The Slower Road

… or … “spring is in the air” …

I took a walk at the KY Horse Park the other day. I think it was our third or fourth sunny day in a row (something we hadn’t seen in what felt like months). Each sunny day was a little warmer than the one before, and on this particular afternoon, the temperature was somewhere in the 60s. If you kept your head up, rather than looking down at all the wintery brown grass in the fields and pastures, you could see buds on the trees. And someone in some sort of odd ultralight hang-gliding contraption, flying noisily around the park.  

I did make the mistake of looking back down at the brown grass at one point, only to be faced with a remarkably large (given the weather) pile of snow lingering near the corner of Nina Bonnie Rd and Marks Lane.

For the next leg of my walk, I was determined to focus again on the trees. It was then that I heard, and then saw — flying low, slowly, and loudly — one of the World War II-era planes that lives here in Lexington and flies around with some regularity. This particular plane is an original, restored T-6 Texan, a large, single-engine aircraft used to train pilots from World War II through the 1950s. We’ve seen this plane and others from the same era flying over our neighborhood. I also have a couple of photos (below) of a replica bi-plane that I’ve seen flying over the Horse Park. We get modern jets and propeller planes flying over Lexington, of course, but to my mind these old ones sound so much more interesting.

During the tail end of such a looong cold winter as we’ve had this year, everyone’s rooting around for signs of spring. Here are a few …

1) The calendar

The annual Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event (at the end of April, here at the KY Horse Park) is less than two months away. Which means that the preparations must be about to start. All the various tents and temporary grandstands going up for Rolex is one of the undeniable signs of spring, even if it’s hard to imagine the grass turning green and filling up with dandelions (!) by the time all the eventing horses arrive.

2) The sunshine

Today marks the second of back-to-back days of blue skies and sunshine … something we haven’t seen in weeks. AND the temperature (in the 40s) feels like a heat wave compared to the weather we’ve been having — that is, as long as you’re facing the sun and not the wind! And one must ignore the fact that this warm-feeling 40-ish is still about ten degrees below our normal for this time of year. Oh, and one must also ignore the several piles of SNOW still hanging around.

3) The plants and the birds

All of a sudden, snowdrops have sprouted and bloomed in our garden at home. The annual profusion of springtime weeds can’t be far behind. Here at the Horse Park, and elsewhere, the many songbirds are singing sweetly outside (in hopes, no doubt, of attacting bird wives).

4) The horses

Foals have been spotted outside. Need I say more?

This past Saturday (Feb. 13) was as close to pure basketball heaven as we Lexingtonians have been in quite a long time. I hear that there was a huge party in the street when the Wildcats won the NCAA national championship in 1998, but that was before we moved here, so we can only go on hearsay. We’re happy to report, though, that we were part of all the festivities on Saturday.

Why “basketball heaven,” you ask? In the morning: ESPN College GameDay came to town, for a wildly loud show. Then, at 9:00 p.m.: our Univ. of KY Wildcats played the Tennessee Volunteers. The energy from GameDay carried over to the game, which was so loud that I had to plug my ears a few times. And it was a tough, close game … but we won in the end, which was the perfect end to our basketball day.

We’ll recap the entire food- and basketball-filled day here. I’m including the food because we ate at two of our favorite local spots … and, as we get closer to having hundreds if not thousands of friends and visitors here for the WEG, I’m going to start running occasional (local, non-chain) restaurant reviews here on the blog, along with posts on what to see/do in the area.

The day started, bright and early, at Doodles. We arrived right after it opened at 8:00 a.m., and there was hardly anyone there (we’re usually there a bit later, when it’s more crowded and louder). Doodles is in a former gas station, which gives it kind of a funky, modern vibe (and, yes, the restrooms are outside). They serve fantastic breakfasts and lunches, and the music is always dance-worthy (whether it’s ’80s-music day, ’50s or ’60s music, beach music, etc.).

“the cure”: a perfect, basic breakfast of eggs, sausage, cheesy grits, and toast

the Doodles version of huevos rancheros (eggs, black beans, homemade salsas, and a dollop of sour cream on corn tortillas), before …

… and after

… and you have to try the beignets

the Doodles gang on Saturday morning

After breakfast, we headed over to Rupp Arena. The doors opened at 8:30 a.m. for the 11 o’clock live College GameDay broadcast, but we didn’t think we needed to be there quite that early!

We found our seats (way up in the upper level, behind the GameDay set) and then kept busy with taking some photos and admiring the many creative costumes and signs. We saw this fan …

it’s a UK-blue storm trooper … with a working light saber, no less!

… and Gumby, a gorilla, a cat (or a bear, I’m not sure), several people entirely in lycra (UK blue and one in fluorescent green), and a guy in a cone-shaped (Asian style) hat painted UK blue, with “The Great Wall” on it.

Tickets for this event were free if one stood in line to get them, or about $5 if ordered online. I hear they sold out within about half a day. It looked to us like there were a lot more kids, families, and college students than are usually at the games. And because Kentuckians are inordinantly proud of such things: the previous ESPN GameDay attendance record was somewhere around 8,000 … which we shattered with a crowd of more than 22,000.

the ESPN GameDay set in Rupp Arena, a couple of hours before the show was to start

Starting about an hour before the 11:00 broadcast, GameDay’s Digger Phelps started getting the crowd hyped up and loud. The band played, the cheerleaders and dancers did their thing, and we in the crowd screamed and yelled and clapped as loudly as we could. They coached us on what our role would be during the broadcast: to cheer REALLY LOUDLY when they told us (coming out of and going into commercial breaks and at various other times), and then to listen to the show and respond as appropriate.

the view from our upper-level seats, while the crowd arrives for GameDay

And then Digger Phelps danced while the pep band played.

GameDay’s Digger Phelps dancing with the UK dance team

Here’s a link to a video of his dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zabwPJeso7k

When the show finally started, all 22,000+ people REALLY got into the spirit of the thing. We had taped the program and watched it later in the afternoon … what fun it was!

GameDay is starting!

UK’s Coach Cal being interviewed on GameDay

after GameDay finished, the crowd stayed for a few more festivities … here, a bunch of former Wildcat stars are introduced to the fans and, as you can see, photographed

Before heading back to round 2 of “basketball heaven,” we stopped at our favorite neighborhood sushi restaurant, Tomo, for some …

gyoza …

… and some of the best sushi in town (left to right: a veggie veggie roll, a tempura roll, seared white tuna, and yellowtail and behind that, king crab)

Once again, we got to Rupp Arena well before game time. It’s always fun to watch the shoot-around and introductions and opening festivities (including fireworks!).

the team gathers at the end of the shoot-around

our freshman phenom, John Wall, shooting a free throw

the cheerleaders, the Wildcat, and a really big flag … everyone stands and cheers as this entire ensemble pivots to face each side of the arena

After a tough but exciting game, the Cats had won! After each home game, one player and then the coach come to the radio broadcast table for radio interviews. These have become so popular that an estimated 5,000 or so people stay to watch and listen (and to try to get basketballs autographed).

the GameDay cast doing their wrap-up broadcast after the game, while a large crowd gathers for the radio show

Coach Calipari signing basketballs during break in his radio show

nearly the entire long side of the arena (and part of the upper level as well) filled with people who had stayed to watch a radio broadcast … at 11:30 p.m.

And there you have it … a long but exciting basketball day. We’ll let you know how the Cats do in March!