While here, I thought I'd post a few photos of our trip we made this past weekend,to Northern Michigan. (It was actually a necessary trip for Mark, but we managed to get in a few fun moments - forgive the photo quality, some were quickly-snapped cell phone pics :) You should've seen my happy husband in his natural habitat, he was like a kid in a candy store! :)
Lighthouse Beach on Old Mission Peninsula, Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan - Traverse City, Michigan :)
Nope, that's not the ocean, that's Grand Traverse Bay, part of Lake Michigan. Much like the ocean, it's super blue, but super clear, smaller waves and less things that could hurt you when you swim in it :)
Mark, apparently baptizing Brooke? ;)
The vineyards, cherry orchards and apple orchards of Old Mission Peninsula, with views of East and West Traverse Bay (Old Mission Peninsula separating the two) :)
Mari V Vineyards (Italianate/Tuscan Style with underground wine cellar).
Chateau Chantal Vineyard and Restaurant
Peninsula Grill - Where my honey finally got his much-anticipated and beloved fried perch! :)
An appetizer of crab cakes with lime-corn salsa and avocado with a glass of Blackstar Chardonnay (local wine)...
I swear, he almost licked his plate of perch, when he'd finished, before I stopped him! lol
Though he knows it doesn't go with fish, Mark wanted to try the Mari V cabernet franc (local wine, see pic above). He said the wine tasted nearly identical a Rothschild and therefore went with everything ;) (Methinks he was just on a battered-perch high ;))
For my entree, as I hadn't eaten all day, I had smoked spare ribs (smoked all day on site), with butternut squash and brussel sprouts with bacon - heaven!
Boardman River through Midtown, Traverse City, Michigan
A pit stop on the way home of Mark's Alma Mater, Michigan State University - one of the few US universities that can boast both phenomenal football and basketball teams. (He must've brought them luck - The Spartans won against Notre Dame that day @ Notre Dame!) My own Sparty in front of Spartan Stadium...
Spartan Mark in front of the Breslin Center (currently being renovated) and the Magic Johnson statue...
And this pic is one I snapped of one of the two things I'd never seen before, until this first trip to Michigan - a black squirrel! (I thought it was a skunk at first from a distance LOL).
What's the second thing I'd never seen, you ask? I didn't get a pic, but the amount of men with an exact replica of Mitt Romney's hair :) Lastly, a little video of the Sparty family in front of Beaumont Clock Tower, while chiming, at MSU - beautiful campus - I admit, much prettier than UK's campus :)
Due to some unexpected events (to include eating some bad crab cakes eggs benedict), we were married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains rather than St. Simons - but both were beautiful!
I'll be added photos as we go along - most of these are cell phone pics and only a few, just yet, are with our Canon :)
First things first, the wedding ceremony at Ivy Rose Wedding Chapel in Gatlinburg, Tennessee :)
As
the chapel pastor took the photos, he asked us to lay our (meantime) celtic-knot rings side by
side to form the "god number" of 8 or the google symbol - two closed
circles now bonded together at the center by god to create infinite,
intertwined love, one circle now leading back to the other :)
... I now pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Chrystal Chaplow :)
Wedding Toast at the Cherokee Grill, Gatlinburg, TN...
Early morning black bear "hunt"/smoky-mountain drive :)
(We were looking for black bears, but so our hotel neighbors told us, we would've been better off hanging around the hotel at dusk to see one - "Ruxpin" comes at dusk and dawn to raid the trash bins :)
This next photo needs a little explanation - we had stopped at the North Carolina Welcome Center on the way down, when this little guy, aCarolina Wren, hit the glass window to the gift shop :( Lying on his back, he was stunned for a minute until the gift shop attendant (lady whose foot is in the photo) and I massaged her a bit, then turned her upright and protected her from wandering dogs until she felt better enough to fly away :)
Sleepy little Gatlinburg in the early morning...
But don't let it fool you - this is what it looks like at night!
Earlier this week, at St. Simons Island, Georgia...
Snuggy and Brookie's first time in the ocean! :) (Brookie wasn't having it, Snuggy loved it:) )
The view from our room...
St. Simons is a beautiful, spanish colonial/american gothic/greek revival/italianate, spanish-moss covered, sleepy little beach town :)
The STILL undefeated Nyquist JUST WON THE DERBY!!! Wooo hooo!
Oh my God, SO proud of him - GREAT job, Mario! Great job Doug!
PS - OMG, were my intuitions yesterday on the money, after all?!?
You can see the intuitions I posted from last night's post, 2 posts below (unaltered) - but again, they were:
Clue #1 was:
"Ny Will Tie"
Edited/Update: I originally posted here that Nyquist tied Funny Cide's track time because two separate news sources initially reported this earlier, right after the race (I even read them aloud to Mark before I posted) - however, these reports were incorrect - so the meaning of this "clue" intuition is still a mystery :)
Clues #2 and 3were:
"Sounds like Weimereiner when spoken too quickly"...
and
"Crimson in third"
It was"Gunrunner"- he came in third place or "Show" - in crimson silks!!!!
Clue #4 was:
A visual image of green and white silks.
Coming in second place or "Place" was Exaggerator - in green and white silks!
However,when I bet, I did end up choosing Mor Spiritfor the "green and whitesilks" clue, rather Exaggerator - so I didn't hit the Trifecta, I only got 2/3 on the actualbet.
BUT - we also placed a single larger bet on Nyquist to win and won AND we placed a single "show" bet on Exaggerator, just in case we were wrong about the green and white silks being Mor Spirit!!!
(A "show" bet means if that horse comes in in either the Win, Place or Show positions, you still win).
If I had chosen the correct "green and white silks" on the first bet,I would've literally hit the Trifecta and we would've won a couple of thousand!
Oh well, we're happy even if to break even, but we actually made a profit this time!:)
Lyrics from the song we've chosen as Nyquist's song (on autoplay) from previous post: "Just Like Fire" (Pink)
"If I can light the world up for just one day Watch this madness, colorful charade No one can be just like me any way" "Just like magic, I'll be flying free I'mma disappear when they come for me I kick that ceiling, what you gonna say? No one can be just like me any way..."
"Just like fire, fire, fire Running, running, running We can get 'em running, running, running "So I can get it running Just cause nobody's done it Y'all don't think I can run it But look, I've been here, I've done it Impossible? Please Watch, I do it with ease You just gotta believe Come on, come on with me"
PS -Congratulations to Steve H, who interpreted the "clues" correctly (better than I did) and just let us know he hit the Trifecta based on them!!!
Nyquist, Doug O'Neill and the Stanley Cup, resting in Nyquist's barn for luck
No further "intuitions" today, guys, sorry - I've been too busy dress-shopping for my daughter's graduation!
(And unfortunately, the intuitions that I had yesterday, in the below post, don't seem to be as strong or clear today, which is not unusual)
So we're betting on our personal favorite, Nyquist, whom we met in person twice this year - this last time, also meeting the very gracious and personable, Doug O'Neill (see previous posts or the link below).
(Heck, I'm too biased this round to be too intuitive, having met them in person - what can I say :)
Though undefeated horses rarely win the derby, Nyquist has proven he can run on any turf, plus Nyquist has a unique way of staring other horses down and pinning his ears back that lets other horses know to get out of his way that tends to work for him.
Additionally, the store I finally found my dress in today was blasting Nyquist's song overhead (bottom of the post).
(Actually, I got TWO dresses there for the price of one, as they were having a huge sale!)
So though we will place little bets on a couple of others as well, our biggest bet looks like this (which isn't much, most of our money's going to my daughter's college graduation;)
Trifecta Key Box
Key to Win: -Nyquist Place and Show (any order)Gunrunnerand Mor Spirit
We will also do a regular trifecta box with these three horses in any order:)
Smaller bets will include Exaggerator, Creator, Moheyman and Outwork, among others.
PS - I'm pretty sure Doug has lost at least 20 pounds since we met him in April? ;)
PPS - 5:15 p.m. - This just in, starting to rain in both Lexington and Louisville now, and I'm not sure why, but "Whitmore"keeps running through my head now, too, for some strange reason, so in addition to the little bets mentioned above, we'll throw him in for a smaller bet, just for run.
PPPS - 6:35 - TVG's betting site just crashed! (So I couldn't placed the regular trifecta box or change any bets), so I only have the one trifecta key box with Nyquist as the key and a few singles of the one's mentioned above (including Whitmore now) before it crashed - I hope that's right (but I'm nervous, aak, just not sure)!
Riders up, call to post! Here we go!
GO NYQUIST!!!!!!!
I know that I'm running out of time (I want it all, mmm, mmm) And I'm wishing they'd stop tryna turn me off I want it all, mmm, mmm And I'm walking on a wire, trying to go higher Feels like I'm surrounded by clowns and liars Even when I get it all the way (I want it all, mmm, mmm)
We can get 'em running, running, running... We can get 'em running running, running...
Just like fire, burning out the way If I can light the world up for just one day Watch this madness, colorful charade No one can be just like me any way Just like magic, I'll be flying free I'mma disappear when they come for me I kick that ceiling, what you gonna say? No one can be just like me any way Just like fire, uh... And people like to laugh at you cause they are all the same (mmm, mmm) See I would rather we just go our different way than play the game And no matter the weather, we can do it better You and me together forever and ever We don't have to worry about a thing about a thing We can get 'em running, running, running We can get 'em running, running, running Just like fire, burning out the way If I can light the world up for just one day Watch this madness, colorful charade No one can be just like me any way Just like magic, I'll be flying free I'mma disappear when they come for me I kick that ceiling, what you gonna say? No one can be just like me any way Just like fire, fire, fire Running, running, running We can get 'em running, running, running So I can get it running Just cause nobody's done it Y'all don't think I can run it But look, I've been here, I've done it Impossible? Please Watch, I do it with ease You just gotta believe Come on, come on with me Oh, what you gonna do? (What, what!?) Oh, what you gonna do? (What, what!?) Oh, what you gonna do? (What, what!?) Oh, what you gonna do?
Just like fire, burning out the way If I can light the world up for just one day Watch this madness, colorful charade No one can be just like me any way Just like fire, burning out the way If I can light the world up for just one day Watch this madness, colorful charade No one can be just like me any way Just like magic, I'll be flying free I'mma disappear when they come for me I kick that ceiling, what you gonna say? No one can be just like me any way Just like fire, fire! Running, running, running Just like fire!
Last week, Doug O'Neill texted Mark that he would be in town with Nyquist at Keeneland and we should "huddle up."
So this morning, a perfect and beautiful Spring morning in Kentucky, we had the distinct honor of meeting Breeder's Cup Juvenile Winner and 2016 Kentucky Derby FavoriteNyquist...
Nyqyist, getting ready of his bath, in his royal purple Breeder's Cup Juvenile Winner robe ;)
...along with the man himself, Doug O'Neill. (Doug is originally from Detroit so he and Mark are "brothers" :)
Doug O'Neill and my fiancee, Mark/Detroit:)
In fact, the horse, Nyquist, is named after the Detroit Red Wings' star hockey player, Gustav Nyquist ;)
Gustav Nyquist, right winger hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings
He's so laid back and chill, what a pleasure to meet him.
Doug, you are the coolest, thank you :)
And here's a video of Nyquist's this morning gallop at Keeneland...
And one of Doug's mini press conference this morning...
C'mon Nyquist - you can win that derby - and then the triple crown!
Then we had a good, old-fashion Southern country breakfast at the track restaurant, consistent of scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, home fries and cinnamon apples.
(We won't be eating at all for another three days, in other words).
What a great start to the perfect day (if only I didn't have to work a bit now).
Mark and me, Main Gate at Keeneland Racetrack, Lexington, Kentucky - April 15, 2016
But next up today, we won a new car!
Okay, we didn't win the car, we bought it and it finally arrived today - real pic to come later, here's a stock photo for now :)
(I did all of the research on this car via Consumer Reports, JD Power and Associates, etc., so cross your fingers I did a good thing, here ;)
Song of the day, a brand new song - dedicated to Nyquist:)
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