Our vacation is nearing its end. It’s Derby day. We won’t be among the 164,000 people to pack in to Churchill Downs dressed to the nines with flowing hats and drinking $11 mint juleps.

Instead it’s a day to head to Sherry’s brother, Doug’s house for his annual Kentucky Derby party, a tradition he took over from his parents. The party is all family. With around 35 people attending, the day included an inflatable bounce house for the kids, kabobs for lunch and BBQ for dinner.

In between there were jackpots for each race. For $1 you draw one horse. With the large group of attendees there were usually two running for each race. It was a good time to catch up on life.

In between races we worked in family photos. The goal was to leave CDs of images there instead of having to mail them later.

The Derby comes, $5 on four different horses, and 2:03.66 later, California Chrome assured I would not leave Louisville with any cash in my wallet. Yea we lost all the jackpots too…

Time to say goodbyes and start packing for the long drive back to Raleigh on Sunday. There will be a quick stop in central Kentucky for breakfast with my family and a lot of staring at I-75 and I-40 and it will be over.