The Slower Road

Today’s Wednesday, which we generally count as a day off from posting on the blog. But if you’re a CAA member (and we have your e-mail address on file), today’s the day you’ll receive your copy of The Spokesperson, the CAA’s weekly e-newsletter. Each week, we send news from the CAA office and from around the world of driving and horses.

The contents of this week’s e-newsletter: CAA members from Ohio to appear in an episode of a new History Channel series, general volunteers are still needed for WEG, a tempting array of trade fair vendors at the upcoming symposium, and what we’re up to in the CAA office.

Not receiving the newsletter? Would you like to?

If you’re a CAA member, just send us your e-mail address, and we’ll add it to our mailing list.

If you’re not a CAA member yet and would like more information about the association, click here: http://www.caaonline.com/caa_content.asp?PageType=Dept&Key=2

We generally count Wednesday as a day off from posting on the blog. But if you’re a CAA member (and we have your e-mail address on file), today’s the day you’ll receive your copy of The Spokesperson, the CAA’s weekly e-newsletter. Each week, we send news from the CAA office and from around the world of driving and horses.

The contents of this week’s e-newsletter: huge sale on individual copies of the CAA’s Turnout and Appointments Series of booklets; a link to the American Horse Publication’s Equine Industry Survey; and a preview of CAA trips, events, and projects for the upcoming year.

Not receiving the newsletter? Would you like to?

If you’re a CAA member, just send us your e-mail address, and we’ll add it to our mailing list.

If you’re not a CAA member yet and would like more information about the association, click here: http://www.caaonline.com/caa_content.asp?PageType=Dept&Key=2

Also … are you a fan of the CAA on Facebook? We post updates there as well, as often as we can. As of this morning, there’s a new CAA FB photo album with a few photos from the Kentucky Horse Park’s bright and colorful holiday tradition: Southern Lights. If you haven’t already, join us there as well as here!

Teri sent us this link to an old video, and we offer it here to you as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_CXgmmOUtA

She says the video was shot by her father, back around 1980-ish. It features portions of the Wagon Days parade in Ketchum, Idaho. Teri’s 4-H club was invited to ride in the parade that year and all she really remembers of the day is her horse having a “meltdown” (she’s the one whose horse is jigging and trotting instead of calmly walking) over the llamas in the parade (yes, you’ll see some of the llamas as well!).

And you’ll see a number of carriages, wagons, commercial vehicles, and … the grand finale: a twelve-horse hitch pulling a line of six enormous wagons.

To read more about these wagons (which are still featured in the annual Wagon Days parade) and the traditional 20-mule-team “jerkline” that pulled them all, see http://www.visitsunvalley.com/static/index.cfm?action=group&contentID=535

Christmas is a week from today. This past Saturday, as part of the countdown to the big day, my husband and I took a “shopping tour of the Bluegrass” …

we started the day with breakfast at little Wallace Station, which is on the scenic route between Lexington and Kentucky’s capital, Frankfort … I’ve read somewhere that, years ago, the building was a stagecoach stop; then it was a gas station, and now it’s a breakfast/lunch place with delicious food

our next stop was tiny, adorable Midway, which is (as you might guess from the name) half-way between Lex. and Frankfort on the railroad line that runs between the two cities; Midway’s downtown is a block long, with quaint buildings, shops, antique stores, and restaurants on either side of the tracks, which run down the center of the street

on this particular Saturday, Santa Claus was due to arrive around 11 in the morning; a small crowd of about 50 (young children and their parents) waited to watch Santa and some of his elves arrive on a special R.J. Corman railroad car …

… Santa then alighted from the train and visited with the crowd, while some of the others in the crowd greeted the furry mare who would be pulling Santa’s carriage …

… more love for the horsy star of the day …

… and, as the outdoor finale to the festivities, Santa rode “around the block” (up and down the street, on either side of the railroad tracks) in the horse-drawn carriage provided by the Lexington Livery Co., before heading into the community theater building to hear what all the children want for Christmas … the green awning they’re walking past here is Freedman’s Midway Boutique

after the Santa festivities and some Christmas shopping in Midway, we headed on to quaint downtown Frankfort …

across the street from the row of shops above is … Frankfort’s Old Capitol Building

and after some Christmas shopping in Frankfort and another scenic drive through the Bluegrass, we ended up at the beautiful old Woodford Reserve distillery; the stone building shown here is one of the barrel storage facilities, where the bourbon is aged

and, finally, a view of the porch on Woodford Reserve’s visitor center (whose gift shop also has some nice Christmas shopping possibilities); this would be a lovely place to sit on a warmer day than the gray windy one we ended up with

Back on the first weekend of December, the quaint historic town of Lebanon, Ohio, held its annual horse-drawn Christmas parade. Despite the cold, nearly 150 turnouts paraded in front of the festival crowds.

CAA member Charlie Poppe sent us these photos (both taken by Nancy Bairnsfather of Lebanon, OH) from the festive day …

Charlie Poppe drove two of his new ponies in the 2009 Lebanon (OH) horse-drawn Christmas parade

CAA member Harold Barger driving a pair in the parade