Atlanta - Day 1 - Horsing Around

After an excellent night's sleep - a king bed seems to do that - our walking alarm clock aka Jeremy, woke up and told us all that it was morning time and time to eat. So Tina and Adam had their showers and we headed down to enjoy a breakfast that included the standard items plus make-your-own waffles, biscuits, gravy, sausage patties and scrambled eggs. Overall, the breakfast met our expectations. We headed back to the room, packed up, checked out and took a very short drive to the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Kentucky Horse Park is a 1,200 acre facility for and about horses. It houses two museums, twin theatres, the National Horse Centre (offices of various horse related organizations), the Hall of Champions (where past winners 'retire'), a campground, shows, competitions and a under-construction therapeutic riding facility. This is in addition to the acres of pastures where over 50 breeds of horses run freely. In 2010, the Kentucky Horse Park will host the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), the first time the games will be held outside of Europe.

We arrived at 9:00 am and it seemed we were the only ones in the park. This was the end of the off-season, so not all the activities and events were up and running. We walked over to the Draft Horse Barn to see some of the biggest horses that any of us have seen. These horses are used to pull trolleys and carriages around the park.

We took a short tour on the trolley and then walked over to the Breeds Barn, where various breeds are shown off. One horse was being cleaned and we had a pleasant chat with the workers. They even brought the horse out for the boys to pet and to get the horse used to people. Next, was a visit to the International Museum of the Horse, the largest museum of it's kind. From prehistoric to modern times, the history of horse is shown through various displays. It is quite the facility.

The last stop at the Horse Park was the gift shop. Adam bought a baseball cap and the boys got some souvenirs. Tina also bought a few gifts for Becky at the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association. Speaking of therapeutic riding, a new state-of-the-art therapeutic riding centre is being built at the Kentucky Horse Park.

After spending two and a half hours at the Horse Park, we headed down I-75 towards Atlanta. A stop for lunch at the birthplace of KFC, Sander's Cafe, in Corbin, Kentucky. Yes, the stop was planned so we could took some pictures of Corbin in front of a sign with his name in it. Lunch was filling and delicious. Tina drove the next leg from Corbin, KY, to just inside the Georgia state line before Adam took over driving duties heading into Atlanta.

1,200 or so kilometres later, we had arrived at the Best Western in Atlanta.