen issues, shall we? This will be another great DO.

Thanks for confirming, mile ho and KMA26.

I try and have that happen w/all my life's activities!ahhhh, great minds think alike, I was in the basement the other day and noticed my Sun King growler.:)

Continuous coverage of bourbon news:

http://www.kentucky.com/1354/

I'm in. My cousin's son is now a freshman at UK, so I may be +1 or +2 if they are not on Spring Break and a couple of my relatives want to tag along.